I Know That My Redeemer Liveth

My favorite song to listen to on Easter Morning is this piece from the Easter section of Handel's Messiah.  It is peaceful, calm, and yet resolute in its confidence.  (The references are Job 19:25-26, oddly enough, and 1 Corinthians 15:20).  It is a sublime meditation on the resurrection of Jesus, and our own.  You can find it in my new playlist here.  ( I also use this piece as a benchmark for a really great soprano. Emma Kirkby is a really great soprano, and is perfect for this selection, not overly operatic, if you get my drift.)

While you are there, listen to the glorious "Worthy if the Lamb" and the majestic Great Amen.  If this doesn't stir you, check for a pulse!

Christus Factus Est

Christ became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.

This, from chapter two of Paul's Epistle to the Philippians, strikes me as a glimpse into the heart of the Trinity, and thus is deeply mysterious. 

Listen to track one of  my playlist,Songs to Ponder, here, as the Benedictines of Mary sing this great chant.

How can Christ, who is God, become obedient to the Father?  Is it only in His humanity that he can become anything?  As man, He shares with us our temporality, our progression from one moment to the next.  It is not that Christ was disobedient and then became obedient.  Rather, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He faces the moment of decision, so to speak, and accepts, obediently, His coming crucifixion as the Father' will.

Paul continues:

That at the name of Jesus,every knee should bow of those in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth. And every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father

Jesus died on the cross for love of each of us, not humanity as a whole, but each individual, for you and for me, so that we could be reconciled to the Father, that our broken relationship be healed.

This is why martyrs willingly go to their deaths proclaiming " Viva Cristo Rey"!

Dark Star, by Alan Furst; In this story of Europe in the late thirties, Alan Furst portrays a grim world but one not without humanity. I haven't read John le Carre in a long time, but I remember his novels being a lot bleaker, even cynical. Furst is a first rate writer, not just cranking out thrillers. Every so often, a truly luminous passage appears like this one talking about a poem by Alexander Blok "The Scythians": " He [Szara] would never the mysteries that these two peoples, the Russians and the Germans, shared between them. Blok had tried, as only a poet could [here it comes!]applying images, the inexplicable chemistry at the borders of language." Isn't that marvelous; the inexplicable chemistry at the borders of language.

I found this in the novel, Under Occupation, by Alan Furst:

Well, he wasn't, by his accent, French. ,Ricard thought.He didn't sing the language the way the French did,enjoying every word.

This makes me think of the greeting "Bon jour!" from every shopkeeper. As if we sang "Good morning!" to each person we met.

The Holy Spirit

Found at Happy Catholic: When the Holy Spirit takes possession of a heart, a change comes about. If before there was a "secret rancor against God" in the depths of a man's heart now the Spirit comes to him from God and attests that God is truly favorable and benign, that he is his ally and not his enemy. He opens his eyes to all that God has been capable of doing for him and to the fact that he did not spare his only Son for him. The Spirit puts "God's love" into man's heart (see Rom 5:5). In this way he makes him a new man who loves God and who willingly does what God asks of him. God, in fact, no longer limits himself to telling man what he should do or not do, but he himself does it with him and in him. The new law, the Spirit, is much more than an indication of a will; it is an action, a living and active principle. The new law is new life. That is why it is more often called grace than law: "You are not under law but under grace" (Rom 6:14).

St. Francis' (and our) conception of time

“For Francis,” writes Hans Urs von Balthasar in a beautiful passage from Razing the Bastions, “to be a Christian was something just as immense, certain and startlingly glorious as to be a human being, a youth, a man. And because being a Christian is eternal being and eternal youth, without danger of withering and resignation, his immediate joy was deeper. Not one single year separated him from Christ, the one who had become flesh; from the manger; from the Cross. For him, not one speck of dust had settled on the freshness of the wonder in the passage of time. The hodie of the liturgy on the great feasts was the hodie of his life. Is there a saint who has had any other Christian consciousness of time?”
Read the whole article here

Chesterton is just so good!

Great Moments in Chestertonian Ecumenism

I am firmly convinced that the Reformation of the sixteenth century was as near as any mortal thing can come to unmixed evil. Even the parts of it that might appear plausible and enlightened from a purely secular standpoint have turned out rotten and reactionary, also from a purely secular standpoint. By substituting the Bible for the sacrament, it created a pedantic caste of those who could read, superstitiously identified with those who could think. By destroying the monks, it took social work from the poor philanthropists who chose to deny themselves, and gave it to the rich philanthropists who chose to assert themselves. By preaching individualism while preserving inequality, it produced modern capitalism. It destroyed the only league of nations that ever had a chance. It produced the worst wars of nations that ever existed. It produced the most efficient form of Protestantism, which is Prussia. And it is producing the worst part of paganism, which is slavery. –G.K. Chesterton

More goodies found over at Happy Catholic

I like this:

Winter preserves and strengthens a tree. Rather than expending its strength on the exterior surface, its sap is forced deeper and deeper into its interior depth. In winter a tougher, more resilient life is firmly established. Winter is necessary for the tree to survive and flourish.

Instantly you see the application. So often we hide our true condition with the surface virtues of pious activity, but, once the leaves of our frantic pace drop away, the power of a wintry spirituality can have effect.

To the outward eye everything looks barren and unsightly. Our many defects, flaws, weaknesses, and imperfections stand out in bold relief. But only the outward virtues have collapsed; the principle of virtue is actually being strengthened. The soul is venturing forth into the interior. Real, solid, enduring virtues begin to develop deep within. Pure love is being birthed.
Richard Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home