Good Friday 2007

This year's Good Friday I am reminded of two passages from the Gospels about Our Lord's Crucifixion.
The first one comes from one of the two men crucified with Jesus.
"And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done no evil. And he said to Jesus: Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom. And Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise."
Luke 23:41-43 Douay-Rheims Translation
Just as the crucified man was a criminal and deserved death, we are all sinners and we deserve death. However, despite this Our Lord died even though He had done nothing wrong. It hits home every time that Jesus Christ, the Lord of Creation, chose to humble Himself... even unto death, death on a cross. And just like the thief we turn to the Lord for forgiveness and ask Him to remember us in His Kingdom.

The other passage comes from Jesus Himself.
"After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother..."
John 19:27 Douay-Rheims Translation
As He was dying, so that He might rise again, He gave us Mary as our mother just as much as she was to Him. She has been as much of a mother to me as my mother, who gave birth to me and raised me.

I am also reminded that Christ is our Passove Lamb. His crucifixion is the killing of the lamb. Just as the Jews remember every year that the Lord of Hosts delivered them from bondage in Egypt. We Christians remember that Christ delivered us from the bondage of sin and we wander toward the promised land of Heaven for 40 years.
And as the Jews ate the lamb every to remember and Jesus is our Passover Lamb, we eat of His flesh and drink of His blood in rememberance of His death and resurrection. Today, Good Friday is the day after He established the Eucharist. It is the day that His blood was shed for our sins and His Precious Body and Blood were given to us as a manna to give us everlasting life and sustain us while we wander through the desert.

And like to leave just one more thought. The word excruciating comes from the Latin for "From the Cross". Crucifixion was so painful that the Ancient Romans had no words to describe it, so they left it that it was from the cross.

--Contra

Good Friday

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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The Suffering Servant

I have been thinking about the Suffering Servant in Isaiah since today is Good Friday.
Isaiah 53 (emphasis obviously mine):

Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the LORD been
revealed? He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth; There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him. He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, One of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; But the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all. Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth.
Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away, and who would have thought any more of his destiny? When he was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of his people, A grave was assigned him among the wicked and a burial place with evildoers, Though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood.
(But the LORD was pleased to crush him in infirmity.) If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him.
Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their
guilt he shall bear. Therefore I will give him his portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, Because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; And he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses.

I can only imagine the agony of the Crucifixion.

Noah and the Great Big Gopher Boat

A friend of mine played Japheth in a play called Noah and the Great. To support him I went Friday to the Kroc Center to see it with a friend.
There was a little bit of hokiness and the train horn cutting in was distracting, but it was a great time and was very enjoyable. There was a great emphasis on the faithfulness of God. There was also a good bit of it that dealt with the faith of Noah and his family and the virtue of obedience to the Will of God despite whether we understand.
There was also a cover song of "Cry me a river".
I noticed at the end that as the waters receded, Shem presented his wife (forget her name) with a white garment. I'm not sure whether I'm over-thinking it or if that was meant as a subtle allusion to the story as a prefiguring of baptism.
I'd recommend you see it but last night was the last showing of that play.
I'm told however that there will soon be another play based on Jacob and Esau.

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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7 Quick Takes 14JAN

Linked with Conversion Diary 7 Quick Takes

1. We still have a lot of sodas left over from my daughter's birthday party. I have found myself drinking two or three a day. God please grant me self-control.

2.As I've mentioned before, I really like the Divine Liturgy at my local Melkite Catholic parish. I've been going there every Sunday since about last May or June. I really think I'm talk to the priest there at the one year mark and see about becoming Melkite Catholic.

3. Anyone have any good recipes for Friday vegetarian dishes?

4. Windows Vista actually works on Chuck Norris's computer.

5. Does anyone happen to know any romantic places to go in the Augusta, GA area?

6. I used to blog very regularly, but now its seems like I never have anything to say. I almost forget I have it. I wish I could come up with more to say, but I'm just not that clever.

7. TGIF!

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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