__ East Coker IV __
The wounded surgeon plies the steel
That questions the distempered part;
Beneath the bleeding hands we feel
The sharp compassion of the healer’s art
Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.
Our only health is the disease
If we obey the dying nurse
Whose constant care is not to please
But to remind of our, and Adam’s curse,
And that, to be restored, our sickness must grow worse.
The whole earth is our hospital
Endowed by the ruined millionaire,
Wherein, if we do well, we shall
Die of the absolute paternal care
That will not leave us, but prevents us everywhere.
The chill ascends from feet to knees,
The fever sings in mental wires.
If to be warmed, then I must freeze
And quake in frigid purgatorial fires
Of which the flame is roses, and the smoke is briars.
The dripping blood our only drink,
The bloody flesh our only food:
In spite of which we like to think
That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood—
Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.
~ T.S. Eliot - from Four Quartets
Apr 10, 2015 - Uploaded by Cezar Verlan
Cantemus Chamber Choir - Timisoara, Romania Francis Poulenc - Tenebrae factae sunt 28 april 2013 ...
Darkness fell upon the earth when Jesus was crucified. And at the ninth hour He cried with a loud voice: “Father, Father, why hast thou forsaken me?” Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And then He meekly bowed his head, and died.
VICTIM VICTORIOUS
They took and tried, and tortured, then they killed
Him who sought to heal humanity
Established Evil, drunk with power, swilled
Lava-like liqueur. Then, Vanity
Overcame Compassion with great ease.
Regarding all with cynical disdain
Destructive Self-Protection –– a disease
Inflicting without mercy boundless pain ––
Securing only Insecurity ––
Appeared to stop the Upstart for all time.
Lies. however. spawn no sense of surety.
Immortal Truth stood witness to their crime.
Victim humbled cruelly –– butchered –– He
Emerged to free our lives –– internally.
~ FreeThinke
IN DEEPEST GRIEF
The Final Chorus from J.S. Bach's
The Passion According to Saint Matthew
Apr 12, 2009 - Uploaded by Malmö Kammarkör
Final Chorus of St Matthew Passion by J.S. Bach. Performed by Malmö Chamber Choir and orchestra https://youtu.be/-miQ6_FTtN
ReplyDeleteOur Hope in Christ's Victory Over Death
Townhall,
by David Limbaugh
Many things about Christianity are counterintuitive but none more than this: God the perfect Father sent Jesus the perfect Son to Earth as a human being to suffer and die for the sins of imperfect human beings so that those who believe in the Son would receive the perfect Holy Spirit and live in eternal love with God. Scripture makes all this clear. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, . . .