Tag: Bread and Wine Readings for Lent and Easter

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Quoting Alfred Kazin

There were images I did not understand, but which fell on my mind with such slow opening grandeur that once I distinctly heard the clean and fundamental cracking of trees. First the image, then the thing; first the word in its taste and smell and touch, then the thing it meant, when you were calm enough to look. Images were instantaneous; the meaning alone could be like the unyielding metal taste when you bit on an empty spoon. The initial shock of that language left no room in my head for anything else. But now, each day I turned back to that little blue testament, I had that same sense of instant connectedness. First the image, then the sense.

“I Had Been Waiting” by Alred Kazin. Read in “Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter“.

I love this description of how powerful writing can work with a human mind and spirit in a way that is beyond the plain meaning of the text. As I read this I wanted two things: first, to also read the Bible like this again, letting the images speak before the words are understood.

And second, I want to practice writing like this.

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Peter Kreeft on Suffering

Henceforth, when we feel the hammers of life beating on our heads or on our hearts, we can know – we must know – that he is here with us, taking our blows. Every tear we shed becomes his tear. He may not yet wipe them away, but he makes them his. Would we rather have our own dry eyes, or his tear-filled ones? He came. He is here. That is the salient fact. If he does not heal all our broken bones and loves and lives now, he comes into them and is broken, like bread, and we are nourished. And he shows us that we can henceforth use our very brokenness as nourishment for those we love. Since we are his body, we too are the bread that is broken for others. Our very failures help heal other lives; our very tears help wipe away tears; our being hated helps those we love. When those we love hang up on us, he keeps the lines open.

God’s answer to the problem of suffering not only really happened two thousand years ago, but it is still happening in our own lives. The solution to our suffering is our suffering! All our suffering can become part of his work, the greatest work ever done, the work of salvation, of helping to win for those we love eternal joy.

Peter Kreeft, “Making Sense Out of Suffering”. Read in “Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter“.

I’ve often pondered the connection between Jesus’ suffering on the cross and our suffering, and what it means to have a faith with a God who suffers like we suffer – God understands what we’re going through, and is not aloof. God is with us in our suffering, with understanding, and in some way, that helps – even if the suffering continues.

I don’t think I’ve thought about the next connection before: that when we suffer, it’s also a chance to join in that same work. Like Jesus suffering can help us feel understood and supported and sustained, our entering into suffering can help others feel understood and supported and sustained.

And somehow, that submission to suffering is the path to defeating it too. Keep suffering without quarreling or crying out, but instead showing mercy, until he leads justice to victory.

Calvary is Judo. The enemy’s own power is used to defeat him. Satan’s craftily orchestrated plot, rolled along according to plan by his agents Judas, Pilate, Herod, and Caiaphas, culminated in the death of God. And this very event, Satan’s conclusion, was God’s premise. Satan’s end was God’s means.

Peter Kreeft, “Making Sense Out of Suffering”. Read in “Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter“.

And in that, is the call, which is all to easy to ignore, to follow in the suffering way:

Does he descend into violence? Yes, by suffering it and leaving us the solution that to this day only a few brave souls have dared to try, the most notable in our memory not even a Christian but a Hindu.

Peter Kreeft, “Making Sense Out of Suffering”. Read in “Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter“.
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He too deserved to have the perfume poured on him

I’m reading “Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter” this lent and there’s another reading from The Gospel in Solentiname by Ernesto Cardenal. I’ve quoted a similar reading before from their advent book. They’re beautiful conversations.

They’re discussing the scene where Mary (sister of Martha and Lazarus) pours absurdly expensive perfume on Jesus. Maria’s comment astounded me on several levels:

William: But all that perfume. And the bottle. The alabaster bottle!

Padré: The alabaster bottle was sealed, and it had to be broken to use the perfume. The perfume could be used only once. And the Gospel says the whole house was filled with the fragrance of nard. It’s believed that nard was an ointment that came from India.

Teresita: Maybe a smuggler paid her with that.

Maria: Jesus was a poor man, too, and he too deserved to have the perfume poured on him.

The Gospel in Solentiname. I read it in “Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter”.