Friday 5 April 2013

Fr. Edward O.P. Easter Greeting

Summer Time at Iceland  31 March 2013

Dear Fr. Edward,
Thank you.
Your Poems illuminate the sacred calendar of;

  • Easter 
  • Annunciation.

Wishing you joy and grace for Easter-tide.
fr. Donald

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: edward booth ...
To: Donald ...
Sent: Saturday, 30 March 2013, 20:39
Subject: Easter Greetings


Dear Father Donald,

Here are two poems. The first is an Easter Greeting, contrasting the old Pasch of the Jews (crossing the Red Sea  with the New Covenant (as announced at the Last Supper, where Jesus referred to the New and Eternal Covenant). The best approximation I could make to this was a mosaic described as being at the Washing of the Feet of the disciples at the Last Supper. On the table (if you use a large magnifying glass you will find elements of the Supper in place. But the washing of the feet   has a glance at Moses' (total: cf Peter's reaction) washing of Aaron and his sons as priests, which was an extension of the possibility of the participation through the priesthood of the original Supper.
There is also, by anticipation, a poem on the Annunciation.
H... would be glad to have copies I am sure.

Gaudia Paschalia!
to you and the Community,

fr Edward O.P.
Picture Summer Time Iceland 2013


Pasch of Irrevocable Transition

In scale the Pasch of Jesus in Jerusalem
far exceeded that of the Red Sea – sited entirely by the lowering
of the wind-blown water and its infilling by wind-dropping.
The Paschal Lamb had been eaten before the Crossing.
Sufficiently drying to lure the Egyptian charioteers on to the puddly bottom;
sufficient water to drown them when the water returned with a rush.
At Jerusalem the trial of Jesus was rushed, and Nicodemus' and Joseph's servants
would unwedge the stone of the shrouded Occupant before the sun
passed the blackened sky and the horizon.
The old was only the play of meteora;
the time-scaling of the fulfilment was cosmical, with curving’s reducing the whole
to its rhythmical elliptical orbiting and inclined rotation;
in aspect a reverential presentation, liturgical and heaven-referring;
a measure indivisibly earthly and heavenly.
Yet divine power was working these regulations, awaiting the arrival of a
third Jerusalem day for its suppression of bodilyness, caught up into heavenliness
as even the body was released from space-time dimensions,
disappearing at will,
permitting-the days of sublimated fellowship in Galilee,
with heavenly feeding and the service of the Risen One
from the great bursting net as the fish gave up their watery, sensitive souls
to be eaten in “the peace of the Fish”;
even the passing on of a heavenly honey-comb, containing all sweetness,
as Jesus (by Luke) rose from the Bethany-side of Kedron,
leaving with them all the thunderous intensity
of a finalising absorbing of all mediate endings
into the passageless non-physical border
where what's this-world dimensioned passes into its most purest beyond.
Fr. Edward OP
Stykkishólmur
Holy Saturday 2013

[notes, “meteora” as Aristotle would have understood it; ill: above: Poussin; below Florence Duomo C13].
From within all perspectives a Blessed Pasch E.B. Stykkishólmur 2013



What was Announced by the pure, sent Spirit –
A poem on the Annunciation

Isaiah and his successors
were undeviatingly faithful
to a recurrent wave-series
of power and beauty: crest after crest,
with the promise of continuity of a Presence
that would not be adopted
as a creature becoming Messiah.
Though he was to be a perfect Manhood
embodying the highest Wisdom in all its articulations,
yet bodywise
subjected to disfiguring, pain-piercing solidarity,
not with
but for
the Earth-dwellers in eschatological
completeness and solidarity.
Extended to all human pastness of penultimately separated spirits:
all to be united in death-state till reintegration and judgement,
their spirits receiving the Word-mould of the eternal Theandric.
It was to be a commerce in fleshliness like any birth
with the sure establishment of the purest, perfectest homeliness
“in the flesh”.
With the Divinity not residing within
but the Person united in mind, will and spirit,
perfect and perfecting till infinitude:
the vital essence was Divine, taking over
the flesh from Theotokos,
and consecrating her endlessly in knowledge and purity
for timeless Consorting.
The Cretan Archbishop, Andrew saw that non-generative organs
would have changed their function to parturition:
no need for man-knowing,
only divine seeding as divinely ordering
her mono-zygotic emplacement 
in completest acceptance.
Continually  mono-sourced from her body with uniqueness;
a Divine Person remaining in triadic Union of nature
but coded uniquely from her
mono-sourcing only her own human genetic:
Virginal meeting Divine within the shekinah of glory.
Witnessed by humans
but felt by her as Virginal Mother in a continuity
with She remaining what she was,
with the Son as her Son unbounded in quality,
and She with permanence within though transcending
heaven's hierarchical dynamic positing.
Difference-making in her as instantly recreating and deifying.
Yet from the overflowing abundance of timeless creative generosity
her theandric Son was made
for himself and for viewing humanity
most like her in bodily frame and features,
save physical womanhood.
Yet in highest oneness in mind, desire and willing
and so physically viewable, with even self-feelable features,
complementary in alignment of looks
even more so in graspings of mind and spirit and love
to him as timeless Source, with intensity
growing and harvesting continually till judgement is passed universally,
from that unique Moment of timeless expansion,
never decreasing in state and in consequences
as the Purest Spirit, bursting out its message,
excrescing now its wave-harvesting drives,
singly and timelessly achieves
from  the principative total-as-multiple adoptings,
in union with each one,
caught up into the universally enfolding Divinity.
 Fr. Edward, O.P.
Stykkishólmur
22 March (Good Friday) 2013

Thursday 4 April 2013

Easter Week. Angel(s) at the Tomb


Resurrection_of_Christ_and_Women_at_the_Tomb
by_Fra_Angelico_(San_Marco)
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: William W...
To: Donald ...
Sent: Wednesday, 3 April 2013, 19:58

Subject: Re: [Blog] Angels at the tomb

Dear Father Donald,
 
It is a delight for me to share in your Easter celebration on your Blog, and to receive your lovely greetings!
 
The presence of the angels could be a study in itself, bearers of divine grace, making it always clear that they are messengers of God. All the artists create impressions for us (see attachment saved from your Blog that has been on my desktop throughout Easter!), but for most of us the angels are as hidden in person as the Spirit is as little known in revelation. The Liz Curtis Higgs presentation of the Easter story is beautiful, quite absorbing. This Easter I have greatly enjoyed the commentary in 'The Gospel Story' Knox/Cox to which you introduced me.
 
As I get older, I complain to myself of myself that I seem to cover less and less ground! but this Easter I have discovered a good reason as to why... I now like to read in sentences (and that from Albert Schweitzer is a perfect example), not paragraphs even, and certainly not pages, weighing the meaning: and instead of collecting gems to read later, I savour what I can now, and reluctantly pass on. There is such a vast portrait gallery now made available on the internet! 
 
Medicine for the soul cannot be taken in large doses!
 
Thus I so greatly enjoy your Blog and all the fascinating articles you present, thank you Father.
 
In the Joy of Easter,
with my love in Our Lord,
William

From: Donald ...
To: William ...
Sent: Tuesday, 2 April 2013, 20:56
Subject: Fw: [Blog] Angels at the tomb. John 20:12 to update

Dear William,
Again Happy Easter Time.
Too many irons in the fire and heading for rest.
But I did not get the Angels into the Holy Week story. See the ATTACHED:
Angels Bearing the Instruments of the Passion, details from The Last Judgement Altarpiece, Rogier van der Weyden
And from the Blog copy is more extended version of:

For the Angels, need learn more .....
 In Dno.
fr. Donald.

P.S. A thought from Wordsmith.org;
"Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else." Like all genuine humor, this waggish remark carries a grain of truth. There are seven billion of us around, and we are very different -- in our demeanor, diction, and dreams, as well as in our fingerprints, retinal patterns, and DNA sequences.
Yet, no matter which hand we write with, what language we speak, or what we eat, there is something that binds us all, whether it's our preference for a life free from fear, our efforts to make this world a better place, our appreciation of beauty, or our longing for love.
With so many people, so many shared traits, and so many differences, there's no wonder we have so many words to describe people. This week we'll look at five of them.  

magnanimous 

PRONUNCIATION:
(mag-NAN-i-muhs) 

MEANING:
adjective: Generous or forgiving, especially towards a weak rival.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin magnanimus (great-souled), from magnus (great) + animus (soul, mind). Ultimately from the Indo-European root meg- (great), which also gave us magnificent, maharaja, master, mayor, maestro, magnate, magistrate, maximum, magnify, mahatmamagisterialmickle, and hermetic. Earliest documented use: 1547.

USAGE:
"Breslin was magnanimous in victory, paying tribute to the efforts of Glenavon."
Gordon Hanna; Cliftonville in Cruise Control; Belfast Telegraph (Northern Ireland); Mar 19, 2013.

Explore "magnanimous" in the Visual Thesaurus. 
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. -Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, Nobel laureate (1875-1965) 

----- Wordsmith.org -----



Wednesday 3 April 2013

Journey to Emmaus. Such was the prayer Christ made to the Father while he was still on earth

Question: The appearance  of the Angels at the Tomb often accompany the presence of Jesus, at other dramatic moments.
How frequently in the Gospels?
Journey to Emmaus
 Night Office - (A Word in Season 1983)
OCTAVE OF EASTER  Wednesday            Year I

First Reading    From the first letter of Peter (2:11-25)
See 1 Peter 2:21.24


Second Reading
From an Easter homily by an ancient author (Sermo 35,6-9: PL 17 red 1879], 696-697)

This reading from a fourth century homily contrasts the death brought by Adam and the life brought by Christ, the second Adam, through his passion and death. From the first Adam humanity inherited a mortal and corruptible body and death. From Christ, the baptized inherit his risen and glorified life and immortality.

Such was the prayer Christ made to the Father while he was still on earth...
Saint Paul rejoices in the knowledge that spiritual health has been restored to the human race. Death entered the world through Adam, he explains, but life has been given back to the world through Christ. Again he says: The first man, being from the earth, is earthly by nature; the second man is from heaven and is heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthly man, the image of human nature grown old in sin, so let us bear the image of the heavenly man: human nature raised up, redeemed, restored, and purified in Christ We must hold fast to the salvation we have received. Christ was the firstfruits, says the Apostle; he is the source of resurrection and life. Those who belong to Christ will follow him. Modelling their lives on his purity, they will be secure in the hope of his resurrection and of enjoying with him the glory promised in heaven. Our Lord himself said so in the gospel: Whoever follows me will not perish, but will pass from death to life.

Thus the passion of our Saviour is the salvation of the whole human race. The reason why he desired to die for us was that he wanted us who believe in him to live for ever. It was his will to become for a time what we are at present, so that we might inherit the eternity he promised and live with him for ever.

Here, then, is the grace conferred by these heavenly mysteries, the gift which Easter brings, the most longed-for feast of the year, the beginnings of the new creation; children are born from the life-giving font of holy Church, born anew with the simplicity of little ones, and crying out with the evidence of a clean conscience. Chaste fathers and inviolate mothers accompany this new family, countless in number, born to new life through faith. As they emerge from the grace-giving womb of the font, a blaze of candles bums brightly beneath the tree of faith. The Easter festival brings the grace of holiness from heaven to the children of the human race. Through the repeated celebration of the sacred mysteries they receive the spiritual nourishment of the sacraments. Fostered at the very heart of holy Church, the fellowship of one community worships the one God, adoring the triple name of his essential holiness, and together with the prophet sings the psalm which belongs to this yearly festival: This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. And what is this day? It is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the author of light, who brings the sunrise and the beginning of life, saying of himself. I am the light of day; whoever walks in daylight does not stumble. That is to say, whoever follows Christ in all things will come by this path to the throne of eternal light.

Such was the prayer Christ made to the Father while he was still on earth: Father, I desire that where I am they also may be, those who have come to believe in me; and that as you are in me and I in you, so they may abide in us.



Wednesday 3 April 2013  


Easter Wednesday

Christ the source of resurrection and life

Easter Vigil - Vatican Exultet




----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Nivard
Sent: Wednesday, 3 April 2013, 13:10
Subject: Exultet on YourTube

Dear Don,

Many thanks for the Link of the Easter Vigil Proclamation. 

Vatican 'Exultet' English, new  = 
 

Praeconium Paschale - Exsultet  Latin,  Last year or so.  Singer looks like Mt Saint Bernard's Cantor??

See links for free Catholic Liturgy.
 
Rather good stuff.
 
Nivard



"Did not our hearts burn " Luke 24:13-35






----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Nivard 
Sent: Wednesday, 3 April 2013, 10:18
Subject: Easter Wed. 2013 Beautiful Gate, Emmaus


 "Did not our hearts burn "
Wednesday (April 3): Scripture: Luke 24:13-35
 
   Why was it difficult for the disciples to recognise the risen Lord? Jesus' death scattered his disciples. It shattered their hopes and dreams.
   
They had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. They saw the cross as defeat. They could not comprehend the empty tomb until the Lord appeared to them. Jesus chided the disciples on the road to Emmaus for their slowness of heart to believe what the scriptures had said concerning the Messiah. They did not recognise the risen Jesus until he had broken bread with them. Do we recognise the Lord in his word and in the breaking of the bread?

   Father, nourish me with your life-giving word and with the bread of life." through Christ our Lord.


Belated Easter Greetings and Blessings to all of you.!!
ZENIT

Pope's April Prayer Intentions Focus on Liturgy
Celebration of Faith and Mission Churches  
VATICAN CITY, April 02, 2013 (Zenit.org) - Pope Francis' prayer intentions this month focus on the life of the faithful increased through liturgy.
The Apostleship of Prayer announced the intentions chosen by the Pope for April.
His general intention is
  • "that the public, prayerful celebration of faith may give life to the faithful."
  • His mission intention is for mission Churches, that they "may be signs and instruments of hope and resurrection."


REGINA CAELI

 


Tuesday 2 April 2013

Angels at the tomb. John 20:12

Questions Tuesday 2 April later


As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb… John 20:11
You’ll remember how low the entrance is, no more than three feet high. John and Peter saw strips of linen. Mary sees a great deal more.
…and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. John 20:12
Two angels this time. Yet Mary isn’t trembling in fear or falling to her knees. She’s too busy weeping. Is it any wonder the word maudlin comes from Magdalene?
The angels address her—not by name but by gender—and speak directly to her sorrow.
They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” John 20:13
Emotionally, Mary is still at the cross. This brave woman, who left demons in her wake years ago only to find herself conversing with angels, wants nothing more than to prepare his body properly. Even that humble task has been denied her.
Now listen to the cry of her heart. Her words are personal, and her devastation clear.
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” John 20:13
It’s the same message she told Peter and John, with one important difference. My Lord. So intimate, in the best sense. Jesus is not only her Savior; he is also her friend.
Oh, Jesus, that we might see you in the same way. Our dearest companion. Our truest friend.
Crushed in spirit that morning in the garden, Mary stares at the emptiness that looms before her. Can no one help?

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And seeth two angels in white,.... Matthew and Mark speak but of one, but Luke of two, as here; whom he calls men, because they appeared in an human form, and in shining garments, or white apparel; and which appearance is entirely agreeable to the received notion of the Jews, that as evil angels or devils are clothed in black, so good angels, or ministering spirits, , "are clothed in white" (l), expressive of their spotless purity and innocence:

sitting the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain; in what position the body of Christ was laid, whether from west to east, as some, or from north to south, as others, is not certain; since the Jews observed no rule in this matter, as appears from the form of their sepulchres, and the disposition of the graves in them; some lying one way, and some another, in the same vault; See Gill on Luke 24:12.
(l) Gloss. in T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 72. 1.


Monday 1 April 2013

In His own raiment clad. The Story of the Cross

Good Friday Liturgy is due.
Will come back to  'The Story of the Cross',...
_ _ _

See COMMENT below;
The next stanza delivers two powerful allusions to Scripture. Isaiah says of the Suffering Servant, "He hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him" (53:2). Spiritual beauty, Francois Mauriac wrote, attracts one man irresistibly, while others don't notice it, or are repelled by it: as to some people the countenance of the aged Mother Teresa was only withered and ugly.
Mathew 27:31



















See, they are travelling on the same road;
Simon is sharing with him the load.
Follow to Calvary, tread where he trod,
He who for ever is Son of God.

You that would love him, stand, gaze on his face;
Pause for a while in your earthly race.
Is there no beauty to you that pass by
in that lone figure against the sky?

On that cross lifted up, your face we scan,
bearing that cross for us, Son of Man. ,
Thorns are your diadem, rough wood your throne;
for us your blood is shed, us alone.

We see your title, Lord, inscribed above:
'Jesus of Nazareth', King of Love.
Faithful to that love may we ever be,
and live with you in eternity.
_____________________________

Other adaptations;

In His own raiment clad, with His blood dyed;
Women walk sorrowing by His side.
Heavy that cross to Him, weary the weight;
One who will help Him waits at the gate.
See! they are traveling on the same road;
Simon is sharing with Him the load.
O whither wandering bear they that tree?
He who first carries it, who is He?
Follow to Calvary; tread where He trod,
He who for ever was Son of God.
You who would love Him stand, gaze at His face:
Tarry a while on your earthy race.
As the swift moments fly, through the blest week,
Read the great story the cross will teach.
Is there no beauty to you who pass by,
In that lone figure which marks that sky?
On the cross lifted Thy face we scan,
Bearing that cross for us, Son of Man.
Thorns form Thy diadem, rough wood Thy throne;
For us Thy blood is shed, us alone.
No pillow under Thee to rest Thy head;
Only the splintered cross is Thy bed.
Nails pierced Thy hands and feet, Thy side the spear;
No voice is nigh to say help is near.
Shadows of midnight fall, though it is day:
Thy friends and kinsfolk stand far away.
Loud is Thy bitter cry; sunk on Thy breast
Hangeth Thy bleeding head without rest.
Loud scoffs the dying thief, who mocks at Thee;
Can it, my Savior, be all for me?
Gazing, afar from Thee, silent and lone,
Stand those few weepers Thou callest Thine own.
I see Thy title, Lord, inscribed above;
Jesus of Nazareth, King of Love.
What, O my Savior, here didst Thou see,
Which made Thee suffer and die for me?
“Child of My grief and pain, watched by My love;
I came to call thee to realms above.
I saw thee wandering far off from Me:
In love I seek for Thee; do not flee.
For thee My blood I shed, for thee alone;
I came to purchase thee, for Mine own.
Weep thou not for My grief, child of My love:
Strive to be with Me in Heaven above.
O I will follow Thee, Star of my soul,
Through the deep shades of life to the goal.
Yea, let Thy cross be borne each day by me;
Mind not how heavy, if but with Thee.
Lord, if Thou only wilt, make us Thine own,
Give no companion, save Thee alone.
Grant through each day of life to stand by Thee;
With Thee, when morning breaks, ever to be.
Words: Ed­ward Mon­ro   (d.1866).  
http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/m/o/n/monro_e.htm 

Music: Sto­ry of the Cross, Artur Brown(1830-1926)
22 March 2013, 1:34 pm
My poem of the week has been Edward Monro’s “The Story of the Cross.” I discovered this poem reading Anthony Esolen’s recent column at Touchstone Magazine. I appreciated the meditation on Jesus’ cross work, enhanced by Esolen’s comments,  and hope you will as well. In His own raiment clad, with His blood dyed; Women walk [...]


Anthony Esolenis Professor of English at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island, and the author ofThe Ironies of Faith(ISI Books),The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization(Regnery), andTen Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child(ISI Books). He has also translated Tasso'sGerusalemme liberata(Johns Hopkins Press) and Dante'sThe Divine Comedy(Random House). He is a senior editor ofTouchstone.
Letters Welcome:One of the reasonsTouchstoneexists is to encourage conversation among Christians, so we welcome letters responding to articles or raising matters of interest to our readers. However, because the space is limited, please keep your letters under 400 words. All letters may be edited for space and clarity when necessary.letters@touchstonemag.com   
Read more:http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=26-02-014-c#continue#ixzz2PEk86yyK

This is the printer-friendly layout. Click here to find the online format.
ILLUMINATIONS

At the Cross of Jesus

At the end of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the good Gawain approaches the Green Chapel, where he is certain he must die. It's New Year's Day, the snow lies deep, and a grindstone hums nearby. As far as Sir Gawain knows, it's sharpening the ax that will shear off his head. "I'll be with you right away," calls the demonic Green Knight from behind the chapel. That chapel is a place of foreboding. There is no cross.
I've been to a chapel without a cross. It was converted from an old factory. The windowless inner "worship room" boasted electronic equipment for music and videos, but no cross. I felt, there, a little like Gawain. There's something wrong, in the sense of being crooked, bent, about a chapel without a cross. It cannot lead to good.
The Question of Christianity
Quite different is the wisdom of a remarkable five-part hymn by one Edward Monro: "The Story of the Cross"(1864). The first part is The Question:
See Him in raiment rent,
With His blood dyed:
Women walk sorrowing
        By His side.
Heavy that Cross to Him,
Weary the weight:
One who will help Him stands
        At the gate.
Multitudes hurrying
Pass on the road:
Simon is sharing with
        Him the load.
Who is this travelling
With the curst tree—
This weary prisoner—
        Who is He?
The terse meter provides, at the end of each stanza, a moment of extraordinary pathos. For the last line is "missing" its first syllable. It begins on a strong beat, set apart from the meter of the rest of the stanza. The women walk in sorrow, where? By His side. Who is this weary prisoner? Who is He? That is the question of Christianity, right there.

Son of God
The second part is The Answer:
Follow to Calvary,
Tread where He trod;
This is the Lord of life—
        Son of God.
Is there no loveliness—
You who pass by—
In that lone Figure which
        Marks the sky?
You who would love Him, stand,
Gaze at His face;
Tarry awhile in your
        Worldly race.
As the swift moments fly
Through the blest week,
Jesus, in penitence,
        Let us seek.
This is poetry worthy of Emily Dickinson; spare, laconic, immensely suggestive. The pronoun this, from The Question, is supplied in The Answer. If you want to know who this weary prisoner is, you must follow in his steps, up the bitter mountain. Then you will learn what seems impossible to the world. This weary prisoner, this man, battered and despised, is the Lord of life—Son of God, as the centurion professed.How powerful is the break in the sentence, and the omission of the definite article! It's as if the reply comes with a clutch in the throat: this is what it means to be Son of God.
The next stanza delivers two powerful allusions to Scripture. Isaiah says of the Suffering Servant, "He hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him" (53:2). Spiritual beauty, Francois Mauriac wrote, attracts one man irresistibly, while others don't notice it, or are repelled by it: as to some people the countenance of the aged Mother Teresa was only withered and ugly. The poet begs us to find the beauty of Jesus, not simply to pass him by. He alludes to the Lamentations of Jeremiah, after the destruction of Jerusalem; the text foretells the suffering of the Messiah: "It is nothing to you, all ye who pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow" (1:12). Why do the people pass by? The worldly race preoccupies them.
The world races to dissolution, and people race to attain things that perish. In this blest week at least, we should leave that race, and tarry awhile, to gaze upon the countenance of Jesus, seeking him in penitence, and finding in him our salvation.
Motifs of the Crucifixion
In the third part of the poem, we address the Lord personally:
On the Cross lifted up,
Thy face I scan,
Scarred by that agony—
        Son of Man.
Thorns form Thy diadem,
Rough wood Thy throne,
To Thee Thy outstretched arms
        Draw Thine own.
Nails hold Thy hands and feet,
While on Thy breast
Sinketh Thy bleeding head
        Sore opprest.
Loud is Thy bitter cry,
Rending the night,
As to Thy darkened eyes
        Fails the light.
Shadows of midnight fall,
Though it is day;
Friends and disciples stand
        Far away.
Loud scoffs the dying thief,
Mocking Thy woe;
Can this my Savior be
        Brought so low?
Yes, see the title clear,
Written above,
'Jesus of Nazareth'—
        Name of love!
What, O my Savior dear,
What didst Thou see,
That made Thee suffer and
        Die for me?
The poet combines motifs from the Crucifixion with those that look forward to it and those that recall it. "When ye have lifted up the Son of man," said Jesus to the Pharisees, "then shall ye know that I am he" (John 8:28). That elevation is to the throne of the Cross, with the crown of thorns as his diadem, fulfilling the prophecy of Daniel: "Behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom" (7:13–14). "And I," said Jesus, "if I be lifted up from the earth"—he is speaking about both the Crucifixion and his ascension to the Father—"will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32). Those arms are flung wide to embrace all who would come to him.
Munro tells the story of the Crucifixion with great skill: the nails, the cry of desolation, the darkness, the jeering thief, the sign nailed to the top of the cross. Friends and disciples stand—where? Alas, far away. Can this man lifted high on the cross be the Savior—brought so low? Yes, there is the sign: 'Jesus of Nazareth.' What does that mean? Love. What, from your exalted vantage, Jesus, did you see that moved you to grant me the greatest gift of your love, to die for me?
The Way for Thee
In the fourth part the Lord responds:
Child of my grief and pain!
From realms above,
I came to lead thee to
        Life and love.
For thee my blood I shed,
For thee I died;
Safe in thy faithfulness
        Now abide.
I saw thee wandering,
Weak and at strife;
I am the Way for thee,
        Truth and Life.
Follow my path of pain,
Tread where I trod:
This is the way of peace
        Up to God.
Jesus came for the speaker, for each of us, because he saw us wandering, weak and at strife. Again and again, he uses the personal pronoun thee; he does not save a generalized mankind; he saves us. Hence the emphatic reversal: For thee my blood I shed, / For thee I died. Hence the insertion of the pronoun into the famous verse: I am the way for thee: I am the way you must go.
What is that way? It is the road to Calvary. It is the way of love, even in suffering, even unto death. Only at the side of the pierced Lord do we find peace.
Star of My Soul
So in the final part of the poem, the speaker replies to Jesus with eager love:
O I will follow Thee,
Star of my soul!
Through the great dark I press
        To the goal.
Yea, let me know Thy grief,
Carry Thy cross,
Share in Thy sacrifice,
        Gain Thy loss.
Daily I'll prove my love
Through joy and woe;
Where Thy hands point the way,
        There I go.
Lead me on year by year,
Safe to the end,
Jesus, my Lord, my Life,
        King and Friend.
Not one word is idle. The auxiliary will is emphatic: I will follow, I am resolved. The verb follow, appearing for the third time, echoes the words of Jesus, and is the touchstone of the poem. Jesus is the star of my soul, the polestar, fixed in place, the star to sail by, in the darkness of this life. If we die with him, shall we not also rise? •

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