A Prayer for Communion

Jesus,

as I partake of Holy Communion today,

I pray that you will come into my house,

my body,

my temple,

even though I am unworthy to receive you,

and transform me into the person you will me to be.

As you come into my eyes,

may they no longer be mine, but yours;

no longer looking at others with prejudice, disdain, or malice,

but beholding you in all people,

for all are children of God.

As you come into my ears,

may they no longer be mine, but yours;

no longer hearing only the pain and sorrow of the world,

but listening also for your voice

speaking in every single moment of life.

As you come into my mouth,

may it no longer be mine, but yours;

no longer speaking falsehood, vanity, or wickedness,

but proclaiming boldly your truth and love

always with kindness, respect, and sincerity.

As you come into my hands,

may they no longer be mine, but yours;

no longer being lifted up in anger or hatred,

but joining with my neighbor’s hands

working to bring your reign on earth.

As you come into my feet,

may they no longer be mine, but yours;

no longer wandering aimlessly after my own whims,

but running swiftly towards your unending compassion

again and again.

As you come into my heart,

may it no longer be mine, but yours;

no longer broken by sadness, despair, or loneliness,

but healed by your good news,

rejoicing with every beat and breath.

And as you come into my soul,

may it no longer be mine, but yours;

no longer knowing where I end

and where you begin,

but always aware that you are with me,

with us,

every day even to the end of time;

that nothing separates us from your love;

that you are alive

on earth as you are in heaven,

in all of us,

and therefore also in me,

now and for ever.

Amen.

"Let the dead bury their own dead..."

This morning, my mother asked me to explain to her my thoughts on a particular passage of the New Testament:

A scribe then approached [Jesus] and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”  And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”  Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”  But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”  (The Gospel of Matthew 8:19-22, NRSV)

The context of my mother’s question is the death of my godmother’s sister (whom I never knew, and who lives nowhere near me).  My Catholic mother had shared news of the event with one of her sisters, who belongs to an Evangelical denomination, saying that she wanted to call my godmother soon and offer condolences.  Her Evangelical sister dismissively quoted “let the dead bury their own dead”, much to the surprise of my mother.  However, having heard this verse many times in church, my mother couldn’t argue that these words really are ascribed to Jesus.  Seeking to reconcile the apparent harshness of these words with her view of a loving Jesus, my mother came to me for more insight.

As flattered as I was, I know that this is not a simple task.  Christians over the millennia have noted that the same Jesus who likened the Kingdom of God to a Prodigal Son returning home to his father; who washed his disciples’ feet on his last night of earthly life; who wept for the death of his friend, Lazarus, even as he knew he was about to raise him from the dead; who preached love of God, neighbor, and self as the greatest commandment(s), and even love of the enemy—is also the same Jesus said to have publicly repudiated his mother and kin (Mt. 12:49-50); warned, through analogy, that the enemies of the king(dom?) would be killed before the king’s presence (Lk. 19:27); and that even heirs of the kingdom would be cast into outer darkness, away from God’s presence, forever (Mt. 8:10-12).  So what does one do with “let the dead bury their own dead”?

There are many ways to read a faith text, but a good starting place is to see how others before you have read it.  Since Jesus is addressing a living man who has lost his father, then the common traditional interpretation makes some sense: ‘let the spiritually dead bury their own dead’.  However, further interpretations of the verse focus on different things:

• “Jesus is not negating the command to honor parents, but is teaching us to put the things of the Kingdom as the highest priority.  Those who ignore this priority are spiritually dead.” (The Orthodox Study Bible, p. 1282)

• “The demand of Jesus overrides what both the Jewish and the Hellenistic world regarded as a filial obligation of the highest importance.” (The Catholic Study Bible, p. 1265)

• “Jesus’ harsh-sounding answer to this would-be disciple should not be understood as a general rule, since honoring one’s parents was required by the Commandments (Ex. 20:12).  This particular man needed to hear that following Jesus should take precedence over everything else in his life.” (The Lutheran Study Bible, p. 1595)

• “Let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead.  The time of Jesus’ ministry was short and demanded full attention and commitment.  This statement stresses the radical demands of Jesus’ discipleship, since Jews placed great importance on the duty of children to bury their parents.” (The New International Version Study Bible, p. 1450)

What all of these varying explanations show is that the text, as we have it, is not enough to explain its meaning.  

I think of it as the Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.  Bear with me for a moment.  Generations from now, if that movie still exists, people will still get the fact that Starbucks is a powerful company in the film and a tool of Dr. Evil.  But when this movie was released, Starbucks had become popular and ubiquitous seemingly out of nowhere.  In some cities, where few people had even heard of the company, there were Starbucks stores across the street from other Starbucks stores.  Unless you lived through this or read about it, you won’t truly be able to grasp the significance of the Starbucks logo on the Space Needle (as Starbucks originated in Seattle), or even the dialogue in the film, which ascribes Starbucks’ overnight success to Dr. Evil’s investment, and as such makes the contemporary viewer imagine: “What if Starbucks is growing so rapidly because of some sinister motive?”  In short, the whole concept is humorous in a wink-and-a-nod sort of way that only people who were around at the time would fully appreciate.

I submit that this is something modern-day readers of the Bible have to accept.  We are free to believe that everything we need to know for our salvation is contained in the Bible, but we must recognize that Scripture was written by people who were a product of their own time. Therefore they were influenced by their surrounding culture(s), traces of which they incorporated into their writings in order to better get their message across.

With this in mind, the study Bibles I quoted above are all correct.  The earliest Christians were confronted by two urgent realities: the brevity of their beloved teacher’s ministry, and his words that the end was near.  In short, then, time was running out!  Therefore the death of loved ones mattered little to them because Jesus was going to return within their lifetime, the dead would rise again, and the Kingdom of God would be established on earth.  That’s an idea we’re somewhat acquainted with, especially in these past couple of years.  To those who believed the Rapture was going to happen in March 2011, or to those who believe the end is coming in December 2012, I’m sure worldly things probably matter less than they did a decade ago.

Another concept that finds its way into this verse is ancient cultural priorities.  Whereas we who live in the modern West lay more value on our individuality, the family unit was more important to those living in European and Mediterranean societies at the time of Jesus.  The earliest Christians, however, began to experience a different kind of unity, one of faith in Jesus, one which provided them with a sense of strength.  It offered these people their first experience of individuality, as they chose to follow Jesus.  For women especially, this was their first experience of having control over their own bodies, as they could now freely commit their lives to Christ, a man of their own choosing, and not to a man already chosen for them.  We shouldn’t then be surprised to read that following Jesus is more important than adhering to socially-established family ties.

However, while we of course should keep in mind an understanding of the cultural attitudes that lie behind this passage, what the commentaries of these study Bibles miss is how we should read this text today.  For the end has not come, and there’s so much death and suffering in this world that family and friends are important to us.  Is there any truth that we can still take from the text and appropriate into our lives?

A possible answer popped up to me, like Starbucks years ago, during the conversation with my mother.  It played out in my mind like a scene from a movie—and I believe you often have to play out these texts like that in order to understand them.  For we know what was said, or may have been said, but not how it was said.

Thus: although one study Bible calls the man a “would-be” disciple, the text itself simply calls him a “disciple”.  This means that he had already been following Jesus for some time.  And if he had been following Jesus, he might have heard Jesus saying these sorts of things:

• “You are the salt of the earth [and] the light of the world.” (Mt. 5:13, 14)

• “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Mt. 5:4)

• “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” (Lk. 6:21b)

• “... in fact, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Lk. 17:21b)

• “I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live; and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” (Jn. 11:25-26)

And so after all of this, the disciple still says: “Lord, first let me go and bury my father...”  The hurt and shock on Jesus’ face must have been unashamedly evident, and he may have wanted to say:

“How is it that, after hearing me talk so much about what the Kingdom of God really is, you can still ask me that—as if following me and attending your father’s funeral are mutually exclusive?  The Kingdom of God is both here and beyond.  After all, you saw me heal and restore people in the here and now.  Now you have the opportunity to go and do likewise—to comfort those who mourn, to tell them about the hope of resurrection and life that I offer, to bring the light of the world and the Kingdom of God to your small corner of the earth... and you still think that you can do those things only by literally following my footsteps?  What are you going to do when I’m no longer around?”

But all Jesus could give voice to was:

“Let the dead bury their own dead.”

And if this sounds a little angry and even spiteful, we must remember that the divine Christ was human too.  He could be prone as much to happiness and love as to anger and spite.

Fellow Christians, we are called to live in this world.  Yes, the apocalytpic fervor of the first Christians teaches us that we shouldn’t despair about worldly things, for Christ gives us hope of the world to come.  But there is no dichotomy between our physical world and the realm of God, and in times of earthly need, we are called to act.  We are called to bring Christ’s comfort, healing, and love to everyone—and not, mind you, as an opportunity to proselytize, but simply because it’s the right thing to do.

If this story is literally true, I believe that this spiritually-dead disciple left to go bury his father and, through the act, finally realized that he was still following his Savior.  In so doing, he entered into the experience of countless generations before and after him: a rebirth of the spirit.

Room for God

A random thought occurred to me the other day:  God is a placeholder.   Let me explain what I mean by that.

It strikes me how we as a human species have conceived of the Divine over the centuries.  Although I’m a Christian, I’m fascinated by the beliefs and traditions of pagan antiquity, especially Greco-Roman religion.  There was a deity for everything—more so than the twelve major gods we may have learned of in school.  The list of Roman deities associated with birth and childhood alone is quite extensive:

• Cinxia is associated with the bridal belt, worn to symbolize that either she is bound to her husband, or he to her, or both.  During labor, the husband may have removed his belt, tied it around his wife, then released it with a prayer in order that she be released from the child she is about to bear.
• Pertunda enabled sexual penetration.
• Alemona fed the growing embryo.
• Vitumnus endowed the fetus with life.
• Postverta averted a breech birth.
• Lucina introduced the newborn to the light—still an idiomatic expression in most Romance languages, such as Spanish, where “dar a luz” (lit., ‘give to light’) means ‘to give birth’.

There are so many, many more, and if you’re interested, I can reference Wikipedia's extensive article.

Of course, we monotheistic Christians view this as everything from blasphemous and idolatrous, to simply superstitious and misguided.  Furthermore, as heirs of the Enlightenment and the scientific revolution, we may also look upon this as naive, ignorant, and just plain silly.  I, however, see it as part of the human quest to see the Divine in everything, and would challenge you to recall the last time you looked for God in the very acts of exchanging rings during a wedding, or even in the simple act of removing the bridal girdle, or tossing the flowers.

And this is precisely the point I’m getting to.  As history ran its course, we as a species came to realize that many of these events do not have divinity attached to them, at least not in the way our forbears subscribed to.  Faith does not literally move mountains.  If an entire town gathers together to pray for rain, for mild weather, for a plentiful harvest, they may or may not receive these things.  No, we learned that these things are natural—and that human action, not divine intervention, helps us prepare for them.  We learned that if we save water, we will survive a drought because droughts come and go of their own accord.  Studying the earth taught us what conditions favor a more plentiful harvest.  And most important, we got used to the idea that because a drought, a flood, or a bad harvest is natural, then it is not punishment for sin, and therefore it is not sinful to prepare against these natural conditions.

While we did not give up our belief in God, we realized that God had less and less to do.  Thus a need was born to reconcile faith in God with common observation of our surroundings.  The 17th and 18th centuries saw the development of deism, which held that God indeed created the world, but subsequently left it to run on its own in much the same way as a clockmaker will fashion and assemble the gears of a clock, and then step back and let the clock run.  As such then, God does not involve himself in the workings of the world, but has created the laws of nature, the gears which operate our world.

Incidentally, this may have been the philosophy of the Founding Fathers of the United States.  It is true that this country was “not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion” (cf., the Treaty of Tripoli), but references to “nature’s God” in the Declaration of Independence (occurring next to “the laws of nature”) and “endowed by their Creator” in the Constitution demonstrate that they didn’t perceive this as an atheist nation either.

But the evolution of our way of thinking did not stop there, for the more we learned and acted out what we learned, the more we took that final step and largely did away with God.

Every Sunday after church, on my way to brunch, I walk past the First Church of Religious Science in New York.  True to its Enlightenment influence, their motto reads: “What man can conceive, man can achieve.”  Excusing the unfortunate lack of gender inclusivity, I don’t know, that slogan gives me chills—and not just because it’s a church slogan that ironically doesn’t even mention God.  Through our increased understanding of the fields of physics, mathematics, astronomy, and the like, we’ve learned that we are capable of pretty much anything:

• We’ve cured formerly incurable diseases and infirmities.
• We’ve probed everything from our own cellular structure to the makeup of planets and galaxies far away.
• We’ve built superstructures that house and connect our growing population.
• We’ve invented pocket-sized gadgets that pull information, knowledge, and communication literally from the air.

But let me tell you another thing we’ve learned.

This past century alone has seen more violence and bloodshed than any other century—probably in all of human history:

• We now have the technology to exterminate entire ethnic or social groups, and how we’ve used it!
• We’ve forcibly sterilized countless developmentally-challenged individuals simply because they and their would-be offspring do not fit our idea of the ideal human being.
• We have the capability to use, exploit, and impoverish entire populations for our own benefit in ways that are so subtle that average people may not even be aware of their own participation.
• We’ve eradicated entire forests (forgetting the lessons we’ve learned from the land?), and introduced harmful chemicals into the environment that threaten our ecological balance. 
• We literally bite off more than we can chew, consuming our resources carelessly, without considering what we will leave behind for future generations.

Yes, what man can conceive, man can achieve.

Now, more than ever, we need the story of God.

It’s funny how we’ve forgotten this story, but perhaps it’s so predictable.  Any sense of accomplishment naturally brings with it a sense of pride.  This can be healthy, but not if it makes you feel like the world revolves around you.  After all, the scientific revolution brought us the knowledge that the heavens do not revolve around the Earth.  However, the story of God, as we have received it, is admittedly so mysterious, so contradictory, and at times so preposterous that perhaps a ten-year old article in The Onion, a parody newspaper, describes it best: “Mistranslated Myths of Nomadic Desert Shepherd Tribe Taken at Face Value[!]”  It’s easier therefore for us to focus on those things we have learned through our own observations.  But what, in fact, have we learned?

• We accept the reality that space is infinite; but we dismiss the idea of an infinite God.
• We conceive of traveling through time, at least into the future; but we discard belief in a being that lives in, and transcends, all of time.
• We explore hypothetical sets of alternate universes with which, according to quantum mechanics, we may now be co-existing; but we reject the supernatural dimension of God’s realm, where saints, angels, and the souls of all the living reside.
• We study the properties of black holes, how they “suck” surrounding matter into their endless curvature of spacetime; but we discount the existence of hell, the place where, in its most basic definition, we are separated from the presence of God forever.

By saying these things, I don’t wish to argue in favor of heaven and hell as they have traditionally been imagined.  Nor am I arguing against science, for the things I have described either have been demonstrated, or fall within the range of examined and established scientific theories.  Nor do I want to pin science and religion against each other—or worse: portray them as though they are actually proving each other right.

My point is that we, now more than ever, need the balance of power and humility that science and religion respectively provide.  We must continue questioning, exploring, and learning, but we must not get ahead of ourselves.  We must never think or act as though we now (or ever will) have all the answers.  Science has opened us up to a universe of seemingly infinite possibilities.  But it has not answered our most fundamental questions: Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going?—you know, the ones addressed in the myths of that “nomadic desert shepherd tribe.”  In fact, science has brought a whole host of new questions and previously unimaginable concepts that we can’t even begin to understand.  In so doing, science has laid out in plain view how weak and imperfect we are—not in a negative sense that denies our species’ intelligence and capacity to learn, but in the sense that the more we discover, the more we discover that there’s more to discover.  Thus the journey never ends.

And thus there’s still room for God.

A New Christian Creed

Yesterday was the last class that my church offered on a book entitled Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus by Robin Meyers.  I have mixed feelings about the book, but overall I believe in its core message, namely that the church should focus more on engaging the world, imitating what Jesus himself did, rather than concentrate on prayers and rituals meant to secure personal salvation in the afterlife.

In fact, the church dwells so much on the meaning of Jesus’ death that it often forgets that he ever lived.  Meyers makes a telling observation:

“The earliest creed, the Apostles’ Creed, had already eliminated the life and message of Jesus.  Countless Christians have mouthed these lines in worship for centuries: ‘Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate...’ Look carefully at what separates the birth of Christ from his death.  The world’s greatest life is reduced to a comma.” (p. 207)

I wrestled last night with the thought of what a new Apostles’ Creed might sound like.  It wouldn’t just highlight Jesus’ incarnation, death, and resurrection, as if he had been a kind of “alien invader who swoops out of heaven and back again to recruit and claim believers” (p. 207), but it would also remember what Jesus did with his life.

This creed would be the start of a new belief system.  And by ‘belief’, I mean what the original Latin and Greek words (credo, pistis) describe: not thinking something is true, but placing your trust in something.

Originally I wanted to write it using more inclusive, gender-neutral language, or to at least balance masculine and feminine language.  However, I found that doing this removed some of the intimacy I feel when referring to the Deity, for example, calling God “Father”, instead of “Parent”.  Some sentences became a little too cumbersome by repeating “Jesus” or “Christ” where the simple pronoun “he” suffices.  All in all, I am in favor of inclusive language but not where it becomes an obstacle to simplicity and natural rhythm.  Moreover, our inherited Christian faith has handed down to us a masculine-person understanding of the Trinity, not because God is male, but because we need to think of God as a person.

Here, then, is what I came up with:

I place my trust in God,

the Father almighty,

Creator of heaven and earth,

who called creation good.

I place my trust in Jesus Christ,

his only Son, our Lord,

the Word and Wisdom of God,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

and born of the Virgin Mary.

On earth he healed the sick,

fed the hungry,

broke bread with the outcasts,

and taught the seekers.

He brought good news to the oppressed,

comforted the brokenhearted,

and proclaimed to the captives

God’s realm of peace and liberty to all.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again.

He breathed into his followers

the spirit to continue his work.

He ascended into heaven,

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He is with us even now until the end of time

when he will come again

to judge the living and the dead

with the fire of God’s love.

I place my trust in the Holy Spirit,

the Giver of life,

in whom we live, and move, and have our being.

I place my trust in the holy Christian church,

in the communion of holy persons, living and departed,

in the forgiveness of sins and flaws,

the resurrection of the body,

and life that is longer and stronger than death.

Amen.

Being 'scripturally' OK as a gay man

Dedicated with love to Mama #2, Mother's Day 2012

Months ago, I was asked a short question: “How do you know you are scripturally okay [as a gay man]?”  I’ve struggled for months with an answer, but not for the reasons you might think.  Even though I was raised as a faithful Roman Catholic, I’ve never once entertained the idea that being gay is wrong, or that God hated me for being so.  On the contrary, since I was on some level always aware of my feelings, I believed even from a very young age that God created me this way.  So on the one hand, the answer to the question above is a very simple one for me.

However, I recognize I’m very fortunate.  So many people on all sides of the sexual spectrum struggle with the religious interpretation of their own orientation or a loved one’s.  In drafting an answer to this question, I began to read about how other Christian denominations have dealt with the issue.  I’ve learned that sexuality is not a cause of further fraction within the Christian community, but is more a reflection of bigger questions that Christians have begun to confront since the last century: What does it really mean to be a Christian? What role does/should the Bible play in the Christian life?  Or God?  Or faith?  So on the other hand, the answer to the question above is a very difficult one.  After all, the question us: “How do you know you are scripturally okay?”

ABUSE OF SCRIPTURE

As a Christian, I have a high respect for the Bible, and I have made a covenant to live my life through the lens of Scripture as best I can.  But we know all too well how vulnerable the Bible is to manipulation.  Consider the following two examples which you might already know:

• The cursing of Canaan in Genesis 9:25-27 was used to justify slavery, especially the Atlantic slave trade during colonial times.  Africans’ dark skin was believed to be a physical manifestation of the curse.  The perceived resemblance between African spiritual imagery and Christian depictions of demons only served to further this belief.  

• The inferiority of women is prevalent in Scripture.  The Hebrew Patriarchs are polygamous.  Christian women are to be silent in church (1 Cor. 14:34-35) and subordinate to a man’s authority (1 Tim. 2:11-14).  In those churches where for some reason women could pray publicly, they must veil their head to avoid shame (1 Cor. 11).

Most of us today would think it ludicrous to use the Bible to support slavery and sexism.  Black ministers from Catholics to Mormons (as of 1978) proudly pastor their congregations.  Female priests, choir members, lay readers, and even televangelists also play prominent roles in modern-day Christianity.  We must not forget, however, that though the Bible at its best promotes the ethical treatment of slaves and of women, not one verse in it clearly denounces slavery and misogyny.  As a result, colonial Christians really believed the slave trade was a fulfillment of God’s law, and that the exclusion of women from an active Christian life was thought to be in line with biblical rule.

Other examples, though not as prevalent nor on the same level as the preceding two, show themselves vulnerable to the same kind of biblical manipulation:

• Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate birthdays, observing that the only two, or possibly three, birthday celebrations recorded in the Bible all are held by non-believers, and all end in death.  The Pharaoh in Genesis celebrates his birthday by hanging the chief baker (Gen. 40:20-22).  Herod’s birthday occasions the beheading of John the Baptist (Matt. 14:6-9).  The birthday-like celebrations of Job’s sons (Job 1) result in the divine “great wind” that ends their lives.  From this then, Jehovah’s Witnesses infer that birthdays have no place in Christian life.  Eastern Orthodox Christians do not go to this extreme, but using similar reasoning, prefer to celebrate “name days” (the feast day of the saint whose name you bear).

• The Church of God with Signs Following, and other similar congregations, practice snake-handling and consumption of poisons following the final verses of Mark 16. They believe that this ritual allows them to demonstrate their salvation as well as their total confidence in God.  After all, even Moses picked up a serpent at the command of God (Ex. 4:1-4).  Adherents who survive the handling of a venomous snake are said to be true believers; those who die either doubted, or it simply pleased God to take them.

So what does any of this have to do with the LGBT community and the Bible?  I believe these issues are related because they are clear examples of ideologies with either perceived or real biblical support that most Christians today have abandoned.  And our lives have been better because of that.  Most of us have ceased to use Scripture to segregate races, or to condemn women of witchcraft or ritual uncleanliness.  We don’t abuse the Bible by inflicting physical poison upon ourselves or others in order to prove faith, but we try to incorporate Scripture into the important days of our own lives and our loved ones’.  I believe this is precisely what is beginning today in the lives of the LGBT faithful.  The question now is: “Can we do this too with the support of the Bible?” “Can I scripturally be a gay man?”

WHAT IS THE WORD OF GOD?

While researching for this blog, I came across an article detailing the views of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark on homosexuality.  Apart from my fascination with Scandinavian culture, and in particular that of Denmark, I already knew that the Danish National Church had accepted and blessed same-sex registered partnerships for some time, and so I was curious to see how an organized church reached this decision.  The Church concluded that:

“The registered partnership/homosexual relationship is in the opinion of the committee not in conflict with Christian teaching and morality.  The committee has not found that the general ethical arguments adduced against homosexual practice are tenable.  The committee reckons the biblical statements against the practice of homosexuality among the Bible’s culturally conditioned historical statements which do not have normative character.”

There are two key phrases here.  The first is “the Bible’s culturally conditioned historical statements”, which in a way we’ve already explored above.  Modern Christians may lament the historical reality of practices such as polygamy, slavery, or misogyny in Scripture, but most of us don’t promote them simply because they’re in our holy text.

The second key phrase, however, is more elusive, namely the idea of “normative character”.  Now this is where things get interesting.  The report of the Church of Denmark from the website of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America states that:

“Luther’s principle [is] that only those parts of the Bible that present Christ as [S]avior are the word of God.  The ethical consequence it draws from this is that only the teaching of Jesus is regarded as ethically normative for Christians today.”

It certainly still seems radical, maybe even sacrilegious, for many Christians even today to admit plainly that some parts of the Bible are more God’s word than others, but that is what this church report clearly states.  But should this really be so surprising?  By looking over those “culturally conditioned historical statements” discussed above, we’re tacitly admitting exactly that.

And that’s when I realized what this report is really trying to say.  It’s a truth that’s always been right in front of us, within our tradition, but one we’ve lost sight of somehow; a truth that may sound blasphemous, but that nonetheless is true Christian doctrine:

The Bible is NOT the word of God... Jesus Christ is.

I’m not sure if the Church of Denmark would appreciate my analysis of their report, but if you re-read the first line, I think you’ll see how clearly it’s stated:

“Luther’s principle [is] that only those parts of the Bible that present Christ as [S]avior are the word of God.”

The hierarchy of authority in this statement is clear.  ‘Christ as Savior’ is more important than anything else the Bible has to say.  This suggests then that, for the Christian, the Bible exists not to witness to its own inerrancy, not even to outline a code of behavior, but primarily to present us Christ — to testify that Christ rules even over Scripture, leading us to him through only those verses that speak of how he lived and loved, but more importantly, why he lived and loved.

Martin Luther was obsessed with Christ.  In retrospect, this may not be surprising.  Most Roman Catholic priests at the time were ill-educated in Latin, and thus probably did not understand the Bible they chanted.  German Catholic priests, whose native language wasn’t even of the same linguistic branch, would’ve understood even less.  In The Bible in history: how the texts have shaped the times, David William King offers a glimpse of how moved Luther must have been the first time he read about the message of Christ in his own language:

“‘In the whole of Scripture’, Luther asserts, ‘there is nothing else but Christ, either in plain words or involved words.’  There may be obscure, hard to understand passages, but the content of Scripture is plain: it is the revelation of God in Christ... Christ is the eternal Word of God present as promise in the Old Testament and incarnate as fulfillment in the New... As [Luther] was fond of saying, the Bible is the cradle in which the Christ child was laid.  Christ enables one to understand the Bible, not vice versa.  The Bible becomes the Word of God as it is inspired by the Holy Spirit and brings saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.” (p. 145, italics mine)

Most of us Christians, myself included, have approached the Bible in the hopes that, if we just read it a little more, we’ll understand Christ better and so become better Christians.  This notion says that we’ve got it sorely backwards.  Sure, reading the Bible is an excellent meditative discipline that will teach us more about Christ’s life and teachings.  But if Luther’s words are true, then we will not understand Scripture’s true significance unless we trust Christ to reveal it first.

Luther, despite his faults (anti-Semitism being a major one), had grasped one of the deepest of Christian truths.  No matter how meticulously handcrafted and lovingly adorned, the cradle is not more important than the baby.  The written word is subject to the eternal Word.  The word on the page must yield to the Word in the flesh.  Christendom today and every day needs seriously to inwardly digest this notion.  Only when we do, will the Bible truly ‘become’ the Word of God, making us better Christians who, like Jesus, understand not only how we should live, but why.

JESUS’ TEACHING METHOD

I choose my words carefully because, while I believe Luther is one of the first to articulate this Christian truth in this way, he did not invent it.  I believe the Bible itself, in a Christian context, describes Jesus’ total superiority over it; teaches us to concentrate on those parts that point to him; and shows us how dependent we Christians are on Jesus to explain Scripture to us.  Recall that it is the risen Christ who, on the road to Emmaus, explains to his followers “the things about himself in all the scriptures” (Luke 24:27, emphasis added).  And their hearts were “burning” only “while he was opening the scriptures” to them (Luke 24:32, emphasis added).

However, Jesus did this during his earthly life too. His teaching style reflects both a great respect for the Law, that is, Jewish Scripture, along with a fearless willingness to get behind (and, occasionally, away from) the word in order to reach a deeper meaning.  I detect three ways in which Jesus approached the Law:

• He amplified a law such as when he condemned not only the commission of adultery, but also the mere thought of it (Matt. 5:27-30).

• He challenged a law when he worked to feed his followers during the Sabbath (Matt. 12:1-8), and even declared himself “Lord of the Sabbath.”

• And lastly, he denied a law when he forbade divorce (Mark 10:1-12).  This last one is especially important.  Jesus not only argued that Moses (not God) authored this law to appease his hard-hearted people, but also makes his point by appealing to the story of Creation, which has nothing to do with divorce.

You can spot Jesus’ teaching style in progress because he will begin with the phrase: “You have heard that it was said... but I say to you.”  In fact, this phrase alone should give us pause.  The first half of what “was said” usually includes a specific verse of Hebrew Scripture. In effect, then, Jesus is saying: “The Bible says... but I say...”  Who is this mere man that, at the very least, deems his teaching more important than the Bible’s, as if only he should have the last word?  No wonder people were surprised, “for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.” (Matt. 7:29, emphasis added)

There are countless other examples I could give here, and in earlier, much longer versions of this blog, I included them in greater detail:

• The Parable of the Pharisee and the Sinner, where Jesus teaches that it is possible to say and do all the right things, and still miss the mark.

• The Parable of the Good Samaritan, where a righteous and ever-obedient son is forced to stand aside as forgiveness is abundantly poured out on his undeserving brother.

• The woman caught in adultery, where Jesus teaches that we, who are neither perfect nor guiltless, should not be so eager to punish others.

Perhaps the most memorable example is Jesus’ willingness to block out the entire Law in order to keep the focus on loving God, neighbor, and self. (Mark 12:28-34)

All of these examples show exactly how Jesus came “not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it” (Matt. 5:17, NIV), that is, to ‘fill it full’ of meaning.  And the meaning is that following a law must not exclude love and compassion.  When we follow a law, we must ask: Why was this law said?  When was it said?  To whom?  Will following it add to, or subtract from, the love of God in Christ?  When these questions become hard to answer, Jesus invites us to follow him instead.

Jay Bakker, co-pastor of Revolution Church in New York, and son of famous televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, puts it nicely:

“When religious rules take precedence over love for neighbor, we have returned to works and law, allowing grace to appear in vain.”

I agree therefore with Martin Luther as depicted in the 2003 film Luther:

“Terrible.  Unforgiving.  That’s how I saw God.  Punishing us in this life, committing us to Purgatory after death, sentencing sinners to burn in hell for all eternity.  But I was wrong.  Those who see God as angry do not see Him rightly, but look upon a curtain as if a dark storm cloud has been drawn across His face.  If we truly believe that Christ is our Savior, then we have a God of love, and to see God in faith is to look upon His friendly heart.”

HOW ARE WE GUIDED TODAY?

We admittedly no longer have Jesus to teach us in the same way as he taught the crowds 2,000 years ago.  So what do we do when someone comes along and argues:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable’ (Lev. 18:22)...”

or,

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Neither male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders... will inherit the kingdom of God’ (1 Cor. 6:9-10)...”

How do we hear Jesus’ voice fill in the blank: “... but I say to you...”?

I believe the answer is the Holy Spirit.

Jesus’ early followers recalled how he had prepared them for his physical absence by sending them “the Spirit of truth”.  However, many Christians today, myself included, are guilty of ignoring the Holy Spirit.  Liturgical Christianity rarely addresses the Holy Spirit directly.  It’s as if the Holy Spirit has become the “forgotten” Person of the Trinity, tacked on at the end of a prayer — a sin that’s possibly even more “unforgivable” than blaspheming against him.

But Paul recognizes the importance of the Holy Spirit in his letter to the Corinthians:

“Such confidence we have through Christ before God.  Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant - not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Cor. 3:4-6, NIV 2011)

Paul, who was well-versed in Scripture, likely used the phrase “new covenant” to recall the words of the prophet Jeremiah:

...I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel... It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt - a covenant that they broke... I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jer. 31:31, 32, 33b, NRSV)

The original covenant was the written law, given to Moses after the exodus from Egypt.  But when that failed, God did not give up; he changed his tactic.  God took that law and wrote it directly into the people’s hearts - and not just in Israel’s hearts, but, according to Paul, this “new covenant” is now extended, through Christ, to all people.  The mission now is to understand the deeper meaning of love and compassion of that law; not to administer the letter that kills, but rather yield to “the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life.”

Whenever we doubt what Jesus would say to us today, we must remember Jesus’ promise: “the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you... when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.” (John 14:26, 16:13)  We must have faith that the Holy Spirit will fill in our blanks by reminding us that Jesus’ voice is our lens of Scripture.  We must allow the Spirit to lead us on an exodus away from the letter of the law and towards the law of love that God has promised to write, and already has written, on our hearts.

I’ve come to the conclusion that this is how I can live my life both as a gay man and as a Christian who seeks to be biblically responsible.  The Bible is not to be used as a strict constitution, whose letter kills, but as the loving and inspirational guidebook of life that I believe Jesus saw it as.  It should be studied as the document that it is: a library of books that contains hundreds of voices.  We may believe that these voices spoke of Christ in one way or another, but we must accept that the imperfect humans behind these voices spoke about themselves too.  Being biblically responsible means to understand the cultures that surrounded these voices, influencing their poetry, their anger, their compassion, finding Christ in them when we can, and following Christ alone when we can’t.

So when I read Paul’s lists of those whom God is angry with (Rom. 1:18-32. 1 Cor. 6:9-11), lists commonly used against homosexuals, I must remember how disgusted Paul must have been with the excesses of Greco-Roman pagan culture:

• where mosaics of explicit sexual activities decorated public spaces;
• where you could own a slave and do literally whatever you wanted with his or her body;
• where an older man customarily took on an adolescent boy to show him firsthand the ways of life and sex;
• and where statues of similarly-behaving gods adorned marketplaces, not out of piety, but out of quid pro quo.

And then I must imagine Paul’s rage when he learned that this type of behavior was starting to creep into his own churches (1 Cor. 5:1).  But when I read this, I must rely on the Spirit to remind me that this Paul’s justified anger talking.  Rather than being a condemnation of different sexualities, the deeper message is that these excesses are bad for all people, regardless of orientation, and I must remember that “where true love and charity abide, God is there”.

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

I am a gay Christian.  I don’t believe that’s wrong.  I don’t presume to say I am right with God, as if my journey with God is over.  No.  Every day that passes, I am being made right with God, I am being saved by God.  All of life, including the Christian one, is a process.  We have seen both in the Bible and in history where we’ve failed and succeeded in this process.  But we have also seen the way of Jesus, a way that, in place of restrictive boundaries, offers abundant compassion; and that, instead of spirit-killing law, pours out life-renewing love.  This is how I now approach the Bible, seeking only the way of Jesus in its pages with the Spirit’s help.  I pray the Spirit to show us all that whatever we do, “in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Col. 3:17)

Thanks for making it to the end!

Keeping Lent with the Rosary

The Rosary is a simple, and yet often so misunderstood, Roman Catholic ritual.  Legend has it that the Mary herself revealed the beads and their prayers to St. Dominic in a 13th-century French church.  Scholarship holds that the 15 decades of the Rosary were developed by illiterate medieval laypeople who wished to pray the 150 Psalms as monks of the time did.  

Whatever its origin, the Rosary has become an established devotion for almost a millennium now.  What’s more, starting in the past century, Christians of other denominations, their not unjustified repudiation of Catholicism cooled, are beginning to explore the ritual, in some cases taking it as it stands, and in others appropriating it to suit their honest conscience.

Members of the Anglican Communion may freely recite it in their private devotions (1) (2), or they may use Anglican prayer beads (3).  Lutherans may also freely recite it privately, using Martin Luther’s abridged version, or they may use a recent adaptation of it for Lent: (4).  Eastern Orthodox Christians have their own version, and even encourage those who follow the Western Catholic custom to say it in their own way: (5)  A Presbyterian church mentions the practice in appreciation, pleading that its members model their lives after it (6).  Methodists on an online thread share their experiences with the Rosary, and even defend the discipline. (7)  There’s even the touching story of a Baptist and his encounter with a rosary. (8)

So what is going on here?  Why do some people embrace the practice and others are wary of it, and even condemn it?

The Rosary is often accused of “Mariolatry”, that is, the worship of Mary, which goes against the commandment to worship only God.  After all, the core of the Rosary addresses and blesses Mary openly.  However, the first part of the Hail Mary comes directly from Scripture, being an amalgamation of the greetings of the Angel Gabriel and of Elizabeth to Mary (Luke 1:28, 42).  In addition, Mary praises God saying “from now on, all generations will call me blessed”, a prophecy that arguably comes true in the very same gospel (Luke 11:28)

The second part provides the most contention.  The petition that Mary “pray for us, sinners, now and the hour of our death” did not sit too well with Luther, who chose to omit it in his version.  Supporters of this and other petitions in the Rosary look to the story of the Wedding at Cana where Mary, having learned that the festive wine had run out, pleads before Jesus on behalf of the host and his guests.  Despite Jesus’ apparent objection, Mary urges the servants to do whatever Jesus says, which results in Jesus’ first miracle (John 2:1-11).  Supporters note how in line this is with the various times in the Hebrew Scriptures where the Lord hears the prayers of the ‘righteous’ (e.g., Psalm 34:17, Proverbs 15:29). In Christian language, ‘righteous’ must mean ‘saints’, and not living humans, as “there is no one righteous; no, not one” (Romans 3:10).  They also note how Revelation appears to suggest that Mary is now exalted and crowned in sainthood (Rev. 12:1).  Thus they conclude that it is right for Christians to pray that Mary continue to intercede to Jesus on our behalf.

Of course there are counter-arguments to all of this.  The Bible itself says that Jesus Christ is our only meditator with God (1 Timothy 2:5).  And who really knows who “the woman clothed with the sun... [with] a crown of twelve stars” in Revelation is?  It could be the Church, the Bride of Christ, crowned with the teachings of the 12 apostles.  And if indeed it is Mary who has received a crown, that’s still acceptable because all those who await Christ’s appearing have a “crown of righteousness” in store for them (2 Timothy 4:8).

My advice is that if you are curious about the Rosary, then you should not get muddled in this scriptural back-and-forth.  It will never end.  More important than biblical arguments, I would argue, is the experience of the ritual.  We Christians, whose mission it is to receive the Word and bear it to others, would do well to meditate on her who first received and bore the Word to the world both physically and spiritually.  When we do this, we’ll see that any exalted titles ascribed to her in the Rosary ultimately come from God: the Father who overshadowed her with loving power; the Son who blessed her for obeying the Word; and the Holy Spirit who filled her with grace.

But more importantly, we’ll see that the devotion involves not the praising of Mary, but the living out again of Jesus’ life through Mary’s eyes.  We’ll see that the whole of Christ’s life remains available to us today.  Every day, Christ is born; every day, we lose Christ in the temple; every day, Christ teaches, Christ suffers, Christ is crucified, dies, is buried, and risen again.  And this mystical way of thinking is especially important in Lent.  Understanding the sufferings of a sinless person who was both man and God may be out of our human reach, but the sufferings of a mother whose heart was pierced with the agony of her son’s unjust execution is, sadly, a much more familiar image to us.

Below, I’ll show you a version that I pray every morning with my mother.  From a very young age, my Catholic mother taught me how to say it, and as a child I remember loving the devotion.  I left it for a while but came back to it upon my being received into the Episcopal Church.  I started to include the short meditations in my Catholic prayer book before the start of each Mystery, but during Lent, when only the Sorrowful Mysteries are prayed, this grew tedious and even boring.  So I decided to look for the appropriate verses in the gospels that describe the Mystery, an endeavor that eventually led me to the format below.  Verses from the Book of Psalms introduce each Mystery on the first week of Lent; from Mark on the second week; Matthew on the third; Luke on the fourth; and John on the fifth.  For the days between Ash Wednesday and Saturday, I use verses from the Book of Isaiah.  I’ve placed all these verses below, at the end of the Rosary guide.  I still have to decide on what to use for Holy Week, but I’m thinking the Letters of Paul.

If you decide to pray the Rosary, I encourage you to make the practice your own.  You can say it in front of a small icon of Virgin and Child, or before a lit candle, or simply with closed eyes in any comfortable space.  Use the method below as a starting point, adding your own words, or taking away what you don’t need.  Remember the words of the Psalmist: God will not despise a contrite heart.  You’ll walk the way of Christ alongside his mother and first follower; you’ll pray along with countless generations of Christians of the past, whose prayers have been woven into this practice; and you’ll feel connected to modern people of faith, whatever spiritual path they may be walking.  You’ll encounter something bigger than yourself.

(P.S.  Comments, suggestions, and constructive criticism are warmly welcomed.  And please bring any spelling errors to my attention!)

THE ROSARY

When praying alone, the individual recites all the prayers.  When praying in a group, the Leader may say the parts in normal type, and the group may say the bold type together.  For the repeated prayers such as the Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary, the Leader need not recite the bold type.  The Leader in a group may also change from person to person.

The Crucifix: Sign of the Cross

On each line of the prayer, a small cross is made: on your forehead for the first line; on your lips for the second line; over your heart for the third line.  At the Trinitarian formula, the full Sign of the Cross is made touching: your forehead on “the Father”; your stomach on “the Son”; your left shoulder on “Holy”, and your right shoulder on “Spirit”.  You may touch your heart on “Amen”.

By the Sign of the holy cross,

Deliver us from our enemies,

O Lord, our God.

In the Name of the Father,

and of the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

First Large Bead: Opening Confession

Praying alone:

The Psalmist says, “The Lord is near to all those who call on him in truth.” (Psalm 145:18).  Therefore I will call on God and confess my sins.

Praying in a group:

Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst.” (Matthew 18:20).  Let us receive Jesus in our midst, confessing our sins together.

Here, before the Confession, a short pause may be made in order to quietly dedicate the Rosary for a specific intention, or for the silent mention of individual sins, concerns, etc.

The General Confession from the Book of Common Prayer may be used afterwards.

Most merciful God,

I confess that I have sinned against you

in thought, word, and deed,

by what I have done,

and by what I have left undone.

I have not loved you with my whole heart.

I have not loved my neighbor as myself.

I am truly sorry, and I humbly repent.

For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ,

have mercy on me, and forgive me,

so I may delight in your will,

and walk in your ways

to the glory of your name.

Amen.

You can also use the Penitential Rite from the Catholic Mass as found in the “New... Saint Joseph People’s Prayer Book”:

I confess to almighty God

that I have sinned through my own fault,

in my thoughts and in my words,

in what I have done,

and in what I have failed to do;

and I ask blessed Mary, ever Virgin,

and all the Angels and Saints

to pray for me to the Lord our God.

Amen.

Three Middle Beads: The Angelus

The Angelus is a devotion dating back 700 years to the monastic practice of reciting three Hail Marys during the evening bell.  It evolved into a commemoration of the Incarnation, using the three Hail Marys as responses to biblical verses narrating the events around the birth of Jesus Christ.

First bead: based on Luke 1:31

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary,

and she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail, Mary, full of grace.

The Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou amongst women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

Pray for us, sinners,

now and at the hour of our death.  Amen.

Second bead: Luke 1:38

Behold the handmaid of the Lord.

Let it be to me according to your word.

Hail Mary...

Holy Mary...

Third bead: John 1:14

And the Word became flesh,

And dwelled among us.

Hail Mary...

Holy Mary...

Second Large Bead: Gloria Patri

Normally, the Angelus concludes with a short verse/response that I omit, as this verse/response will come up later on in the Rosary, so I substitute the Doxology, or Gloria Patri, followed by the concluding prayer of the Angelus.  The Sign of the Cross may be made as before, or one may simply bow the head during the mention of the Persons of the Holy Trinity.

Glory to the Father,

and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit;

As it was in the beginning,

is now,

and will be forever.  Amen.

Pour forth, we pray you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts,

so that we, to whom the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, your Son,

was made known by the message of an Angel,

may by his Passion and Cross

be brought to the glory of his Resurrection;

through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Medallion and First Decade

Here is where the Mysteries of the Rosary begin, the Medallion functioning like a Large Bead.  Since it is Lent, we will use the Sorrowful Mysteries.  The Leader announces the First Mystery:

Today we meditate on the Sorrowful Mysteries, and the First Mystery is:

The Agony of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane

In my practice, the appropriate verse of meditation is now read from the day-by-day list below.  Then the Lord’s Prayer is recited, either by all, or divided as suggested here.

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done

on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power,

and the glory forever and ever.  Amen.

The first ten Hail Marys, a Decade, are now said.

Hail, Mary, full of grace.

The Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou amongst women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

Pray for us, sinners,

now and at the hour of our death.  Amen.

In-Between Large Beads: Doxology and Aspirations

The Doxology (with the Sign of the Cross, or bow) concludes each Decade on the next Large Bead (or Medallion when after the Fifth Mystery).  It is a pious, though optional, custom to append three aspirations, or invocations, also said on the same bead (or Medallion).  These aspirations date from various points in Christian history.

Glory to the Father,

and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit;

As it was in the beginning,

is now,

and will be forever.  Amen.

First Aspiration: “Mary, Mother of grace”

Mary, Mother of grace, Mother of mercy,

shield us from the enemy,

and receive us, great Lady,

at the hour of our death.  Amen.

Second Aspiration: “Sub Tuum Praesidium” (ca. 250 AD, oldest extant prayer to the Virgin)

We fly to your patronage, O holy Mother of God.

Despise not our petitions in our necessities,

but deliver us always from all dangers,

O glorious and blessed Virgin.

[or a more modern rendition:

We turn to you for protection, Holy Mother of God.

Listen to our prayers, and help us in our needs.

Save us from every danger,

glorious and blessed Virgin.]

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,

That we may be made worthy of the promises

of your Son, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Third Aspiration: The Fatima Prayer (ca. 1917 AD)

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins,

save us from the fires of hell.

Lead all souls to heaven,

especially those most in need of your mercy.

Amen.

or the Trisagion, “Thrice-Holy” (ca. 5th cent. AD), may be substituted as the Third Aspiration:

Holy God,

Holy Mighty,

Holy Immortal,

have mercy upon us.

On the following Large Bead, the Second Mystery is announced as below, and we start again from the Lord’s Prayer.  Following Mysteries are announced as below.

At the Second Mystery:

The Second Sorrowful Mystery is The Scourging of our Lord Jesus Christ at the Pillar.

At the Third Mystery:

The Third Sorrowful Mystery is The Crowning of our Lord Jesus Christ with Thorns.

At the Fourth Mystery:

The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery is The Cross-bearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

At the Fifth Mystery:

The Fifth and final Sorrowful Mystery is The Crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Second Large Bead and Three Middle Beads: The Three Hail Marys

Having finished five Decades, we close the center of the Rosary by reciting Three Hail Marys in honor of the purity of the Virgin.  The Axion Estin, an ancient Greek prayer, and the Lord’s Prayer open this short section on the Second Large Bead.

A short word about the Axion Estin: Eastern Christianity prefers to style the Virgin as “God-bearer” in order to exalt, not her, but the One whom she bore.  Western ears may prefer the translation “Holy Mother of God”, which serves the same intent.  Additionally, Western Christians may feel uncomfortable magnifying Mary, but in this prayer, this may simply be a tender callback to the first line of Mary’s praise to God: “My soul magnifies the Lord.”

Axion Estin (ca. 10th cent. AD)

It is truly right to bless you, O Holy Mother of God,

ever blessed, and most pure.

O higher than the cherubim,

more glorious than the seraphim,

without corruption you gave birth to God the Word.

True Mother of God, we magnify you.

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done

on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power,

and the glory forever and ever.  Amen.

On each of the three following beads, the Hail Mary is recited, each one with an added line depicting her relation to each Person of the Holy Trinity.

Before each of the Three Hail Marys, the following may be recited:

[O Mary, conceived without sin:

Pray for us who have recourse to you.]

Hail, Mary, Daughter of God the Father, full of grace...

Holy Mary...

Hail, Mary, Mother of God the Son, full of grace...

Holy Mary...

Hail, Mary, Spouse of God the Holy Spirit, full of grace...

Holy Mary...

The First Large Bead: Doxology

The Doxology (with Sign of the Cross or bow) concludes the final Three Hail Marys.

Glory to the Father,

and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit;

As it was in the beginning,

is now,

and will be forever.  Amen.

The Crucifix: Hail, Holy Queen

Dating from around the 11th century, originally written in Latin by a German monk, this hymn has traditionally been sung during monastic Night Prayer (“Compline”) in addition to being the concluding prayer of the Rosary proper.  It has been reworked into various hymns across several languages, including the English version “Hail, holy Queen enthroned above”, which is featured in the popular movie Sister Act.

The prayer may be introduced and dedicated using the formula below.  My mother dedicates it to ‘health of the sick’.

[We recite the “Hail, Holy Queen” asking for _______________.]

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy.

Hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.

To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.

To you do we send up our sighs,

mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, most gracious advocate,

your eyes of mercy toward us.

And after this exile of ours,

show us Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb,

O most clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,

That we may be made worthy of the promises

of your Son, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

This is the end of the Rosary.  However, it is customary to add at least the “Litany of Loreto” and the “Apostles’ Creed”.  I began adding the Song of Mary in English, since I found it odd that Mary’s own words of praise are not included in the Rosary.  My mother concludes with a Spanish “Praise to the Virgin”, a translation of which does not exist in English, so I’ve substituted the Ave, Regina caelorum, a Latin hymn which is traditionally recited during Lent.

OPTIONAL ADDITIONS

The Litany of Loreto (or The Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

This litany dates from about the beginning of the 16th century.  It is a series of titles of the Virgin Mary, some of which are obvious (e.g., “Mother of Christ”), and others which are more mystical.  For example, Mary is titled “Ark of the covenant”: just as the Ark in the Hebrew Scriptures bore the scrolls of the Torah, so too is Mary like this Ark, as she bore the Word, Jesus Christ.  Mary is also called “Morning star”, a title which also is often used for Jesus.  However, in this context, just the morning star announces the greater light to come, the sun, so too does Mary announce the “Sun of righteousness.”

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, hear us.

Christ, hear us.

Christ, graciously hear us.

Christ, graciously hear us.

God, the Father of heaven,

Have mercy on us.

God the Son, Redeemer of the world,

Have mercy on us.

God the Holy Spirit,

Have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, one God,

Have mercy on us.

From now on, the response after each title is: Pray for us.

Holy Mary,

Holy Mother of God,

Holy Virgin of virgins,

Mother of Christ,

Mother of divine grace,

Mother most pure,

Mother most chaste,

Mother inviolate,

Mother undefiled,

Mother most amiable,

Mother most admirable,

Mother of good counsel,

Mother of our Creator,

Mother of our Savior,

Mother of the Church,

Virgin most prudent,

Virgin most venerable,

Virgin most renowned,

Virgin most powerful,

Virgin most merciful,

Virgin most faithful,

Mirror of justice,

Seat of wisdom,

Cause of our joy,

Spiritual vessel,

Vessel of honor,

Singular vessel of devotion,

Mystical rose,

Tower of David,

Tower of ivory,

House of gold,

Ark of the covenant,

Gate of heaven,

Morning star,

Health of the sick,

Refuge of sinners,

Comforter of the afflicted,

Help of Christians,

Queen of angels,

Queen of patriarchs,

Queen of prophets,

Queen of apostles,

Queen of martyrs,

Queen of confessors,

Queen of virgins,

Queen of all saints,

Queen conceived without original sin,

Queen assumed into heaven,

Queen of the holy Rosary,

Queen of families,

Queen of peace,

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world:

Spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world:

Graciously hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world:

Have mercy on us.

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,

That we may be made worthy of the promises

of your Son, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

We pray you, O Lord our God, to grant that we, your servants, may enjoy lasting health of mind and body, and by the glorious intercession of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, be delivered from present sorrow and enter into the joy of everlasting happiness; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

The Song of Mary

I move on with the Song of Mary found in the Gospel of Luke, a fitting way both to honor Mary and use her own words in the worship of God.  The version found here is from The Book of Common Prayer.  You may wish to dedicate the Song of Praise for a cause significant to you by using the formula below.  I dedicate it to “faith and hope”.

[We offer Mary’s Song of praise for ____________.]

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior;

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day, all generations will call me blessed.

The Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm.

He has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant, Israel,

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children forever.

Glory to the Father,

and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit,

As it was in the beginning, is now,

and will be forever.  Amen.

The Apostles’ Creed

It is unclear whether this Creed was intended as a sort of abridged version of the longer Nicene Creed (finished in AD 381) or whether, because of its brevity and apparent lack of Trinitarian theology, actually predates it.  A “Creed of the Apostles” was recorded in the late 4th century, but the current text dates from around the second half of the 5th century.  The English translation below is from the English Language Liturgical Consultation.

You may dedicate the Creed to any cause particular to you.  My mother dedicates it to “world peace”.

[We offer the Apostles’ Creed for ____________.]

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit

and born of the Virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again.

He ascended into heaven,

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again to the judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic* Church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting.  Amen.

*‘Christian’, or even ‘universal’ may be substituted.

Closing Hymn

You may conclude the devotion of the Rosary by reciting a hymn: either the Ave Regina Caelorum, or two stanzas from St. Patrick’s Breastplate.

The earliest record of the Ave Regina Caelorum is from the 12th century.  The version below is from an English hymn-style translation, which I’ve modernized, and to which I’ve added the third verse.

Ave Regina caelorum

Hail, O Queen of Heaven enthroned.

Hail, by angels mistress owned.

Root of Jesse, Gate of morn

Whence the world’s true light was born.

Glorious Virgin, joy to you,

Seen in heaven, most lovely, true.

Fairest Maid, where all are fair,

Plead with Christ our souls to spare.

Sacred Virgin, let me bring

Grateful hymns your praise to sing.

Virgin Mother, full of grace,

Grant me strength my day to face.

Amen.

St. Patrick’s Breastplate is traditionally ascribed to St. Patrick who lived in the 5th century, but may actually date from 8th-century Ireland.  The original is written in imitation of a Druidic incantation for protection on a journey.  The version below is a modernized version of Catherine Winkworth’s 19th-century translation.

St. Patrick’s Breastplate

I bind unto myself the Name,

The strong Name of the Trinity,

By invocation of the same,

The Three-in-One and One-in-Three.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me,

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,

The strong Name of the Trinity,

By invocation of the same,

The Three-in-One and One-in-Three,

Of whom all nature has creation:

Eternal Father, Spirit, Word.

I praise the Lord of my salvation;

Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

DAY-BY-DAY LENTEN SCRIPTURAL MEDITATIONS FOR USE DURING THE ROSARY

All quotations of Scripture are taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain.  The only change made is substituting either ‘Lord’ or ‘God’ where the WEB has ‘Yahweh’.

FROM ASH WEDNESDAY TO SATURDAY

The Book of Isaiah

Wednesday

1 - “Behold, my servant shall deal wisely, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high... kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand.” (Isaiah 52:13, 15)

2 - “He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease.  He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.” (Isaiah 53:3)

3 - “All we like sheep have gone astray.  Everyone has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)

4 - “Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:4)

5 - “But he was pierced for our transgressions.  He was crushed for our iniquities.  The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

Thursday

1 - “... The Lord God will help me; therefore I have not been confounded...  He is near who justifies me; who will bring charges against me?  Let us stand up together: who is my adversary?  Let him come near to me.” (Isaiah 50:7a, 8)

2 - “I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.” (Isaiah 50:6)

3 - “Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he who shall condemn me?  Behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.” (Isaiah 50:9)

4 - “He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth.  As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he didn’t open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7)

5 - “They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:9)

Friday

1 - “The spirit of the Lord God is on me; because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the humble.  He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound.” (Isaiah 61:1)

2 - “... Your iniquities have separated between you and your God...  For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutters wickedness.” (Isaiah 59:2a, 3)

3 - “His appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.” (Isaiah 52:14)

4 - “Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delights - I have put my Spirit upon him.  He will bring justice to the nations.  He will not shout, nor raise his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street.” (Isaiah 42:1-2)

5 - “... He poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of so many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:12b)

Saturday

1 - “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call you on him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6-7)

2 - “... Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.  Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their paths.” (Isaiah 59:6b-7)

3 - Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall worship; because of the Lord who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” (Isaiah 49:7)

4 - “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” says the Lord.  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

5 - “So shall my word be that goes out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing I sent it to do.” (Isaiah 55:11)

FIRST WEEK OF LENT

Psalms

Sunday

1 - “My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer; in the night season, and am not silent.” (Psalm 22:2)

2 - “... I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men and despised by the people.” (Psalm 22:6)

3 - “All those who see me mock me.  They insult me with their lips.” (Psalm 22:7)

4 - “They shake their heads, saying, ‘He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him.  Let him rescue him, since he delights in him.’” (Psalm 22:8)

5 - “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?” (Psalm 22:1)

Monday

1 - “... Don’t be far off, O Lord.  You are my help: hurry to help me.” (Psalm 22:19)

2 - “Don’t be far from me, for trouble is near.  For there is no one to help... They open their mouths wide against me, lions tearing prey and roaring.” (Psalm 22:11, 13)

3 - “I am poured out like water.  All my bones are out of joint.  My heart is like wax; it is melted within me.” (Psalm 22:14)

4 - “I can count all my bones.  They look and stare at me.  They divide my garments among them.  They cast lots for my clothing.” (Psalm 22:17-18)

5 - “My strength is dried up like a potsherd.  My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.  You have brought me into the dust of death.” (Psalm 22:15)

Tuesday

1 - “But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord, in an acceptable time.  God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.” (Psalm 69:13)

2 - “Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink.  Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.  Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up.  Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me.” (Psalm 69:14-15)

3 - “Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head.  Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty.  I have to restore what I didn’t take away.” (Psalm 69:4)

4 - “I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.  They also gave me gall for my food.  In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.” (Psalm 69:20b-21)

5 - “Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, O Lord God of Hosts.... Because for your sake, I have borne reproach.  Shame has covered my face.” (Psalm 69:6a, 7)

Wednesday

1 - “He will call to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation!’” (Psalm 89:26)

2 - “... You have rejected and spurned.  You have been angry with your anointed.” (Psalm 89:38)

3 - “You have renounced the covenant of your servant.  You have defiled his crown in the dust.” (Psalm 89:39)

4 - “All who pass by the way rob him.  He has become a reproach to his neighbors.  You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries.  You have made all of his enemies rejoice.” (Psalm 89:41-42)

5 - “You have ended his splendor, and thrown his throne down to the ground.  You have shortened the days of his youth.  You have covered him with shame.” (Psalm 89:44-45)

Thursday

1 - “Don’t withhold your tender mercies from me, O Lord.  Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me.  For innumerable evils have surrounded me.” (Psalm 40:11-12a)

2 - “I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart.  I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation.  I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth from the great assembly.” (Psalm 40:10)

3 - “I said, ‘Behold, I have come.  It is written about me in the book in the scroll.  I delight to do your will, my God.  Yes, your law is within my heart.” (Psalm 40:7-8)

4 - “Let them be disappointed and confounded together who seek after my soul to destroy it.  Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt.” (Psalm 40:14)

5 - “I am poor and needy.  May the Lord think about me.  You are my help and my deliverer.  Don’t delay, my God.” (Psalm 40:17)

Friday

1 - “Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me.  Fight against those who fight against me.  Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help.” (Psalm 35:1-2)

2 - “Unrighteous witnesses rise up.  They ask me about things that I don’t know about.  They reward me evil for good, to the bereaving of my soul.” (Psalm 35:11-12)

3 - “... In my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together... against me, and I didn’t know it.  They tore at me, and didn’t cease.” (Psalm 35:15)

4 - “Without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me.  Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul.” (Psalm 35:7)

5 - “All my bones shall say, ‘O Lord, who is like you, who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him; yes, the poor and the needy from him who robs him?’” (Psalm 35:10)

Saturday

1 - “Lord, don’t be far from me.  Wake up!  Rise up to defend me, my God!  My Lord, contend for me!” (Psalm 35:23)

2 - “Let them be disappointed and confounded together who rejoice at my calamity.  Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me.” (Psalm 35:26)

3 - “Lord, how long will you look on?  Rescue my soul from their destruction, my precious life from the lions.” (Psalm 35:17)

4 - “Don’t let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; neither let those who hate me without a cause wink their eyes.” (Psalm 35:19)

5 - “Vindicate me, O Lord my God, according to your righteousness.  Don’t let them gloat over me.” (Psalm 35:24)

SECOND WEEK OF LENT

The Gospel of Mark

Sunday

1 - [Jesus] to his disciples, “Sit here, while I pray.”  He took with them Peter, James, and John, and began to be greatly troubled and distressed.  (Mark 14:32-33)

2 - [Jesus said, “]Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to seize me?  I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you didn’t arrest me.  But this is so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.” (Mark 14:48-49)

3 - [The soldiers] clothed [Jesus] with purple, and weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on him.  They began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Mark 15:17-18)

4 - They compelled one passing by, coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene... to go with them, that he might bear [Jesus’] cross. (Mark 15:21)

5 - At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)

Monday

1 - [Jesus said, “]My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.  Stay here, and watch.” (Mark 14:34)

2 - The high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer?  What is it which these testify against you?”  But he stayed quiet, and answered nothing. (Mark 14:60-61a)

3 - [The soldiers] struck [Jesus’] head with a reed, and spat on him, and bowing their knees, did homage to him. (Mark 15:19)

4 - They brought him to the place called Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, “The place of a skull.”  They offered him wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he didn’t take it. (Mark 15:22-23)

5 - Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit.  The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. (Mark 15:37-38)

Tuesday

1 - [Jesus] went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from him. (Mark 14:35)

2 - They all condemned [Jesus] to be worthy of death.  Some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to beat him with fists, and to tell him, “Prophesy!”  The officers struck him with the palms of their hands. (Mark 14:64b-65)

3 - When [the soldiers] had mocked him, they took the purple off of him, and put his own garments on him.  They led him out to crucify him. (Mark 15:20)

4 - They offered [Jesus] wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he didn’t take it.  Crucifying him, they parted his garments among them, casting lots on them, what each should take. (Mark 15:23-24)

5 - When the centurion, who stood by opposite him, saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39)

Wednesday

1 - [Jesus] said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.  Please remove this cup from me.  However, not what I desire, what you desire.” (Mark 14:36)

2 - Immediately in the morning the chief priests, with the elders and scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him up to Pilate.  Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”  He answered, “So you say.” (Mark 15:1-2)

3 - [The soldiers] clothed [Jesus] with purple, and weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on him.  They began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Mark 15:17-18)

4 - It was the third hour, and they crucified him.  The superscription of his accusation was written over him, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.” (Mark 15:25-26)

5 - There were also women watching from afar, among whom were both Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and served him; and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. (Mark 15:40-41)

Thursday

1 - [Jesus] came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping?  Couldn’t you watch one hour?  Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 14:37-38)

2 - Pilate again asked [Jesus], “Have you answer?  See how many things they testify against you!  But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate marveled.

3 - [The soldiers] struck [Jesus’] head with a reed, and spat on him, and bowing their knees, did homage to him. (Mark 15:19)

4 - Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha!  You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” (Mark 15:29-30)

5 - Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member who also himself was looking for the Kingdom of God, came.  He boldly went to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body. (Mark 15:43)

Friday

1 - Again [Jesus] went away, and prayed, saying the same words.  Again he returned, and found [his disciples] sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they didn’t know what to answer him. (Mark 14:39-40)

2 - Pilate again asked them, “What then should I do to him whom you call the King of the Jews?”  They cried out again, “Crucify him!” (Mark 15:12-13)

3 - When [the soldiers] had mocked him, they took the purple off of him, and put his own garments on him.  They led him out to crucify him. (Mark 15:20)

4 - Likewise, also the chief priests mocking among themselves with the scribes said, “He saved others.  He can’t save himself.  Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him.” (Mark 15:31-32a)

5 - Pilate marveled if [Jesus] were already dead... When he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. (Mark 15:44a, 45)

Saturday

1 - [Jesus] said, “Sleep on now, and take your rest.  It is enough.  The hour has come.  Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” (Mark 14:41)

2 - Pilate, wishing to please the multitude, released Barabbas to them, and handed over Jesus, when he had flogged him, to be crucified. (Mark 15:15)

3 - [The soldiers] clothed [Jesus] with purple, and weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on him. ... They struck his head with a reed, and spat on him, and bowing their knees, did homage to him. (Mark 15:17, 19)

4 - At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)

5 - [Joseph of Arimathea] bought a linen cloth, and taking him down, wound him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb which had been cut out of a rock.  He rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.  Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joses, saw where he was laid. (Mark 15:46-47)

THIRD WEEK OF LENT

The Gospel of Matthew

Sunday

1 - Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go there and pray.”  He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and severely troubled.  (Matt. 26:36-37)

2 - Jesus said to the multitudes, “Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to seize me?  I sat daily in the temple teaching, and you didn’t arrest me.  But all this has happened, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”  (Matt. 26:55-56)

3 - [The governor’s soldiers] stripped [Jesus], and put a scarlet robe on him.  They braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. (Matt. 27:28-29a)

4 - As they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they compelled him to go with them, that he might carry [Jesus’] cross. (Matt. 27:32)

5 - About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?”  That is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46)

Monday

1 - [Jesus said, “]My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.  Stay here, and watch with me.” (Matt. 26:38)

2 - Then they spit in his face and beat him with their fists, and some slapped him, saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ!  Who hit you?” (Matt. 26:67-68)

3 - [The soldiers] braided a crown of thorns and put it on [Jesus’] head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him, and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Matt. 27:29)

4 - They came to a place called “Golgotha”, that is to say, “The place of a skull.”  They gave him sour wine to drink mixed with gall.  When he had tasted it, he would not drink. (Matt. 27:33-34)

5 - Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.  Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.  The earth quaked and the rocks were split.  The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. (Matt. 27:50-52)

Tuesday

1 - [Jesus] went forward a little, fell on his face, and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire.” (Matt. 26:39) 

2 - Then Pilate said to [Jesus], “Don’t you hear how many things they testify against you?”  He gave him no answer, not even one word, so that the governor marveled greatly. (Matt. 27:13-14)

3 - [The soldiers] spat on [Jesus]. and took the reed and struck him on the head.  When they had mocked him, they took the robe off of him, and put his clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him. (Matt. 27:30-31)

4 - When they had crucified [Jesus], they divided his clothing among them, casting lots, and they sat and watched him there. (Matt. 27:35-36)

5 - Now the centurion, and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake, and the things that were done, feared exceedingly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God.” (Matt. 27:54)

Wednesday

1 - [Jesus] came to the disciples, and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What, couldn’t you watch with me for one hour?  Watch and pray, that you don’t enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matt. 26:40-41)

2 - While [Pilate] was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.”  Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.  (Matt. 27:19-20)

3 - [The governor’s soldiers] stripped [Jesus], and put a scarlet robe on him.  They braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. (Matt. 27:28-29a)

4 - They set up over his head the accusation against him written, “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”  Then there were two robbers crucified with him, one on his right hand and one on the left. (Matt. 27:37-38)

5 - When evening had come, a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself was also Jesus’ disciple came.  This man went to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body. (Matt. 27:57-58)

Thursday

1 - Again, a second time [Jesus] went away, and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cup can’t pass away from me unless I drink it, your desire be done.” (Matt. 26:42)

2 - Pilate said to [the multitudes], “What then shall I do to Jesus, who is called Christ?”  They all said to him, “Let him be crucified!” (Matt. 27:22)

3 - [The soldiers] braided a crown of thorns and put it on [Jesus’] head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him, and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Matt. 27:29)

4 - Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself!  If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”  (Matt. 27:39-40)

5 - Joseph [of Arimathea] took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock, and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed.  Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.  (Matt. 27:59-61)

Friday

1 - [Jesus] came again and found [his disciples] sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.  He left them again, went away, and prayed a third time, saying the same words. (Matt. 26:43-44)

2 - So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this righteous person.  You see to it.” (Matt. 27:24)

3 - [The soldiers] spat on [Jesus]. and took the reed and struck him on the head.  When they had mocked him, they took the robe off of him, and put his clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him. (Matt. 27:30-31)

4 - Likewise the chief priests also mocking, with the scribes, the Pharisees, and the elders, said, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself.  If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him.” (Matt. 27:41-42)

5 - [The chief priests said to Pilate, “]Command... that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest perhaps his disciples come at night and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He is risen from the dead.’” (Matt. 27:64)

Saturday

1 - Then [Jesus] came to his disciples, and said to them, “Sleep on now, and take your rest.  Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Arise, let’s be going.  Behold, he who betrays me is at hand.” (Matt. 26:45-46)

2 - [Pilate] released to [the multitudes] Barabbas, but Jesus he flogged and delivered to be crucified. (Matt. 27:26)

3 - [The soldiers] braided a crown of thorns and put it on [Jesus’] head, and a reed in his right hand... They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him in the head.  [Then they] led him away to crucify him. (Matt. 27:29a, 30, 31b)

4 - [They mocked Jesus, saying, “]He trusts in God.  Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”  The robbers also who were crucified with him cast on him the same reproach.  (Matt. 27:43-44)

5 - Pilate said [to the chief priests and Pharisees], “You have a guard.  Go, make [the tomb] as secure as you can.”  So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone. (Matt. 27:65-66)

FOURTH WEEK OF LENT

The Gospel of Luke

Sunday

1 - [Jesus] came out, and went, as his custom was, to the Mount of Olives.  His disciples also followed him.  When he was at the place, he said to them, “Pray that you don’t enter into temptation.”  (Luke 22:39-40)

2 - Jesus said to the chief priests, captains of the temple, and elders, who had come against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs?” (Luke 22:52)

3 - The men who held Jesus mocked him and beat him.  Having blindfolded him, they struck him on the face and asked him, “Prophesy!  Who is the one who struck you?” (Luke 22:63-64)

4 - Pilate spoke to them again, wanting to release Jesus, but they shouted, saying, “Crucify!  Crucify him!” (Luke 23:20-21)

5 - Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”  Having said this, he breathed his last.  (Luke 23:46)

Monday

1 - [Jesus] knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.  Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:41b-42)

2 - [Jesus said, “]When I was with you in the temple daily, you didn’t stretch out your hands against me.  But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” (Luke 22:53)

3 - The men who held Jesus mocked him and beat him... They spoke many other things against him, insulting him. (Luke 22:63, 65)

4 - When they led [Jesus] away, they grabbed one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it after Jesus.  A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who also mourned and lamented him. (Luke 23:26-27)

5 - When the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous man.” (Luke 23:47)

Tuesday

1 - [Jesus said, “]Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.  Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.”  An angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him.  (Luke 22:42-43)

2 - [The chief priests and scribes said to Jesus, “]If you are the Christ, tell us.”  But he said to them, “If I tell you, you won’t believe, and if I ask, you will in no way answer me or let me go.”  (Luke 22:67-68)

3 - They all said, “Are you then the Son of God?”  He said to them, “You say it, because I am.”  They said, “Why do we need any more witness?  For we ourselves have heard from his own mouth!”  (Luke 22:70-71)

4 - [Jesus said, “]Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.  For behold, the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’” (Luke 23:28-29)

5 - All the multitudes that came together to see this, when they saw the things that were done, returned home beating their breasts.  All his acquaintances, and the women who followed with him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.” (Luke 23:48-49)

Wednesday

1 - Being in agony [Jesus] prayed more earnestly.  His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.  (Luke 22:44)

2 - [They] brought him before Pilate.  They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting the nation, forbidding paying taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” (Luke 23:1b-2)

3 - Pilate asked [Jesus], “Are you the King of the Jews?”  He answered him, “So you say.” (Luke 23:3)

4 - When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified him there with the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.  Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:33-34)

5 - Behold, a man named Joseph, who was a member of the council, a good and righteous man... went to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body. (Luke 23:50, 52)

Thursday

1 - [Jesus said, “]Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.  Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42)

2 - The men who held Jesus mocked him and beat him.  Having blindfolded him, they struck him on the face and asked him, “Prophesy!  Who is the one who struck you?” (Luke 22:63-64)

3 - The chief priests and the scribes stood, vehemently accusing him.  Herod with his soldiers humiliated him and mocked him.  Dressing him in luxurious clothing, they sent him back to Pilate. (Luke 23:10-11)

4 - The people stood watching.  The rulers with them also scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others.  Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one!”  (Luke 23:35)

5 - [Joseph of Arimathea] took [Jesus’ body] down, and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that was cut in stone, where no one had ever been laid. (Luke 23:53)

Friday

1 - When [Jesus] rose up from his prayer, he came to the disciples, and found them sleeping because of grief, and said to them, “Why do you sleep?  Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” (Luke 22:45-46)

2 - [Pilate said, “...]nothing worthy of death has been done by him.  I will therefore chastise him and release him.” (Luke 23:15b-16)

3 - [Pilate] said to them the third time, “Why?  What evil has this man done?  I have found no capital crime in him.  I will therefore chastise him and release him.”  But they were urgent with loud voices, asking that he might be crucified.  Their voices and the voices of the chief priests prevailed. (Luke 23:22-23)

4 - The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” (Luke 23:36-37)

5 - The women, who had come with him out of Galilee, followed after, and saw the tomb, and how his body was laid. (Luke 23:55)

Saturday

1 - While [Jesus] was still speaking, behold, a multitude, and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them.  He came near to Jesus to kiss him.  But Jesus said to him, “Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:47-48)

2 - Having blindfolded [Jesus, the men] struck him on the face and asked him, “Prophesy!  Who is the one who struck you?”  They spoke many other things against him, insulting him. (Luke 22:64-65)

3 - Pilate decreed that what they asked for should be done.  He released him who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus up to their will. (Luke 23:24-25)

4 - [The criminal] said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”  Jesus said to him, “Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:42-43)

5 - [The women] saw how [Jesus’] body was laid.  They returned, and prepared spices and ointments.  On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. (Luke 23:55b-56)

FIFTH WEEK OF LENT

The Gospel of John

Sunday

1 - Jesus said... lifting up his eyes to heaven,... “Father, the time has come.  Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you; even as you gave him authority over all flesh, he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.” (John 17:1-2)

2 - Jesus... said to Peter, “... The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not surely drink it?” (John 18:11)

3 - Jesus [said], “My Kingdom is not of this world.  If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews.  But now my Kingdom is not from here.” (John 18:36)

4 - [Jesus] went out, bearing his cross, to the place called “The Place of a Skull”, which is called in Hebrew, “Golgotha”, where they crucified him, and with him two others, on either side one, and Jesus in the middle. (John 19:17-18)

5 - [Jesus said,] “Most certainly I tell you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.  You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy... I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and none will take your joy away from you.” (John 16:20, 22b)

Monday

1 - [Jesus said,] “This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.  I glorified you on the earth.  I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.” (John 17:3-4)

2 - So the detachment, the commanding officer, and the officers of the Jews, seized Jesus and bound him, and led him to Annas first. (John 18:12-13a)

3 - Jesus [said], “You say that I am a king.  For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37b)

4 - Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross.  There was written, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” (John 19:19)

5 - [Jesus said,] “I came from the Father, and have come into the world.  Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father... I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace.  In the world you have oppression; but cheer up!  I have overcome the world!” (John 16:28, 33)

Tuesday

1 - [Jesus said,] “I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world.  They were yours, and you have given them to me.  They have kept your word... I pray for them.” (John 17:6, 9a)

2 - Jesus [said], “I spoke openly to the world.  I always taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where the Jews always meet.  I said nothing in secret.” (John 18:20)

3 - The soldiers twisted thorns into a crown, and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple garment.  They kept saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and they kept slapping him. (John 19:2-3)

4 - Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part... that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which says, “They parted my garments among them.  For my cloak they cast lots.” (John 19:23a, 24b)

5 - [Jesus said,] “All things whatever the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he takes of mine, and will declare it to you.  A little while, and you will not see me.  Again a little while, and you will see me.” (John 16:15-16)

Wednesday

1 - [Jesus said,] “I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you.  Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are.” (John 17:11)

2 - ... One of the officers standing by slapped Jesus with his hand, saying, “Do you answer the high priest like that?”  Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken evil, testify of the evil; but if well, why do you beat me?” (John 18:22-23)

3 - Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment.  Pilate said to them, “Behold, the man!” (John 19:5)

4 - ... When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son!”  Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!”  From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. (John 19:26-27)

5 - Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.  Whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)

Thursday

1 - [Jesus said,] “I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one... Sanctify them in your truth.  Your word is truth.  As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:15, 17-18)

2 - Pilate [said], “What accusation do you bring against this man?”  They answered him, “If this man weren’t an evildoer, we wouldn’t have delivered him up to you.” (John 18:29-30)

3 - When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, “Crucify!  Crucify!”  Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him.” (John 19:6)

4 - After this, Jesus, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty;” so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop, and held it at his mouth. (John 19:28-29)

5 - Jesus said... “I am the bread of life.  He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)

Friday

1 - [Jesus said,] “Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one;... that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you loved me.” (John 17:20-21a, 23b) 

2 - The Jews said to [Pilate], “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he should die. (John 18:31b-32)

3 - Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, at about the sixth hour.  [Pilate] said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!”  They cried out, “Away with him!  Away with him!  Crucify him!” (John 19:14-15a)

4 - When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished.”  He bowed his head, and gave up the spirit. (John 19:30)

5 - [Jesus said,] “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Saturday

1 - [Jesus said,] “Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world... I made known to them your name, and will make it known.” (John 17:24, 26a)

2 - Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, called Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”  Jesus answered him, “Do you say this by yourself, or did others tell you about me?” (John 18:33-34)

3 - Pilate said... “Shall I crucify your King?”  The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”  So then he delivered him to them to be crucified.  So they took Jesus and led him away.”  (John 19:15b-16)

4 - ... When they came to Jesus, and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs.  However, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. (John 19:33-34)

5 - For these things happened, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “A bone of him will not be broken.”  Again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they pierced.” (John 19:36-37)

HOLY WEEK to come!