Holy Saturday

Christ in the Sepulchre                              William Blake, 1808

For Holy Saturday . . .

Good Friday

Christ Crucified Between the Two Thieves  William Blake, 1800-03

Opening chorus, St. John Passion, Johann Sebastian Bach
Herr, unser Herrscher, dessen Ruhm
In allen Landen herrlich ist!
Zeig uns durch deine Passion,
Dass du, der wahre Gottessohn,
Zu aller Zeit,
Auch in der größten Niedrigkeit,
Verherrlicht worden bist!

Lord, our master, whose glory
Is magnificent everywhere!
Show us by your passion,
That you, the true son of God,
At all times,
Even in the deepest humiliation,
Are glorified.

Illustration: the collection of Harvard Art Museums

Maundy Thursday

Detail of Christ, The Sacrament of the Last Supper            Salvador Dali, 1955

Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said: Take, eat; this is my body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me. In the same way also he took the cup after supper, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying: Drink of it, all of you; this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.

A new command I give you: Love one another.  (John 13:34)

Favorite Scenes From A Century Of Cinema - 15

Coincidences are always interesting. Sometimes they're downright creepy.

At the very hour I was considering posting the scene to follow, my nephew - 400 miles away -  posted a brief comment on Facebook about its compelling significance in the film. I'll be thinking about this one a long time.

Apocalypse Now (1979) is both a landmark cinematic study of human behavior and an essential film for a very wide audience. If you want to explore the theme without the potential conflicts arising from the Vietnam War controversy, read the source for the screenplay, Joseph Conrad's novella, Heart of Darkness.

Georgia's Flannery O'Conner: "A Careful And Dignified Investigator"

Today is the birthday of the American writer,Flannery O'Connor. She was born in Savannah in 1925 and spent her early childhood there. She lived on Lafayette Square with its moss-draped live oaks, colorful azaleas, abundance of birds, and towering spires of The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. Things haven't changed much on this beautiful square. I'm sure it still has a interesting spectrum of regular visitors. Children play on the sidewalks and lawns. And every day, the cathedral bells remind the people of God's love and their obligations as His children. I think as long as you can visit Lafayette Square, say on a pleasant Sunday afternoon, you can know O'Connor well.

The family moved to Atlanta in 1938, where her father was diagnosed with lupus. Soon after, they moved to her mother's family home in Milledgeville, about 100 miles southeast of Atlanta. After his death in 1941, O'Connor moved a few miles north of town to her uncle's farm where she lived with her mother. Eventually, the farm would be called Andalusia, and it would become a refuge following her own diagnosis with lupus in 1950. At Andalusia, she would weave her rural Georgia experience and her childhood memories into some of America's finest literature.

O'Connor introduced the magnificent peacock to her farm in 1952 and quickly came to adore them. In time a large flock roamed freely about the place and the birds were often referenced in her stories. Today the stately bird has come to symbolize O'Connor and her work.

Lupus took Flannery O'Connor from us in 1964 when she was in her 39th year. You can visit both her childhood home and Andalusia thanks to foundations that preserve the landscapes and memories she cherished. And, thanks to her, you can visit the South anytime by simply opening one of her books.

"...a careful and dignified investigator."

Versions of this post first appeared in 2009 and 2010.

Picking Our Poison: Huxley or Orwell?

If you read dystopian novels from the first half of the twentieth century, the two most likely to end up on your bookshelf are Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. In these books, society is assuredly on the road to ruin, but the methodology along the way could hardly be more different. Stuart McMillen, blogging at HighExistence, presents us with a short series of cartoons exploring the question of which novelist nailed the future.  It's an interesting, thought-provoking question, and a significant one for those of us experiencing the evolution of the great experiment called the United States of America.

Hat tip goes to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit.

Music For Lent

Lutherans love to sing, and tonight our midweek Lenten service included a hymn, a favorite, so great that it had to be shared. Fans of J.S. Bach will recognize the music immediately. It is his arrangement of a tune by Hans L. Hassler (1564-1612). The text is attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153) or Arnulf of  Louvain (c.1200-50) and translated by Paul Gerhardt (1607-76).

Many variations of the lyrics exist, but all of them express the profound emotion of the season of the Passion.

Here is the last verse from a Lutheran lyric:

Be Thou my Consolation,
My Shield when I must die;
Remind me of Thy Passion
When my last hour is nigh.
Mine eyes shall then behold Thee,
Upon Thy cross shall dwell,
My heart by faith enfold Thee.
Who dieth thus dies well!