Showing posts with label Good Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Good Friday. Show all posts

Friday, April 7, 2023

O Agony and Dying

Our Savior, Jesus Christ. This is Sacrifice: This is MY Body, given up for you. 
But He was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity. He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by His wounds we are healed.
We adore You O Christ and praise You! Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.
Crucifixion by Matthias Grunewald


This poem is attributed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux. There are several different renditions of it and they all make me weep with sorrow and gratitude. "O Agony and Dying! O Love to sinners free! Jesus all grace supplying, O turn Thy Face on me!" Some years ago, a choir member gifted me His Sacred Head crowned with thorns. I keep it near me, grateful to have a small share in His Passion.
 

1 O sacred Head, now wounded,
with grief and shame weighed down,
now scornfully surrounded
with thorns, thine only crown!
O sacred Head, what glory,
what bliss till now was thine!
Yet, though despised and gory,
I joy to call thee mine.

2 What thou, my Lord, hast suffered
was all for sinners’ gain.
Mine, mine was the transgression,
but thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
’Tis I deserve thy place.
Look on me with thy favor,
and grant to me thy grace.

3 What language shall I borrow
to thank thee, dearest Friend,
for this, thy dying sorrow,
thy pity without end?
Oh, make me thine forever,
and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
outlive my love to thee.

4 Be near when I am dying,
oh, show thy cross to me,
and for my rescue, flying,
come, Lord, and set me free!
These eyes, new faith receiving,
from Jesus shall not move,
for one who dies believing
dies safely, through thy love.


Friday, April 2, 2021

Good Friday Reproaches

I learned about the Reproaches only a couple of years ago when our choir director started singing them during the veneration of the Cross. They are powerful--Christ crying out to His people from the Cross. My favorite version is the chant alternating with polyphony composed by Victoria


My people, what have I done to you
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I led you out of Egypt,
from slavery to freedom,
but you led your Savior to the cross.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

Holy is God!
Holy and mighty!
Holy immortal One, have mercy on us!

For forty years I led you
safely through the desert.
I fed you with manna from heaven,
and brought you to a land of plenty; but you led your Savior to the cross.

Repeat "Holy is God..."

What more could I have done for you.
I planted you as my fairest vine,
but you yielded only bitterness:
when I was thirsty you gave me vinegar to drink,
and you pierced your Savior with a lance.

Repeat "Holy is God..."

II.

For your sake I scourged your captors
and their firstborn sons,
but you brought your scourges down on me.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I led you from slavery to freedom
and drowned your captors in the sea,
but you handed me over to your high priests.
"My people...."

I opened the sea before you,
but you opened my side with a spear.
"My people...."

I led you on your way in a pillar of cloud,
but you led me to Pilate's court.
"My people...."

I bore you up with manna in the desert,
but you struck me down and scourged me.
"My people...."

I gave you saving water from the rock,
but you gave me gall and vinegar to drink.
"My people...."

For you I struck down the kings of Canaan.
but you struck my head with a reed.
"My people...."

I gave you a royal scepter,
but you gave me a crown of thorns.
"My people...."

I raised you to the height of majesty,
but you have raised me high on a cross.
"My people...."

Another favorite is the Taize chant: Jesus, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom. I was so honored to lead it off because it is a prayer I make many times throughout the day. I heard it the first time when we were entering the church and I cried and cried because this was my desire, coming home to my Love, may we never ever be separated from Him ever again. I love how we pray not just for ourselves and but for the whole world. Our pastor gave a beautiful homily on why our dear Jesus had to die on the Cross. Here's the link to our Good Friday liturgy. Tonight, we watch The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson.

Friday, April 10, 2020

The Longest Lent--Good Friday

It is most surreal to be going through the Sacred Triduum without a visit to church. Yesterday, when our choir director called to check up on us, I burst into sobs. The poor man--this is not what he expected. But I cannot hold back the grief. O, Lord, when?

This meditation from Transformed by God's Word by Stephen Binz and iconography by Ruta and Kaspars Poikan is so beautiful. I hope it is a blessing for you too.

ChildrensofFatima (croped).jpgMy thoughts often go to the Spanish flu, how deadly it was, how it took the two little saints from Fatima--Francesco and Jacinta--to heaven. I ask them to pray for us, for our leaders--both secular and religious. I don't like the direction our country is going in, how easily we accept measures that will harm us in the long run. I don't understand why people are allowed to go get groceries but not go to church, why abortion is considered an essential service when we are trying our hardest to save people from the Coronavirus, why we don't take these same measures every flu season. I fear that all these mandates from the government might have us seeing a lull in the infections, only to have a resurgence in the fall. This virus isn't going anywhere--it's amongst us and we must build up herd immunity, like we do with other viruses. In a couple of years, it will no longer be "novel." But to cripple the economy in the meantime, I don't know how many will lose hope, their homes, their very livelihood. Parce Domine!

Enough kvetching. I'm not in control. 

Today (and every day really) is a day to offer up everything, uniting it to Christ's death. Our pastor gave a beautiful homily (~32 min mark) about the Cross and our gifts. His point was that often our very gifts can be our crosses. Think about family; our spouses are a gift, yet they can also be our biggest cross. But the reverse is also true. Our crosses are also our gifts. They help us grow. For me, it's been the migraines. I often meditate on the Crown of Thorns our Lord wore. And my favorite meditation is from Luisa Piccaretta's Hours of the Passion. I always pray that our crosses will lead us closer to Christ.

I love Good Friday because I come closest to understanding how much God loves me. He suffered and died for me. It makes me want to live and die for Him. I love these timeless prayers, wherein we pray not just for ourselves but the whole world. May God bless you.





Friday, March 25, 2016

Good Friday

But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. ~Isaiah 53:5 (700 B.C.)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ~John3:16

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
~1 John 4:10




Annunciation

Crucifixion




Both paintings are by Giovanni Batista Tiepolo (1696-1770). Holy Week. Good Friday. The day when Jesus won salvation for all men. But today, March 25th, is also the day we celebrate the Annunciation, the date when God became man in Mary's womb. There is something poetic about these two important days coinciding. It's the event horizon. Time stops. I have no words to express myself. But here's an interesting article that attempts. And another. Good food for thought. And even more here and here.

I repeat this verse from the Exultet: "O happy fault that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer."

And I return to Mary -- her joy and her sorrow. But today her soul is pierced through. This 13th century hymn to Mary has been put to music by many. We typically sing a simple tune when we do Stations of the Cross, and a 4-part arrangement by Zoltan Kodaly on Good Friday, but I just discovered this highly expressive, polyphonic version by John Browne (1425-1505). Enjoy! Mary Undoer of Knots, pray for us.   
Stabat mater dolorosa
juxta Crucem lacrimosa,
dum pendebat Filius.

Cuius animam gementem,
contristatam et dolentem
pertransivit gladius.

O quam tristis et afflicta
fuit illa benedicta,
mater Unigeniti!

Quae mœrebat et dolebat,
pia Mater, dum videbat
nati pœnas inclyti.

Quis est homo qui non fleret,
matrem Christi si videret
in tanto supplicio?

Quis non posset contristari
Christi Matrem contemplari
dolentem cum Filio?

Pro peccatis suæ gentis
vidit Iesum in tormentis,
et flagellis subditum.

Vidit suum dulcem Natum
moriendo desolatum,
dum emisit spiritum.

Eia, Mater, fons amoris
me sentire vim doloris
fac, ut tecum lugeam.

Fac, ut ardeat cor meum
in amando Christum Deum
ut sibi complaceam.

Sancta Mater, istud agas,
crucifixi fige plagas
cordi meo valide.

Tui Nati vulnerati,
tam dignati pro me pati,
pœnas mecum divide.

Fac me tecum pie flere,
crucifixo condolere,
donec ego vixero.

Juxta Crucem tecum stare,
et me tibi sociare
in planctu desidero.

Virgo virginum præclara,
mihi iam non sis amara,
fac me tecum plangere.

Fac, ut portem Christi mortem,
passionis fac consortem,
et plagas recolere.

Fac me plagis vulnerari,
fac me Cruce inebriari,
et cruore Filii.

Flammis ne urar succensus,
per te, Virgo, sim defensus
in die iudicii.

Christe, cum sit hinc exire,
da per Matrem me venire
ad palmam victoriæ.

Quando corpus morietur,
fac, ut animæ donetur
paradisi gloria. Amen.
At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to her Son to the last.

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
all His bitter anguish bearing,
now at length the sword has passed.

O how sad and sore distressed
was that Mother, highly blest,
of the sole-begotten One.

Christ above in torment hangs,
she beneath beholds the pangs
of her dying glorious Son.

Is there one who would not weep,
whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ's dear Mother to behold?

Can the human heart refrain
from partaking in her pain,
in that Mother's pain untold?

For the sins of His own nation,
She saw Jesus wracked with torment,
All with scourges rent:

She beheld her tender Child,
Saw Him hang in desolation,
Till His spirit forth He sent.

O thou Mother! fount of love!
Touch my spirit from above,
make my heart with thine accord:

Make me feel as thou hast felt;
make my soul to glow and melt
with the love of Christ my Lord.

Holy Mother! pierce me through,
in my heart each wound renew
of my Savior crucified:

Let me share with thee His pain,
who for all my sins was slain,
who for me in torments died.

Let me mingle tears with thee,
mourning Him who mourned for me,
all the days that I may live:

By the Cross with thee to stay,
there with thee to weep and pray,
is all I ask of thee to give.

Virgin of all virgins blest!,
Listen to my fond request:
let me share thy grief divine;

Let me, to my latest breath,
in my body bear the death
of that dying Son of thine.

Wounded with His every wound,
steep my soul till it hath swooned,
in His very Blood away;

Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,
lest in flames I burn and die,
in His awful Judgment Day.

Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence,
be Thy Mother my defense,
be Thy Cross my victory;

While my body here decays,
may my soul Thy goodness praise,
Safe in Paradise with Thee.
— Translation by Edward Caswall, Lyra Catholica (1849)

Friday, April 18, 2014

Good Friday



Crucifixion by Matthias Grunewald (c. 1475-1528)

The artist captures the horror, agony, and desolation of this painting. I want to turn away from the twisted hands and feet, yet I cannot look away. O agony and dying ...

O Sacred Head Sore Wounded

Friday, March 29, 2013

Good Friday

 


This image hangs on my office wall. I recently learned that St. Bernard asked Jesus which was His greatest unrecorded suffering. Jesus answered, "I had on My Shoulder, while I bore My Cross on the Way of Sorrows, a grievous Wound which was more painful than the others and which is not recorded by men. Honor this Wound with thy devotion and I will grant thee whatsoever thou dost ask through Its virtue and merit and in regard to all those who shall venerate this Wound, I will remit to them all their venial sins and will no longer remember their mortal sins."
 
Our Lord is merciful.

We've had a fruitful Holy Week. I re-consecrated myself to Christ through Mary (it's my first anniversary on the Feast of the Annunciation) and we've been able to go for Mass several times. I am so thankful for the Lord continually drawing us near. The conversion is ongoing. Four years ago, when we were received into the Roman Catholic Church, was just the beginning. Words cannot express my joy. Maybe this is why I love to sing so much.

We've also been preparing music for the Sacred Triduum. Below, I give you a taste of the beautiful music which draws us into His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

I couldn't find the fugue-like arrangement we sang of O Sacrum Convivium for Maundy Thursday so I share this simple communion hymn: Adore te devote.
Good Friday: Stabat Mater and some music by Sir John Stainer (Crucifixion)
Easter Vigil: This Joyful Eastertide

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.