Lectio Divina for Holy Week

Wikipedia tells us that 'Lectio Divina (Latin for "Divine Reading") is a traditional  Benedictine practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God's Word. It does not treat Scripture as texts to be studied, but as the Living Word' Which, I think, means that we need not be overly bothered with context but that if we find a passage, clause or word then we hold it in our mind and simply gaze at it with the eyes of the heart. That is to say, we don't do the intellectual analysing which we might do in other situations but we hear it as a lover speaking out of the fulness of His heart directly to our own heart.

One such text for Holy Week, when we recall the turbulent events culminating in the drama of Easter, might be this-
 I abode in the wilderness.
I waited for Him that hath saved me
(Psalm 54:8-9)

On the Cross our Lord told the penitent rebel "I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43) The Creed informs us that Jesus descended to Hell that same day from which we can conclude that paradise is where He is. The opposite case, then, is that where He is absent we are cast out into the wilderness there to wait His coming. When we, by mortal sin, kill grace in our soul we place ourself apart from Him in the desert. Sometimes too we experience abandonment even when we have done nothing amiss since such is the Father's will for us. In either event all we can do is compose ourselves to wait for the One that has saved, is saving and will save us, our dear Lord, Jesus Christ.

An icon of this text is the Blessed Virgin Mary on Holy Saturday that agonising time between the burial of her Son and His rising again. Of the first of those events she was certain with the certainty of sight of the second she had only the certainty of hope for things unseen. In the wilderness, without Jesus, waiting in sorrow and in faith was all that she could do.

How often during that day must she have said 'O Jesus, O my Jesus, O Jesus' Words that came from the centre of her grief laden being. Repeated over and over with an emotional and personal force that came from more than thirty years of loving relationship with her Divine Son. The word Jesus had for her all the associations that flowed from the great joy of Annunciation and Nativity through the hidden years to the apotheosis on Golgotha. There is much debate about the use of mantras in Christianity but if we could say them as Mary said her Son's name on that day of darkness we would be nearer to heaven than we are. As we can't it might be wiser to use the texts and prayers that our mother the Church gives to us.

At all events full of grace and virtue as Our Lady was she still had to abide her sorrow in patient waiting. The gifts of God come to us when He wills to send them. We cannot call them down simply by the strength of our own efforts. We must give of ourselves in our sorrows and in our joys and then wait.The Spirit visits us not because we deserve Him but because we need Him and He comes only at the times which He knows to be best for us. Until then we are in the wilderness, but we do have this sure and certain knowledge, the One for whom we are waiting loves us more than we can possibly love Him and His blood has been shed for us.
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The painting is in a Book of Hours from the Workshop of the Master Francois.

Sixth Sorrow of Mary: She Receives Her Son's Body

The Blessed Virgin was overwhelmed with sorrow and love. Once more, and for the last time, did she hold in her arms the body of her most beloved Son
(Dolorous Passion LI)

Hail Mary, who held the pierced and lifeless body of your Son next to your Immaculate Heart

Sacred Scripture itself is silent as to the state of mind of the grieving Virgin. "Her soul is in anguish, and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me." (4 Kings 4:27) It does tell us, though, about her ancestor David's response to the death of his son-
"My son Absalom, Absalom my son: would to God that I might die for thee, Absalom my son, my son Absalom."
(2 Kings/Samuel 18:33)
If David was nearly destroyed with grief over the death of his guilty child how much more must Mary have suffered in being bereaved of her Innocent One?

In the modern era there is a distaste for the focus on the sheer physicality of the Passion and Death of Our Lord that characterised so much earlier piety. It is felt to be morbid to spend so much time considering every aspect of His suffering and the attention paid to the empty shell of His corpse. After all, it is reasoned, the main point of His mission was the teaching He gave us and the reconciliation He wrought for us in the heavenly places. This is a dangerously misleading approach to take. The entire essence of the economy of salvation is that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

If Jesus had been crucified without giving the Sermon on the Mount we would still be saved, if He had given the Sermon without being crucified we would still be lost. His body matters. A lot. Of course He did both, and we should never consider the two things, His teaching and His suffering apart from each other. When Mary hugged the body of the dead Saviour close to her Immaculate Heart she was not only transported with her own unimaginable sorrow she was also acting as our plenipotentiary. We to need to come near to the Man of Sorrows in all His humanity as well as in all His divinity.

Jesus had said, referring to His body,  "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:19) About the Temple of Solomon the psalmist had sung "Its stones are dear to your servants; its dust moves them to pity" (Psalm 102:15) If the Spirit of God had moved the children of the Old Covenant to sigh over the very dust of its Temple how much more must it move us to join with Mary and lament over the bruised, battered and pierced body of our own most lovable and eternal Temple, Jesus Christ.
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Fifth Sorrow of Mary: She Stands at the Foot of the Cross

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen
(John 19:25)

Hail Mary, who fully entered into the agony and death of your crucified Son.

St John is the only Evangelist to record the presence of the Blessed Virgin on Mount Calvary. He too is the only witness for her role in the wedding at Cana where Our Lord's public mission began. At that time Mary's compassionate heart was moved at the thought of the suffering the newlyweds would endure if they were shamed by being unable to provide for their guests. And what of Mary's immaculate and compassionate heart now as she watches her beloved Son die slowly in front of her eyes?

Then she had said "they have no wine." Now the Precious Blood of Jesus flows like the new wine of the new covenant. Then she had instructed the servants, and through them all the Church for all time "Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye" (John 2:1-11) Now it was His will that she should fully enter into His agony, and what He willed, she did. So complete and total was her perfect love for Him that not only the gross suffering of His Passion- the nails in His hands and feet, the thorns pressing deep into His skull, the raging thirst- were felt by her but every single breath, every bead of sweat rolling down His skin, every flicker of emotion from compassion to abandonment which He felt was felt with equal force by her, His afflicted mother. Theologians tell us that, were it not for a supernatural act of power by the Spirit, Mary herself would have died on Golgotha so completely was she immersed in her Sons final agony and bitter death.

At Mary's instigation the nuptial feast at Cana had been the gateway to the public career of Jesus. At His instigation the Cross at Calvary has become the gateway to the "marriage supper of the Lamb" (Apocalypse 19:9) His Body and Blood are the foundations of our feast in the Eucharist and the reason for our hope in eternity. The Apostles consumed Him under the appearance of bread and wine at the supper of Holy Thursday. Mary, His Mother, whose flesh was His flesh and whose blood was His blood consumed Him and was consumed by Him through her most perfect union with Him on that darkness-shrouded hill. That union has never been broken since which is why we can approach Mary in prayer with such perfect confidence. There are many reasons why Jesus will listen to her petitions and not the least of them is the unbreakable bond formed between them on that dreadful day.
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The painting is Crucifixion by Robert Campin

Fourth Sorrow of Mary: She Meets Jesus Bearing His Cross

He was almost sinking under the heavy weight of his cross, and his head, still crowned with thorns, was drooping in agony on his shoulder. He cast a look of compassion and sorrow upon his Mother, staggered, and fell for the second time upon his hands and knees. Mary was perfectly agonised at this sight; she forgot all else; she saw neither soldiers nor executioners; she saw nothing but her dearly loved Son

(The Dolorous Passion XXXII)

Hail Mary, who deeply distressed encountered your cross-bearing and suffering Son.

It is one of the mysteries of love that the presence of a beloved one can both increase and diminish suffering at the same time. For Jesus it would have immeasurably added to His affliction when He saw the anguish His mother experienced when she saw Him. It was also infinitely consoling to Him to have the one He loved and honoured above all others near at hand and touching Him with her total compassion. Similarly, for Mary it was exquisite agony to see Jesus sinking under the dark weight of the world's sin. Yet it was, too, a source of strength for her to feel that He knew and appreciated the depth of her love for Him.

This highly intense drama lasted for only a few seconds and most people on the Via Dolorosa would have known nothing about it. Yet what immensity of feeling, of emotion and of perfect love was packed into those precious instants. The agonies of Christ in Gethsemane and on Calvary lasted for longer but they never sank deeper into pain or rose higher in silent appeal to the Lord and Father of all.

The liturgies of the Church ascribe to Our Lady of the Passion the words of Jeremiah the prophet-
"O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow" (Lamentations 1:12)
And how could there be? To see your beautiful, perfect Son being led away to a shameful and painful death after having been tortured, mocked and unjustly condemned, knowing that there is nothing you can do to save Him. What anguish! What torment! And to know also that this is far from the end of both His sufferings and yours. Ahead lie the hours on the Cross and the final mystery of death.

So we have the two great mysteries, love and death, on this Good Friday it will be resolved which has the final victory. On the road to Golgotha Mary might have used to Jesus the words of Solomon "Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm, for love is strong as death" (Canticles 8:6)
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Master Thomas de Coloswar: Christ Carrying the Cross

The Two Mirrors: An Allegory

 Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature. For anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is to hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.
Hamlet Act III, Scene 2


Once, long ago, our Noble Lord was hung upon a tree and died thereon. Strange to relate at certain seasons the tree and Him upon it are made present among us. At such times His lovers are mysteriously enabled to drink His blood as if it were wine and to eat His flesh as if it were bread gaining great strength thereby.

For the most part though our Noble Lord is hidden from our senses. During these times two great and rival companies re-enact His Passion for our benefit. These are the Dark Companions, who are always the most numerous, and the Companions of the Light, who are always led by a most wondrous sweet Lady.

The Dark Companions fully and perfectly reconstruct among us the instruments of our Lord’s death. They are the most perfect liars, they are filled with envy and spite, they are consumed with anger. Of sympathy they are naked but nonetheless they are well clad, covering themselves with mockery and cursing.With all this and much more besides they present the play “The 50 Dark Moments of our Lord's Passion.” Always they receive the just reward for their performance.

Whenever the Dark Companions appear together assembled the Companions of the Light timidly run away. Presently though they are rallied by their womenfolk, and by one woman above all other women. Led by her they enter into the heart of our Lord’s Passion. They make present among us most perfect love, patience, grief at the evils men do and steadfast but tender endurance. Their play is “The 50 Moments of Light" It is not always obvious to human eyes but it is certain that they too receive the just reward for their performance.

When these plays are not being played the actors are among us as ordinary folk. It is a passing strange thing but whether acting or not the Companions alway remain true to their parts. Darkness never departs from the words and actions of the Dark Companions. When not being professional liars they are amateur ones; doing it, as it were, for the fun of the thing. The Companions of the Light for their part likewise are always loving, never counting either the cost or the benefit to themselves.

While it is true that the Dark ever claims the most numerous following a thing of great joy and wonder occurs from time to time. Moved by continually reflecting upon our Noble Lord in His agony and upon our most sweet Lady at His feet there are some who forsake darkness and become Companions of the Light. They abandon envy, anger and hate and humbly seek to follow the path of patient loving endurance. There is tremendous rejoicing and celebration when even but a single one of the Dark Company takes this step.

While the Dark Companions ever brood upon past wrongs and present jealousies it is not so in the Light Company. They never reproach their new companions with the deeds of their Dark past. They, and the Lady above all the rest, are ever gracious and kind to them. Our Noble Lord does not withhold even His Body and Blood, it is said indeed that He shed His most precious blood especially and above all for those who have walked in the darkness.

When our story will come to an end I do not know. But of this I am certain; victory will belong not to the many but to the few. The key to this victory will not be the power to inflict suffering and death but rather the power to endure it with patience, kindness and love.
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The painting is Crucifixion Triptych by Rogier Van der Weyden

The Veiled Majesty of Jesus Christ

                                                           Ecce Homo- Cigoli

The Jews answered, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”  Now when Pilate heard this statement, he became even more afraid
John 19:7-8

The Gospel accounts of the encounter between Pontius Pilate and Jesus are tensely dramatic and full of profound meanings. This exchange between Pilate and the mob occurred immediately after the scourged and mocked Jesus had been displayed publicly. There could be few individuals in the world who looked less divine than our Lord did at that moment. Yet to the mind of the Roman Governor these words of the Jewish crowd carried a ring of conviction. He clearly accepted the possibility that perhaps his prisoner was after all what He has apparently claimed to be. Why might that be?

There are various plausible explanations. As an occupying power the Romans would have had a good intelligence network which no doubt informed Pilate about the miracles attributed to Jesus in Judea and Jerusalem. Also he had received a message from his wife anent our Lord 'Have nothing to do with that righteous man. I suffered much in a dream today because of him' (Matt 27:19) Taken together these might have been sufficient to induce the Governor to take the claim of divinity seriously. I doubt this however. In the world of the first century Roman Empire claims about miracle workers and prophetic dreams were if not commonplace at least of sufficient frequency for them to be explained by things other than divine filiation.

It seems likely to me that there was something about the person of Jesus which conveyed outwardly the inward truth about His origins. It was not so obvious as to compel recognition or belief but it was there to be seen by anyone who looked closely enough. Pilate was, in effect, a politician. To get where he got to he had to have an ability to 'read' people. In Jesus he perhaps read something which at the least puzzled him. Our Saviour possessed what we would call charisma (although technically this is inapplicable in His case, I mean charisma in the popular sense.) We can only speculate as to how this might have manifested itself but it would probably take different form depending on the role that He was fulfilling. In this case He was on trial for His life, He had been abandoned by His friends, beaten by the Jews, scourged by the Romans. And yet His judge at least half-believed that He was the Son of God.

I have often wondered what it would be like to look into the eyes of Jesus. I feel that in those something essential about His mystery is to be seen. In the encounter between Judge and Judged I think that it was in the eyes of his prisoner that Pilate would have seen the intimation of the real nature of our Lord. He wavered before them for a while but then surrendered to the demands of the mob, as politicians will whatever their inner wisdom might tell them to do. He veiled his own eyes because he preferred power and applause to the uncertainties of the journey which the charisma of Jesus promised him.

Does this have any significance for us today? The Church is the Body of Christ. In many parts of the world like Him it is scourged and bloody, in other parts it is mocked and ridiculed, politicians turn away from it. Almost everywhere it is crowned with thorns. Yet veiled within it is the divine majesty of Christ. It is there to be seen by those who look. If it must face its Passion it can do so with a serene confidence in its Resurrection. Some vent their fury upon it precisely because they do sense that hidden divinity, others allow that fury to flow without seeking to hinder it because they, like Pilate, choose to veil their own eyes. As long, though, as the Church returns again and again to its divine source to draw strength and renew hope there are no defeats it cannot overcome, no losses it cannot sustain and no persecution it cannot survive. Try as they might the gates of hell will not prevail, the Church of Christ will survive until the time comes to greet its returning Lord. Vivat Christus Rex!

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And It Was Night

                                                           Last Supper- Perugino

After receiving the piece of bread, he went out immediately. And it was night.
John 13:30

The Gospel account given by St John in large part consists of long periods of dialogue interspersed by short narrative sections. It is tempting to consider those sections are simply being bridges leading from one conversation to another put in merely to give some context. As I have mentioned in some of my earlier posts, however, St John's is the most highly structured of all the Gospel accounts and every word usually does duty at more than one level. If we spend time meditating on these narrative passages we can see that each of them carries more meaning than may at first appear and serves the Evangelist's didactic purposes as much as any other part of the Gospel. And so it is with this record of the last few moments that the traitor Judas Iscariot spent in the friendly company of the Apostles. When next they met it would be as enemies.

We can conveniently divide this into three sections beginning with Jesus handing some bread to Judas. The concept of bread is central to the Christian project. It is widely thought, for example, that the chief significance of the birth of our Lord at Bethlehem is that it was a fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. So much so indeed that atheist and theologically liberal critics suggest that St Matthew and St Luke fabricated their accounts of the Nativity in order to fit in with this preordained schema. The name Bethlehem, however, means 'house of bread.' So we can say that Divine Providence achieved a double whammy by ensuring that Jesus was born in a place which both looked back to historical prophecy and looked forward to His own mission.

Earlier in the Gospel the Christ describes Himself in this way “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35) and He also said  Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you (John 6:26) As the other Evangelists tell us previously in this same meal He had shown what He meant And He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is My body, which is given for you" (Luke 22:19) So, what we see in this segment of narrative is Judas accepting the food that perishes as his portion when he could have instead accepted the food that lasts for eternal life. It is customary to think of thirty pieces of silver as the price for which he sold the Saviour but St John illustrates here that it was even less than that. Other translations refer to this piece of bread as a 'morsel' or a 'sop'. It was a mere nothing and he preferred that to everything. He was betraying himself as surely as he was betraying our Lord. To add to the burden of his folly and sin he had earlier participated in the Eucharist so that he received the sacred elements of communion falsely and now took what was the object of his real desires, that is the purely carnal, material rewards that an unspiritual life offers.

He went out immediately. There is no gap between a decisive act of the will and its spiritual and moral consequences. We can see this at what you might call both the other end of the Gospel and the other end of the moral universe where the immediate consequence of Mary saying “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) is that she conceives with joy Jesus in her heart before she does so in her body. Here Judas has reached the crucial point. He could have gone back on his agreement with the High Priest. His heart could have been softened by this shared banquet with our Lord and His friends. But now he made the final step within himself. He took the bread that perishes and with it he perished himself, all the rest was just an acting out in the physical realm a destruction which he had taken upon himself in the spiritual one. It reminds us that in Genesis God had said to Adam and Eve of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die (Genesis 2:17) The story tells us that the pair lived for many years after they had eaten of that fruit but the Almighty had spoken truly since death entered their souls from the moment that they decided to eat from this tree.

As a completely random aside, the fruit that Adam and Eve ate is generally depicted to be an apple. This puzzles many people since the item in question is never named and it wouldn't necessarily be the first thing you would think of as a Middle Eastern fruit. My guess is that the idea stems from this passage in the Song of Songs Under the apple tree I raised thee up: there thy mother was corrupted (Song 8:5) Interpreting the Song allegorically was a small industry in Medieval times since obviously it's not the erotic poetry it might appear to be. Here the soul of the believer or humanity in general is raised up by Jesus from the corruption inherited from our first parents. And since the corruption took place under an apple tree the agent of corruption must have been an apple QED.

And it was night. St John is not simply acting as a speaking clock here. As death had entered the soul of Judas, both his own and that of his Master, he plunged into deep gloom. This is your hour, and the power of darkness (Luke 22:53)  For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness  (Ephesians 6:12) Jesus had said of Himself “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) Judas by walking out with murder in his heart left behind the light and found only darkness within and without. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where he is going. (John 12:35)

Looking at the passage as a whole then. We can see that the bread of life, both spiritual and material, comes to us from the hand of God. If we accept only the material we die spiritually. If we accept only the spiritual we would die physically. With gladness and thanks we should accept all that the Lord gives us in order to live fully. More than that 'He gives' and that sets us an example, if we have received an abundance of His gifts then it behoves us also to give, to act as His agents. If we hoard material wealth we resemble Judas, if we give it away we resemble Jesus. If we refuse to accept His gifts then we immediately banish ourselves from His presence. But why would we? Why did Judas? Material things are tangible, we can see them, touch them, use them to satisfy our physical desires. Spiritual things are invisible, sometimes we can be aware of their presence but often enough they are like a seed hidden in the soil, it may be growing and preparing to bear abundant fruit but we are unaware, other than by faith, that this is so. You need neither faith nor love to use physical objects, you need both to fully respond to the spiritual gifts that come to us from Christ Jesus. And finally night is the natural home for those who are satisfied only with the things of death. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. (John 3:19-20)  

         
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Christ Riding Into Jerusalem- A Poem

It was a triumph, of sorts.
A great rejoicing that bright day.
Under the sun that too soon set.

Beneath Him a colt, patient
And willing, itself a parable
For those, those few, who heed such things.

Pilgrims without pilgrim hearts
They thought that they had arrived
But pilgrimage never ceases.

City dwellers scorned these
Uncouth travellers, amused
And puzzled by their cries.

Son of David from Nazareth?
A small town Messiah for
Small town people.
Jerusalem knows better.

Palms in His path, tales and
Rumours of miracles in the air
And hopes of war and battle in
Minds of a conquered people.

His name was on every tongue
As He was on His colt
And the beast was wiser than the men.

In Bethany He had been anointed
For His death but who, in this mad crowd
Remembered that? Conquering
He would conquer. 

Victory Hosannas would soon be heard
So they supposed who saw their humble, 
Prophesied King.

In all that joyful throng, that joyful day,
Who could foresee that a victory cry
Would strangely resemble the weeping
Of a mother cradling her dear Son's corpse? 

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Gentle Power

You thought evil against me: but God turned it into good, that he might exalt me, as at present you see, and might save many people. Fear not: I will feed you and your children. And he comforted them, and spoke gently and mildly.

Genesis 50:20-21

You might be forgiven for thinking that these are the words of the post-resurrection Jesus. In fact it is the Joseph who is mostly famous now for his amazing technicolour dreamcoat who is speaking. His words come at the end of a remarkably moving episode (Genesis 50:12-21) in the final chapter of Genesis. If this blog does nothing more than persuade you to read the passage then it will be a good job well done.

The context is that following the death of their father the brothers of Joseph feared that he would now exact revenge for them having sold him into slavery many years before. He, of course, did nothing of the kind. I think that this is significant to us for two main reasons. It shows a continuity between Old Testament (OT) and New Testament (NT) values and in Joseph we see a type or figure of Jesus so that the more we reflect upon him the more we will know about our Saviour.

There is a school of thought which suggests that there is such a marked contrast between the God of the OT and the one of the NT that really they are two different Gods or conceptions of God. Historically this has given rise to various heresies beginning, I think, with the Marcionites. Today the idea manifests itself chiefly in the suggestion that Christians are or should be embarrassed about the OT. A related idea suggests that Jesus is so radically different from historical Judaism that He must have learned His ideas of religion from India, specifically from Buddhism. The actions of Joseph, which are eminently compatible with Christianity, point up the fallacy of these approaches.

As the Chief Minister to the enormously powerful Pharaoh Joseph would have had a free hand to do whatever he wanted to his brothers who were, after all, perceived as uncouth barbarians by the cultured Egyptians. The brothers had betrayed him and his subsequent life had been for many years both hard and bitter. Had he extracted and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth no one would have blamed him. And yet he did not. Not only did he offer forgiveness but went beyond that to offer material well being and gentle love to his betrayers and their families. He did this explicitly in the name of his God and the authors of Genesis who virtually end the book with this episode clearly present it as a logical expression of faith in the God of Abraham.

A casual reading of the OT shows a deity who could be described at best as grumpy though perhaps the fine old Scottish word carnaptious might be more apt. The people of the OT, however, did not read it casually. Actually in most instances they did not read it at all, they heard it. And the text which was delivered verbally came with a context, everything would be accompanied by a commentary if by commentary we understand not merely words to describe meaning but a way of life and set of values through which and by which to understand meaning. There would be tensions and disputes over meaning within the community of course, which human community is free from those?, but the thread of understanding which see's God in terms of mercy, forgiveness, long-suffering and gentleness is never entirely absent from the narrative. If He is seen at times as Angry God it is an anger which has more of sorrow than of ire within it. Joseph is an example not only of how humans, specifically in this context Jews, should behave it is also an illustration of how God Himself behaves, forsaking justice for the sake of mercy.

If it is sometimes difficult for us, with our different contexts, to see this merciful OT God in quite the same light we seldom have much difficulty in seeing Jesus in that way. Hence the usefulness in considering Joseph as a prefiguring of Jesus. They were both associated with a group of 12, Joseph and his brothers, Jesus and His Apostles. They were both betrayed and sold to the enemy. They both endured a Passion, Joseph being imprisoned. The psalmist describes this episode in a remarkable way too : the iron pierced his soul, Until his word came. The word of the Lord inflamed him. (Psalm 104/5:18-19)  And they both forgave those who had abandoned them.

More than forgave in fact. Joseph acknowledges that his current exalted position is a direct consequence of his betrayal. Jesus was raised up on the Cross in order to draw all humans to Himself because Judas had betrayed Him. Joseph will feed his brothers and their children out of the wealth his exalted position entitles him to. Jesus feeds the Apostles and their children (ie those whom they convert) with His Body and Blood which have become the sacraments of salvation through His elevation on the Cross. Joseph will comfort them from his elevated place, Jesus sends the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, after He is raised to heaven in the Ascension. Joseph speaks gently and mildly. Jesus says Come to me, all you that labour, and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is sweet and my burden light. (Matthew 11:28-30)    

It is also perhaps worth mentioning that until old Jacob, also called Israel, died the brothers has no fear for their safety. The respect that Joseph had for his father would have in any case restrained his hand from exacting justice whenever Israel pleaded for mercy. Mary, a daughter of Israel and the mother of Jesus, stands in the same position in relation to her Son. It may well be that without her advocacy on our behalf we will encounter mercy instead of the just punishment our conduct deserves. But whether or no that is so if we take her for our advocate all doubt is removed, we will certainly encounter mercy from Jesus if Mary pleads our cause.

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Christian Meditation- Part One

                                                     Icon of Sophia, the Wisdom of God of Kiev

When I go into my house, I shall repose myself with her: for her conversation hath no bitterness, nor her company any tediousness, but joy and gladness.
Book of Wisdom 8


But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee
Matthew 6


The 'her' referred to by the author of the Book of Wisdom (by convention King Solomon) is Wisdom itself, personified as female. There may be a literal sense in which Solomon considers that a peaceful domestic setting is a good place to seeks Wisdom. That sense if it exists, however, is secondary to the mystic sense in which one enters into ones heart and engages in a loving dialogue with the Spirit. Essentially both Solomon and Jesus are giving us advise about meditation in the Christian sense of the word.

The first part of the process involves a withdrawal from the world. Or rather, since we are talking about the heart, firstly we must expel the world from it. The world, in the sense of all our worries and concerns, earthly hopes and ambitions, colonises and dominates our internal realm. We are restlessness in search of repose and Solomon proposes that we go into our house as the preliminary step to achieving this rest. What primarily distracts us is that a succession of thoughts and desires parades before our mind and every so often we reach out and grab hold of one, clutching it to ourselves and focussing our regard upon it. There is little we can do about this parade but we are completely in charge of the decision to grab or let be. We must become aware of our the difference between the "I" who watches the parade and the ego which generates it. And whenever the "I" becomes aware of engaging with the ego then it should just gently let go.

The period between entering the house and achieving the state of repose is simply the time it takes for the "I" to become aware that it is no longer paying attention to anything of the world, worldly. There are various ways to achieve this state. The recommendation of Jesus is that we petition for help on the grounds that the Father will send us precisely the assistance which we require. Eastern Orthodox Christians tend to use the Jesus Prayer. This practise has become quite common in the West also in recent decades but in a flawed way. The Orthodox teaching can be found summarised in the Philokalia: On Prayer of the Heart At it's core is the repetition of a short invocation of the name of Jesus coupled with a petition for assistance. However, this is advice given to monks who will be be using the prayer within the framework of a whole structured life dedicated to God and revolving around the liturgy and sacraments of the Orthodox Church. When Westerners appropriate the prayer and use it as a mantra what they are trying to do is use a Buddhist/Hindu practise and put a Christian gloss on it. It as if it was the stilling of the mind alone that is important.

A still mind is no doubt a good thing by comparison with a troubled one but it is a stage on the path to union with God it is not an end in itself for Christians. Catholic tradition has proposed a number of different ways for detaching attention from the tumbling flow of worldly thoughts and desires. One is to consciously focus your mind and engage your heart on a single topic, the Passion of our Lord is the most common one. This does not mean simply to repeat the narrative to yourself or to think discursively about its role in the economy of salvation. It does mean that you hold the Passion before the eyes of your heart, not analysing it but entering into it and responding to the love and the suffering of Jesus with emotions  of sorrow, contrition, gratitude, love. Even a short meditation of this kind leaves the world far behind and prepares you for repose in  spiritual sense.

The intuition behind the Jesus Prayer is not false. Praying can also lead us into the state we seek. Christian belief suggests that this is so primarily because God answers prayers. When His name, or that of the Blessed Virgin, is invoked He drives away the thoughts and temptation, conventionally described as demons, that otherwise would crowd in. That is, the success of prayer is a free act of the Grace of God not the mechanical consequence of frequently repeating a few words. Christian life, Christian prayer and Christian meditation are entirely about relationship it is never "all about me." Catholics could pray the Rosary which combines prayer and focussing the mind on a divine mystery like the Passion in a wonderful manner.

Distractions can come to us from all our senses. Many of the things the ego sends clamouring before the doors of the "I" will come attached to memories of sights and sounds, tastes, smells and sensations. For some of us this will be more so than for others. What many find helpful, then, to counter this, is to have non-wordly rivals to these things which will lead us towards the things of the spirit and away from the things of the flesh. Most commonly used, I would think, are crucifixes, icons and holy pictures or statues since our sense of sight is so important to us.  Turning our eyes towards images of our Lord, our Lady, the Angels and Saints and looking at them not as objects of analysis but as so many sparks from the divine fire of love brings us ever more fully into our heart-house and leaves the world ever further behind. The use of incense, candles, sacred music and the like can also help. It depends how distractible we are and what it is that distracts us.

The important thing to remember with any technique is that it is only a tool that we use. If we find ourselves going on ever longer expeditions to find just the right icon or getting irritated because we have the wrong set of rosary beads then we have missed our way. We wish to enter our house fully. We wish to repose fully. But we only wish to do these things because otherwise we cannot be face to face and heart to heart with divine wisdom. We empty ourselves of ourselves in order for her to fill us with the gifts which flow through her hands.

In part two we shall look at the conversation of Wisdom

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Wisdom and Bitter Tears

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
    and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
Psalm 51:6

61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.’ 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.
Luke 22

There is an idea that the acquisition of Wisdom is a feelgood thing. The purpose of acquiring it is to affirm our own essential goodness and rightness. Peace of heart is the result of discovering that actually we are not the sum of our failures but truly good people. Over against this Christianity with its desperately unfashionable insistence about the need to repent and repudiate our own wickedness is seen as an enemy of Wisdom and self-affirmation. And yet, somehow, many of these seekers after Wisdom are happy to say that Jesus was a wise teacher whose followers have misrepresented His teachings.

I think that it is true that we learn the deepest and most valuable wisdom in the secrets of our heart and that in a way without words. When Jesus looked silently at St Peter He imparted a wisdom teaching to the Apostle. The fruit of that Wisdom was tears. Here we come to the crucial difference between the Wisdom of the Christians and the wisdom of self-affirmation.

The heart is a secret not only to outsiders but also in no small measure to the one who possesses it. A silent wisdom can enter into it and grow and we can be unaware of it until the moment it suddenly bursts forth into flower-
26 He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, ²⁷and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.  
Mark 4
The eyes of Jesus conveyed a message to Saint Peter that had the effect of bringing to its culmination that process of growth which had for so long been taking place within his secret heart. A memory is a more complex thing than we often allow for. Every single thing that is recalled carries with it a host of other things that are associated with it.

In remembering the words that Jesus had uttered He also recalled, consciously, unconsciously or subconsciously, the person who had uttered them, their friendship, His many acts of kindness and healing, the meals they had shared, the friends they had in common-not least the Blessed Mother of the Lord- the teachings, the baptisms, the journeys, the love He had freely given. For memory is not a thing of the discursive mind only, with feeling we remember feelings, with emotion we recall and re-experience feelings. In a moment of time, or perhaps in an experience wholly outside of time and space, the Apostle felt all these things rushing upon him. And over and against all this was his act, now three times repeated of denying that he knew the man Jesus or had anything to do with Him.

The Gospels are insistent in recording that this Prince of Apostles did not simply weep but that he wept "bitterly." These were tears of a man whose heart was breaking. His worldly human heart was being broken on the rock of his secret spiritual heart. He was growing in wisdom. He had heard many months before the words that so many of us have heard since Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose it, shall preserve it.(Luke 17:33) Perhaps, like many of us, he had nodded along to it and thought 'yes, thats right'  but had left that thought in his head and not driven it down into his heart. But in that secret interior place of his the seed did fall and silently grew. Now, here on the very night his Lord was betrayed and arrested he had sought to save his life and had surely lost it by his own triple denial. The sad eyes of Jesus conveyed to him that truth but they conveyed something else too. They unfolded to him the wisdom in his secret heart. His bitter tears were not only a sign of regret, a sterile thing, they were his birth into a new kind of life.

It is not wisdom to affirm that we, as we are, are basically alright. We may do good things, cherish good feelings, have good thoughts be, in the conventional worldly sense, good people. But that is not enough. The pain that we feel, the wrongs that we do, or desire to do, are not always or even often the fault of somebody else. We are broken and need to be fixed. We are imperfect and cannot make ourselves perfect. We are small and weak and, however many friends or loved ones we may have, we are ultimately alone inside our own heads and hearts. Or, at least, alone as regards others of our species. The unfashionable wisdom of the Christians teaches you what you already know to be true, self-affirmation is not enough, and also what you may not yet know to be true. There is One whom you can invite into your life. He will come when you ask. And then you will no more be alone or weak or small, your imperfections will be transformed into perfections, in eternity if not in time, and your brokenness will become wholeness now and forever. He will delight in you and you will delight in Him. His affirmation is all that you need.


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Pilate's Wife Dreams

19 And as he was sitting in the place of judgment, his wife sent to him, saying: Have thou nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
Matthew 27

A troubled sleep in the morning
Light of unsettled Jerusalem.

Images chase each other in
Horrid, hurried blood tinted hues.

A man, young and strong and
Open, betrayed and alone.

I see Him, I see His pain
The swords, the torches, 
the treacherous kiss.

The mouth, apt to smile
I see it struck and spat upon.

A back, strong to carry another's 
Burden, scourged, its flesh 
Ripped apart.

And you, my irresolute husband
I see you, not glorious 
Not Imperial.

Hands, which I know are
Healers hands, I see too
Nailed to unforgiving wood.

Feet, once made beautiful
The bearers of good news,
Deformed by hammer blows.

Kindly eyes, lovely eyes, His
Eyes which have seen what we
Cannot see. Darkened with pain.

A cruel, twisted, barbed and
Vicious crown thrust unjustly
Upon that just mans head.

A great heart and a generous one
That would give all does give all
When pierced by a legionnaire's lance.

A woman, a mother, a helpless
Mourner for a perfect Son
While He yet lives.

Wild, cascading, unheeded
The tumbling hair of a Magdalene
Woman transported with grief.

Yes, husband, I have suffered
But worse is to come 
If your coward heart
Rules this day.

I see Rome, mighty Rome
Fallen, the Eagle vanquished

By a pale Galilean

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The Seven Questions of Pontius Pilate

Are you the King of the Jews?

Am I a Jew?

What have you done?

So you are a king?

What is truth?

Where are you from?

Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?

(John 18 and 19 RSV)

In his account of the dialogue between our Lord and his judge St John the Theologian puts a number of questions into the mouth of Pilate. The Roman Governor is, in fact, one of the very few gentiles with an extended role in the Gospel accounts. Here, perhaps, St John conscious that most of his audience were also gentiles makes Pilate their representative. The questions he asks are important not simply in the context of the Passion but also they are important for us. They go the the heart of who Jesus is and why He matters to the world.

Is Jesus the Messiah, the Anointed one of God, for whom the Jews had long been waiting in in whom they vested such high hopes? If He was then it would follow that Jewish prophecy was founded on the truth that there was, and is, One God who intervenes in human history and has revealed Himself through a covenant relationship with the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jesus did not answer Pilate directly but readers of the Theologian would recall His dialogue with another gentile in Samaria-

²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things.” ²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
John 4

Does this matter to non-Jews? Very much so. If there is but one God, Father, Creator and sustainer of all that is, then His interventions into human history have a purpose which we would do well to heed. In a sense we are all Jews now. The Messiah has opened the doors into the people of God to all who are the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by faith and not simply by blood. Or, more precisely, we are children through the blood of Christ rather than the blood of Abraham. And being made members of God's household we obtain new privileges and duties.

What had Jesus done? Speaking to a household of gentiles St Peter described His actions in this way-

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him
 Acts 10

But the High Priestly party described them very differently-

⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on thus, every one will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.”
John 11

The key difference was that the Apostles saw the power of God acting through our Lord guaranteeing the success of His mission. albeit in ways they did not foresee. The Jerusalem authorities saw the power but doubted the source. For them He was only a man and Rome was greater than Him. In Him the Apostles hoped and because of Him the Sanhedrin feared.

Was Jesus a King? He was, and is, the author of all kingship yet His own authority is both vastly more and vastly less than that which we usually attribute to our earthly rulers be they Princes or Presidents. Less because He is the one who washes our feet and takes our stripes for us. More because-

²⁵ Of old thou didst lay the foundation of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
²⁶ They will perish, but thou dost endure;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
Thou changest them like raiment, and they pass away;
²⁷     but thou art the same, and thy years have no end.
Psalm 102

The interesting thing about the question "What is truth?" is that having asked it Pilate left without waiting for an answer. In that, surely, he is a representative figure for all of us. He knew that this was perhaps the most important question of all. He knew also that he was in the presence of one who could answer that question. Yet the pressures of the world and its demands upon him took priority. He left Jesus in order to stop being ignorant in the presence of knowledge and start being powerful in the presence of those subject to him. God reveals Himself to those who listen. Some listen not at all, some but seldom and very few listen with all their being all the time. In this Pilate reveals what we are and the Blessed Virgin Mary shows what we should be.

Where have you come from? An important question for Jew and gentile alike.
Yet we know where this man comes from; and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.
John 7
To which He replied-
You know me, and you know where I come from? But I have not come of my own accord; he who sent me is true, and him you do not know.²⁹ I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.
John 7
To Pilate He gave no reply which conveyed precisely the same amount of information as His answer in the Temple did. He was called a Galilean and a Nazarene. We are told that He was born in Bethlehem. None of this tells us where He came from. Only Gabriel told this and only Mary heard it

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be born will be called holy,
the Son of God.
Luke 1

The seventh question is clear. Man tells God that we have power over Him. The same assumption made in Eden is now made in the Praetorium and, perhaps, within your heart and mine. We can take up and put down Jesus as and when we want in the measure that we want. The power is ours.Yet Pilate was mistaken, the High Priest was mistaken. And you? Are you in error too?

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Passiontide haiku

Winter's last talon
Reaching into Spring. Bitter
Cold slays bright new bud

He annoys us- Holy Week reflections

                                                             Joseph thrown into a pit.

¹² Let us lay traps for the upright man, since he annoys us and opposes our way of life, reproaches us for our sins against the Law, and accuses us of sins against our upbringing.
Wisdom 2

²⁵ Anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

²⁶ Whoever serves me, must follow me

John 12

Humans, saints and sinners alike, can seldom honestly claim to commit any action for but one single motive. We bring the whole of our previous experience, our outlooks and our feelings, to bear upon each of our acts whether we are conscious of this or not. An artist when asked how long it took to make a particular sketch could honestly reply "five minutes and an entire lifetime." Those authorities of Church and State who conspired to bring about the trial and death of our Lord on the first Good Friday did so, they thought, to prevent Him fomenting a dangerous spirit of unrest which would bring down upon all Israel the avenging fury of Imperial Rome. In part that really was their motivation, and a very sensible one by worldly standards. The prophetic words from the Book of Wisdom, however, point us towards another reason, no less powerful but unacknowledged, which was at work in the conspiracy to kill Jesus.

Saintly people are intensely annoying. They irritate us. We think that we live good, moral, justifiable lives which could be a little bit better but not much. We are better than our neighbours, so we are within our rights to despise them, and not very far short of the best we could be. When we encounter (or hear about) those whose lives are massively more genuinely good than our own we are, as they say in Scotland, black affrontit. Their existence poses a fundamental challenge to how we understand ourselves and how we choose to live and move and have our being. They imply that we require a complete change of mind and heart if we are to be genuinely, absolutely, good and not just relatively so. Rather than doubting ourselves it is existentially much easier to doubt the saint. They are lying, they are hypocrites, they are bigots, they are dangerous. The fury against Jesus was not simply the result of an accurate political calculation. It was personal, truly, madly, deeply personal.

The implication of our Lord's words that His followers must hate this life is that those who love this life must necessarily hate them not for what they say but for what they are. His life no less than His words are a constant reproach to those who find themselves more or less comfortable with themselves and the case is the same with His followers. We do not like being reproached. Still less do we like it if we are in the positions of teacher, leader and exemplar. If we cannot ignore the challenge, as the High Priestly party and the Pharisees could not, then our choices are to accept it and change ourselves, repudiating all that we are and all that we have been, or to silence it by whatever means come to hand. Passiontide was a conjunction of political expediency with personal angst. The boil which was to be lanced, and lanced it truly was, Jesus, stood as a thorn in the flesh of those for whom flesh was all that they considered to be important.

Those Christians of today who retrospectively stand on the side of Jesus and in condemnation of His condemners will do well to recall these words of His Whoever serves me, must follow me   Being considered annoying is not in itself a sign that we are following in our Royal Masters footsteps. Neither is being persecuted although both these things should be notes of the Christian life amidst the masses of the worldly. What following Jesus means here is just this, live the Good Life unselfconsciously. Do what comes unnaturally to us as if it came naturally because it comes supernaturally. Complete and humble surrender to the work of Grace within us is the only basis upon which we can do this. We must provoke annoyance not by being provocative but by being pure peace.