I wish a joyous and beautiful Paschal season to all who are celebrating the Resurrection of Christ today.
Muslim persecution of Christians continues to increase worldwide, as does the phenomenon of Muslims in the West claiming victimhood in order to deflect attention away from the global jihad and Islamic supremacism. The contrast is piquant: Muslims acting in the name of Allah murder Christians in Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and elsewhere, simply because they are Christians, and then complain in the Judeo-Christian West about not being able to wear hijab in violation of some company’s policy, or about someone saying rude things to them in a supermarket — or speaking honestly about how Islamic jihadists use the texts and teachings of Islam to justify violence and supremacism. Liars with power, and position, and prestige spread their lies far and wide, while truth-tellers are silenced, demonized, smeared, ignored.And the “global human rights community” rushes to condemn the “Islamophobia,” while remaining silent about the persecution and the steady erosion of the freedom of speech.
Whether you are a Christian or a believer in any other religion or no religion at all, this should concern you, and will have impact upon you, whether or not you’re aware of it. The victimhood game is part of a larger strategy. And so is the persecution of Christians, and the violence against Jews in Israel, and against unbelievers of various creeds and belief-systems worldwide. They are both part of a larger war that the Ayatollah Khomeini memorably articulated:
Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males, provided they are not disabled or incapacitated, to prepare themselves for the conquest of countries so that the writ of Islam is obeyed in every country in the world. . . . But those who study Islamic Holy War will understand why Islam wants to conquer the whole world. . . . Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those [who say this] are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all! Does this mean that Muslims should sit back until they are devoured by [the unbelievers]? Islam says: Kill them, put them to the sword and scatter [their armies]”¦. Islam says: Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! The sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for the Holy Warriors! There are hundreds of other [Qur’anic] psalms and Hadiths [sayings of the Prophet] urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all this mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim.
With Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Christians all celebrating today what is for Christians the Feast of Feasts, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is illuminating to contrast the spirit of Khomeini’s famous remarks with the Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom, which is read on this day in Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches. (Please note that my posting this does not constitute a blanket endorsement of everything Chrysostom ever said. In fact, I discuss some of his outrageously uncharitable, un-Christian and deeply disturbing utterances at length in my 2007 book Religion of Peace?, which you can get here.)
If anything illuminates why Muslims are victimizing Christians throughout the world, it is the difference between Khomeini’s words and Chrysostom’s. Khomeini’s repudiation of the “foolish souls” who reject Islamic jihad warfare manifests an understanding of Islam that looks with resentment and hatred at non-Muslims and wills to conquer and subjugate and kill them.
Chrysostom’s homily, by contrast, is expansive, generous, open-hearted, and otherworldly. Above all, it is hopeful. Death is robbed of its sting. Evil does not prevail forever. As the days get darker and freedom (especially the freedom of speech) gets more precarious in the West, and Islamic supremacists (who, like DHS official Mohamed Elibiary, revere Khomeini) grow ever bolder in the West, it is a good message for non-Christians as well as Christians: the boot on the face does not and cannot prevail indefinitely. Blades of grass inevitably grow through the concrete. Khomeini says that “whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword” and that “people cannot be made obedient except with the sword,” but ultimately people grow weary of living constantly in terror of the sword, and throw off the tyrant’s chains. The human spirit cannot be enslaved indefinitely.
And so even in these difficult days, there is hope: every time the Islamic supremacists advance, they simultaneously retreat, because more and more people wake up to what they’re doing and to the need to resist.
They are angered (angered!), increasingly angered, because they know they can’t continue to advance under cover of darkness. People are on to them. The truth about Islam and jihad is known to vast numbers of people in the West, much as our government and media elites continue to ignore it and/or downplay and obfuscate it. The enemies of freedom are being exposed, and will ultimately be cast down, and they know it — hence the increasingly brutal and vicious manner in which they enforce their tattered and cheap hegemony. They will lash out more furiously than ever as the truth continues to get out. But it it is getting out. And it will be victorious.
And so here is St. John Chrysostom’s homily:
Let all pious men rejoice and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; let the wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord, let those who have borne the burden of Lent now receive their pay, and those who have toiled since the first hour, let them now receive their due reward; let any who came after the third hour be grateful to join in the feast, and those who may have come after the sixth, let them not be afraid of being too late, for the Lord is gracious and He receives the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him who comes on the eleventh hour as well as to him who has toiled since the first: yes, He has pity on the last and he serves the first; He rewards the one and is generous to the other; He repays the deed and praises the effort.
Come, all of you: enter into the joy of your Lord. You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward; you rich and you poor, dance together; you sober and you weaklings, celebrate the day; you who have kept the Fast and you who have not, rejoice today.
The table is richly laden; enjoy its royal banquet. The calf is a fatted one; let no one go away hungry. All of you enjoy the banquet of faith; all of you receive the riches of His goodness. Let no one grieve over his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed; let no one weep over his sins, for pardon has shone from the grave; let no one fear death, for the death of our Savior has set us free. He has destroyed it by enduring it; He has despoiled Hades by going down into its kingdom; He has angered it by allowing it to taste of His flesh.
When Isaiah foresaw all this, he cried out: “O Hades, you have been angered by encountering Him in the nether world.” Hades is angered because it is frustrated. It is angered because it has been mocked. It is angered because it has been destroyed. It is angered because it has been reduced to naught. It is angered because it is now captive. It seized a body, and lo! It discovered God. It seized earth, and behold! It encountered heaven. It seized the visible, and was overcome by the invisible.
“O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” Christ is risen, and you are abolished! Christ is risen and the demons are cast down! Christ is risen and the angels rejoice! Christ is risen and life is freed! Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of its dead! For Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the leader and reviver of those who had fallen asleep. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
duh_swami says
I didn’t know Hade’s had emotions and could have a tantrum at any second. I always thought it was just a place where bad people go when they pass on.
Now that I know Hade’s has feelings I will stop insulting it…
Islamisdeath says
I believe in this context Hades is a euphemism for satan.
Happy Easter!
Islamisdeath says
Satan and his demons that is.
Jay Boo says
bing search says Hades was a Greek god , King of the Dead brother of Zeus
(essentially another name for Satan)
Maybe Hades has also become a euphemism for hell
Always On Watch says
A blessed Holy Day to those who are celebrating the resurrection of our Savior — and the promise of our own eternal life!
squeezethejuice says
It is a misconception that Isa(pbuh), our Prophet and your god, has died. The descendents of the ppl who wanted to kill him used this story as a show of power, to demoralize the Christians and Muslims. In fact Prophet Isa(pbuh) managed to to outsmart them, in the same way Muslims today are outsmarting the descendents of the ppl who wanted to kill him.
You Christians should have more faith in ur god, he was a lot wiser than u give him credit…
rev g says
There were no muslimes when Christ accepted death for the sins of man. Nor did Christ “outsmart” anyone, he was not a deceiver like your muhamhead. No prophet can be a deceiver, excepting in islam. That tells you much about that religion. They must even call Christ a deceiver, to accord him prophet status. Happy Easter.
Bezelel says
The true parasitic nature of islam is exposed by their need to attack others rather than their own good works.
My Redeemer Lives!!!!
Jay Boo says
The star shines its light onto the world
even as the feeble dimly-lit barren moon tries to steal all the credit.
Sencit says
There is no ‘Prophet Isa’, there is only our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no ‘Prophet Muhammad’ either, only a demonised psycopath with delusions of granduer.
John C. Barile says
Gnashing your teeth and wailing, mocking and blaspheming, and otherwise acting in character with your own false deity, who was and is a liar and father of lies, a murderer from the beginning.
Even so, it’s still not to late for you to embrace the Light; come, join the Pascal feast!
John C. Barile says
Paschal feast, that is.
John C. Barile says
Not too late. . . .
boakai ngombu says
Muslims are outsmarting no one but themselves
Jesus, whom your Holy Book calls: the Seal of Holiness, said this after He was betrayed by Judas:
“Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?…” (Matthew 26: 53,54/ESV)
of course, I realize this has been omitted from your book, which is not helpful but deadly.
Did Jesus demonstrate – knowing the unknown – when He said that, uttering something only the Divine would know?
And, did he not foretell (as a babe, speaking) His resurrection?
boakai ngombu says
the above response was meant for squeeze. my error.
We live as Jesus lives, risen from the grave! We do not live for death as those enslaved by the SHARIA of the Allah god of Islam (unknowable; the best of all deceivers)
CogitoErgoSum says
Squeezethejuice, the misconception is yours by putting your faith in a man such as Muhammad…..a purveyor of lies and hate if ever there was one. I hope you will manage to outsmart the liar and deceiver and come to find the Way, the Truth and the Life….even if it is at the eleventh hour. Understand the meaning of this day and cast aside the old and put on the new. Death has been conquered. Martha and Mary, Peter, Andrew, James, John and the other disciples saw the risen Christ and believed in Him and spread His words to the world. Saul, a persecutor of His first followers, saw Him in a vision and became Paul, the great evangelist who also spread His words. I believe they all saw the truth and shared it with the world…and that the truth still lives. Death does not demoralize us for our God has shown us His love for us. Peace to you….and to all on this day of light and life.
john spielman says
poor muslim apologist; attempting as always to defend the indefensible. Islam is death cult and all muslims are doomed because you worship Satan who deceived Mohammed with a different gospel which replaces the gift of God,( the sin atoning death and resurrection of God incarnate Jesus), for a lie – that you can earn your salvation by “good deeds” Your works righteous theology is particularly odious because it all violence against unbelievers as a way to generate “good deeds”. This is the reason you have suicide murders.
You’re living a LIE and unless you repent of this lie, and turn to Christ for forgiveness and life, you will surely die in your sins!
gravenimage says
John, what bothers me far more than Muslims concentrating on “good deeds” rather than grace—something even Christians have debated—is the *nature* of those deeds.
As you touch on, it is not as though Muslims are committing acts of charity as a way to paradise, but instead are bombing markets, attacking churches and temples, and slaughtering innocent Infidels, believing it will please the sanguinary “Allah”. *Ugh*.
Kepha says
Dear Squeeze:
I don’t know if you are sincerely seeking the truth about God (which I pray you are) or are simply trying to agitate against the JOOOOOZ.
But I fear you do not understand a thing about Jesus. I respect that you Muslims call Jesus Al-Masih, clearly a reference to his title Messiah (Anglicization of the Hebrew M’shiach), but from what I have read in the English versions of the Qur’an (Dawood, Yusuf Ali, Pickthall) and heard from the Da’wa people, it is clear to me that you have no understanding of what it means when we call Jesus Messiah.
A good example is how we talk about the death of Jesus on the cross. Most Muslims I have run into with whom I have ever had a serious talk about this issue sincerely think they are giving greater honor to Jesus by denying his death. But this shows only how one can be sincerely mistaken. Please bear with me, for if you truly wish us to become Muslims, you need to answer a few issues I raise.
First of all, it has been prophesied from the beginning of our human race that the Messiah must suffer and die to atone for the sins of us humans. Unlike Muslims who excuse themselves from reading the Old and New Testaments, charging that their disagreements with the Qur’an show that the Christians and Jews have falsified them, we Christians do not reject the Jewish Scriptures, but have always had them as 4/5 of what we call the Bible.
When Adam fell, he and Eve tried to cover themselves with aprons of leaves. God, however, covered them with the sins of animals (see Genesis 3), showing that the wages of sin is death (cf. Rom. 6:23), and our sins cannot be covered save by the sacrifice of another life. Further, he told the Serpent that there would be enmity between the seed of the woman and that of the Serpent; that the serpent would bruise the heel of the seed of the woman, but the Seed of the woman would bruise the head of the Serpent (Gen. 3:15). Christians have always understood this as foretelling how Jesus (born of a woman, without the aid of a man–as even Muslims confess) would be injured by Satan, but would still conquer him and destroy him.
Move on to the narratives of Noah and the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Israel in Genesis. When they approach God in worship, they offer an animal sacrifice. In the rest of the Torah, there are detailed instructions regarding animal sacrifices and the priests (Kohanim) ordained to offer them. Note in Exodus, how when God killed the first-born of Egypt, he ordered the Israelites through Moses to mark their doors with the blood of a sacrificial lamb without blemish, that they Angel of Death might pass over them (Exodus 12).
Why did God substitute a ram for Isaac’s life when he told Abraham to sacrifice his son (Gen. 22)? It was not to show we have “advanced” beyond human sacrifice, but that the life of a sinful human being (all of us, save Jesus Christ) cannot atone for sin and bring access to God. I hope for their sakes rather than mine that your Shahids consider this before they throw their lives away.
Seven hundred years before Jesus came, when the Israelites faced defeat and exile at the hands of the Mesopotamian powers, the prophet Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would suffer and die to atone for our sins (Isaiah 53). Before then, David prophesied that the Messiah would be raised from the dead (Psalm 16), and that all nations would be called on to bow to him (Psalm 2).
The New Testament teaches that it is through the death of Jesus on the cross that these promises of redemption have come to pass.
“Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (II Corinthians 5:21)
“Christ also suffered for our sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” (I Peter 3:18).
“[Christ] his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we having died to sins might live unto righteousness; by [his] stripes ye were healed.” (I Peter 2:24).
“The Son of Man [Jesus the Messiah] came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45–Jesus’ own words).
“Since the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he [the Word and Messiah] also himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death he might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14-15).
“I [Jesus] lay down my life for the sheep [God’s people].” (John 10:14).
As for Jesus’ anointing, there are three Old Testament offices that are Anointed with oil: Priests (Leviticus 9:1-11), Kings (I Samuel 16:1-13), and Prophets (I Kings 19:16). Jesus is prophet, for he teaches us God’s Word; he is our king, for he rules and judges through his Word and Spirit; and he is our priest because in the sacrifice for us on the cross he made atonement for our sins.
And we know that faith in this is not vain, for God raised Jesus from the dead–body and soul both–on the third day, as the entire New Testament testifies.
You tell us that the Bible I quote is falsified. But how, then, dear Muslim friend, is it that I can pick up the Jew’s Torah, Nevi’im, and Kathuvim and recognize the same books I call the Old Testament–even though his people and mine did not cooperate in preserving and publishing these books? Yes, I, as a Protestant, have my disagreements with the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox. Again, we did not cooperate, but I pick up the New Testaments published by their churches, and recognize the same one that mine has published. I read both the Old and New Testaments and find untouched teachings that might embarrass many of the Jewish rabbis and Christian clerics who preserved them in old times; and I see a number of apocryphal works far more confirming of the prejudices of the synagogues and churches of old which were still not received as Scripture. Hence, I can only conclude that far from falsifying the Scriptures, the men of ancient times were very scrupulous in their preservation.
And, if it was the Jewish priests and scribes who judged Jesus and handed him over to the Romans (the “Gentiles” of the New Testament text) to be crucified (as the Gospels and Book of Acts tell me), I am not to see this as a crime to be avenged on the descendants of these ancient Mediterranean peoples, but to recognize that my sin is so great that nothing less can bring me access to God–and repent of my sins and confess that Messiah has come.
You tell me my good deeds must outweigh my bad, and that if I miss the appointed prayer times I’ll have to make them up (hence the nephew of a Nigerian-born bus driver I know spends virtually all his time in the mosque). Well, could your tears of repentance flow forever and your pious deeds never flag for your zeal, these would not cover your sins. Thanks be to God that the righteous one suffered and died for us on the cross!
You Muslims tell me that Jesus, body and soul, sits in Heaven waiting to come back and judge us. You learned that because Muhammad got something he learned from the Syrian Christians right! But Jesus is in Heaven and glorified because he conquered death as well as sin after truly tasting it on our behalf!
Muhammad, on the other hand, as you know and admit when trying to make a Muslim of me, lies in the dust of Medina, awaiting the day when Jesus will call him forth, along with the rest of us sinners. But after rejecting the death of the Messiah on the cross, can his sins be covered?
Heed the words of the Risen Jesus, if you truly wish to honor him:
“I am the first and the last, and the living one; and I was dead, and I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hell.” (Revelation 1:17-18).
This Risen One says “Come”, so you ought to come.
Islamisdeath says
The story of Easter does not demoralize Christians you boob it gives us cause to rejoice. As others have said Jesus unlike your God of darkness was not and is not a deceiver. Christ lives and we rejoice!
gravenimage says
“squeezethejuice” (“squeeze the Jews”) wrote:
It is a misconception that Isa(pbuh), our Prophet and your god, has died. The descendents of the ppl (sic) who wanted to kill him used this story as a show of power, to demoralize the Christians and Muslims.
……………………………………..
This is, of course, complete rot. Muslims believe that death—unless in the course of mass murder (i.e., “killing and being killed in the way of Allah”, that is, waging violent Jihad) is a sign of weakness.
More:
In fact Prophet Isa(pbuh) managed to to outsmart them…
……………………………………..
This is that way Muslims look at God—as a deceiver. Many Islamic texts glorify Allah as “the best of deceivers”.
And what was “Isa’s” deception? According to Islamic texts, he bullied one of his followers to die nameless in his place while he skulked away. Muslims regard this cowardice and coercion *as laudable*.
More:
…in the same way Muslims today are outsmarting the descendents of the ppl (sic) who wanted to kill him.
……………………………………..
This is, of course, a reference to Muslims murdering Jews. Lie most virulent antisemites, “squeezetheJews” doesn’t recognize the role of the Romans at all.
Moreover, he regards naked violence as “outsmarting”—never mind the fact that it is the smart and savvy Israelis who are thriving in the Levant, despite the fact that they are surrounded by genocidal Mohammedans.
Why should this surprise us, though? Islam has never esteemed reason or intelligence.
More:
You Christians should have more faith in ur (sic) god, he was a lot wiser than u (sic) give him credit…
……………………………………..
This should not surprise, coming from a follower of a creed that considers bloodshed its highest value.
And it is just the same with “Jesus”. The Muslim Isa was not a peacemaker, and healed no one. His role in the last days is to “Break the Cross and Kill the Pigs”, which is taken to mean he will do away with dhimmitude, the small, uncertain space where Christians are allowed under oppressive Shari’ah to practice their faith.
He then offers Christians a stark choice: convert to Islam, or die.
So, the main role of “Jesus” in Islam is to *kill Christians*.
*That* is what this Muslim means when he says that Christians are not giving Jesus “enough credit”—he means that Christians regard Jesus as a peacemaker, a healer, a protector, a consoler, and *The Savior*, all things Muslims despise.
Instead, Muslims regard “Jesus” as a bully, a deceiver, and a mass-murderer, all things they *esteem*.
Compare and contrast…
Isabella says
Goodness will always triumph over evil, destruction. Happy Easter to Christians and friends of Christians. United we stand to stop the ones who want to destroy the good people!
Fr. Basil says
\\It is a misconception that Isa(pbuh), our Prophet and your god, has died. \\
I bear witness that Jesus is God Incarnate, Who died and rose from the dead!
The mahometans deny that Jesus suffered physical death so they don’t have to deal with the issue of the empty tomb!
Christ is risen!
Salah says
He is Risen. The tomb is empty. Happy Easter to all.
34 thousand billion watts of VUV radiations to make an image???
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.ca/2012/04/he-is-risen-il-est-ressuscite.html
Kepha says
Fr. Basil, I am Protestant, but to you (and everyone else), a heartfelt
en aletheios anesti!
Champ ✞ says
Happy Easter All! xo, Champ
He Is Risen!
Champ ✞ says
Question: “Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ important?”
Answer: http://www.gotquestions.org/resurrection-Christ-important.html
Jay Boo says
Great link Champ
Thank you
Easy to read and pertinent to the topic.
readers are free to choose to read if they wish.
Champ ✞ says
Thank you, Jay Boo! …glad you enjoyed reading it 🙂
Reality Check says
Happy Easter, infidels!
In the meantime, China is on course to become the world’s most Christian nation within 15 years:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10776023/China-on-course-to-become-worlds-most-Christian-nation-within-15-years.html
Bad news for the Jihadists. I bet they never expected they would be taking on 1.3 billion Chinese. Back to the drawing board, guys, you got a lot of work to do!
Proud to be an infidel,
RC
Frank Scarn says
A hymn appropriate for both Christmas and Easter,
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOAtLJeV7yk
I believe !
Bradamante says
Happy Easter! This is a lovely post. I like these words of John Chrysostom, and I’m also very glad to hear that this is not a blanket endorsement of everything he ever said, since I too have been appalled by some of it. But this speech is deeply inspiring — no wonder they read it every Easter in Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches.
dlbrand says
“They will lash out more furiously than ever as the truth continues to get out. But it it is getting out. And it will be victorious.”
Indeed, indeed.
“’O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ Christ is risen, and you are abolished! ”
Because He lives, “dead or alive,” we live also.
Thank you Robert, and God bless you this Easter Day and always.
dlbrand says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME6HJyusxvM
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; And whosoever believeth in me shall never die.” (John 11:25,26)
NodrogtheAtheist-believer says
As an atheist, I deeply respect and understand the power of the Christian message! But why compel people to believe in the unbelievable? I will stand up for and defend Jews and Israel until the day I die. I will always be on the side of good and whatever fosters it. I don’t need religious faith, belief in the unbelievable. All I need is knowledge that comes from evidence. I am as deeply spiritual as anyone. “God” has nothing to do with it. Let it be on Earth as it is in “Heaven.”
thomas_h says
Please let me know who on this site has been trying to compel you to believe in the unbelievable. I will report him/her to R. Spencer with request that he will be banned immediately! I know that Mr. Spencer is a good Catholic and will not tolerate religious compulsion on his website.
BTW, in your short post “I” appears seven times! Is your keyboard stuck?
Kepha says
Nodrogetc., who’s compelling whom? I have good friends from Mainland China with whom I worship who were drawn to Christ because we Christians only preach Jesus crucified and risen, rather than force people to attend meetings to praise a man who ultimately died, was embalmed, and stayed under the glass.
Also, as a young man and a new Christian, I remember being scoffed at for worshiping “and old man with a beard sitting on a cloud”, and when I quoted John 4:24 and I Kings 8:27 back, I all but got my glasses broken and my nose with them for daring to dissent from what clever people had told my interlocutors about what I believed in.
Now, as an old man, and a professional swindler of the young–oops, public high school teacher–my neighbors are taxed on pain of imprisonment to have me tell their children that the natural law in which America’s founders believed reflected the rise of materialist science and other things which a lifetime of reading history has taught me are out-and-out lies.
Who’s forcing whose beliefs on whom?
Geordie says
Well said. Validation is everything.
dumbledoresarmy says
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Wishing a joyful and holy Easter to all my fellow Christians who are posting or lurking here.
dlbrand says
And likewise to you, My Friend.
thomas_h says
He is risen!
Happy Easter everybody!
Curious Teenager says
He is Risen indeed! Alleluia! I pray for all fellow Christians, persecuted or not, on this most holy day. Let all who believe celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. God bless!
Curious Teenager says
I know that my Redeemer lives!
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, he lives, who once was dead;
He lives, my ever living head!
He lives triumphant from the grave;
He lives eternally to save;
He lives exalted, throned above;
He lives to rule his Church in love.
He lives to grant me rich supply;
He lives to guide me with his eye;
He lives to comfort me when faint;
He lives to hear my soul’s complaint.
He lives to silence all my fears;
He lives to wipe away my tears;
He lives to calm my troubled heart;
He lives all blessings to impart.
He lives to bless me with his love;
He lives to plead for me above;
He lives my hungry soul to feed;
He lives to help in time of need.
He lives, my kind, wise, heavenly friend;
He lives and loves me to the end;
He lives, and while he lives, I’ll sing;
He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King!
He lives and grants me daily breath;
He lives, and I shall conquer death;
He lives my mansion to prepare;
He lives to bring me safely there.
He lives, all glory to his name!
He lives, my savior, still the same;
What joy this blest assurance gives:
I know that my Redeemer lives!
dlbrand says
Amen.
Geordie says
Dear Debi
Your words regarding the loss of your son Sgt Emerson Noah Brand touched me deeply. Both as the father of a serving Royal Regiment of Fusiliers infantry soldier and as a former Sgt myself.
I note from the web site ( http://www.iraqwarheroes.com/brand.htm) that you come from Rigby, Idaho. Considering the murder of Fusilier Drummer Lee Rigby on a London street, the coincidence immediately sent a chill down my spine. The cowardly acts of planting an IED and attacking an off duty soldier outside his barracks, are the measure of the muslim Jihadi mentality.
We may have many differences but it pleases me to see that you have chosen to oppose the spread of Islam. Your presence on this forum is greatly valued as it brings extra meaning to the joint effort. I wish you and your family well.
dlbrand says
Gordie, Thank you for your note, and your statements in it.
Yes, Indeed, “Rigby,” I felt the same chill upon learning of Fusilier Drummer Lee Rigby …
Ironically, we are were in Rigby, for just about five years–my parents had retired near there, in IF; so we had elected to spend some time near them–thus thought not from there, it was there Emerson joined the Ranks.
In brief, on you comments: in far too many instances, to our shame, in our efforts to win Muslim favor, we have made our Warriors “easy meat” for the hunger of the Qur’an and sunnah fed “Believer.”
In brief.
God bless you, Sir, for both, your service to your nation, as well as for raising a son with goods to do the same.
My love to you and yours,
Thanks again, for the note.
dl
Alice says
My favorite hymn!
I love to sing the descant!
Kepha says
Acts 20:7ff. tells us that the church of the apostles met on the first day to break bread and hear the Word. That, and every Christian Sunday since, will stand as witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
A heartfelt “Christ is Risen!” to all.
Kepha says
Robert, thanks for posting the snippet from John Golden-mouth (which is what Chrysostomos means, after all) and contrasting it with Ruhollah Kockamamie.
Christ is risen indeed!
citycat says
As Donovan once sang
“Hades is but the closing of an eyelid away”
Geordie says
“I wish a joyous and beautiful Paschal season to all who are celebrating the Resurrection of Christ today.”
I’m atheist and I wish you all the same. Whatever rocks your boat is fine with me, so long as it hurts nobody and others are not forced to partake. Happy spring festival Bank Holiday to one and all. May the big bunny bring you lots of yummy chocolate eggs.
Ever wonder why?
St Bede the Venerable (A fellow Geordie) wrote that the Christian Easter derived its name from Eostre, which was held on the same day of the festival of the German Ostara, but the date was later changed. Easter Sunday, the alleged day of Christ’s resurrection, varied between March 22 and April 25, depending on when the first Sunday of the full moon (the paschal moon), after the spring equinox.
The usual tradition of modern Easter, such as the Easter eggs and Easter bunny, also come from pagan custom. The rabbit was the sacred animal to Eostre, the symbol of fertility. The egg also symbolised fertility and rebirth of spring. The whiteness of the egg and the rabbit also indicated purity.
I’m told that the Wiccans have lots of outdoor sex at this time of year. Anyone know some Wiccans to confirm?
Sounds like fun but at my age the cold plays havoc with my manhood.
John C. Barile says
In Greece and in Romance Language countries, it’s the Pasch (or Pasque). Easter is the Christian passover–[LL and G pascha, from Heb pesach].
John C. Barile says
Correction: [LL and Gk]
John C. Barile says
That the greatest Christian feast day coincides with a pagan Spring festival is merely that–coincidence.
Geordie says
“That the greatest Christian feast day coincides with a pagan Spring festival is merely that–coincidence.”
Sorry to burst your bubble but not according to the Venerable Saint Bede who lived and wrote between 672/673 – 26 May 735.
You should appreciate that the evolution of the christian cult involved usurping previous festivals and cultural norms. For the converting Anglo-Saxons that fertility fest was Easter or Eostre, the humping bunny rabbit!
When adopting christianity the Romans themselves allegedly exploited the pre-existing cult of Mithras. Mithras being the god of choice for legionaries, including those of Constantine. Soldiers are generally a conservative bunch and not easily fed new ideas without some obvious benefit and a little carry-over.
John C. Barile says
Well, now, I’m really not trying to be patronizing; but I think that what you say doesn’t negate that the non-christian aspects of Easter are, as I try to say, ultimately an historical accident. Your contention is true, in this instance, only as far as Britain is concerned. I only concede that the Church rightly acculturates the customs of the people in conformity to the universal message of Christ–yes, Christ and his Church do stoop to conquer.
Geordie says
<>
Not only for Britain but all of the Anglo-Saxon and Norse lands in Europe. Including those lands devastated by the Charlemagne and his Holy Roman Empire genocide. The universal message of Christ was not of peace back then. Killing in the name of one’s cause is the nature of our species.
dumbledoresarmy says
I think you – or those on whom you unquestioningly depend – may be extrapolating waaaaay ahead of such data as you have (which is actually not much).
http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/53808
Friday, 2 May 2014
The Origins Of The Easter Feast, The Easter Egg and The Easter Bunny
by John M. Joyce (May 2014)
thomas_h says
@ John C. Barile
“That the greatest Christian feast day coincides with a pagan Spring festival is merely that–coincidence.”
No, John. It’s not coincidence it’s fulfillment!
Hear what C.S. Lewis had to say about the “strange coincidents”:
He wrote in God in the Dock:
“The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth
of the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the
heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens-
at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical consequences. We pass from a Balder or an Osiris dying nobody knows
when or where, to a historical Person crucified (it is all in order) under
Pontius Pilate. By becoming fact it does not cease to be myth: that is the miracle… . God is more than god, not less: Christ is more than Balder,
not less. We must not be ashamed of the mythical radiance resting on
our theology. We must not be nervous about “parallels” and “pagan
Christs”: they ought to be there-it would be a stumbling block if they
weren’t. We must not, in false spirituality, withhold our imaginative
welcome. If God chooses to be mythopoeic—and is not the sky itself a myth—shall we refuse to be mythopathic?”
I’m copying directly from:
http://franciscan-anglican.com/PaganismLewis.htm
“According to Humphrey Carpenter, C.S. Lewis’ conversion to Christianity was directly linked to his passion and understanding of paganism. In Carpenter’s article, which appeared in “The Inklings” in 1978, he describes several significant conversations Lewis had with his colleagues at Oxford leading up to his conversion. According to Humphrey, Lewis had come to believe in the importance of myth, but was not yet convinced that myths were anything beyond “lies,” beautiful and inspiring as they were to him. The concept of myth and its role was the topic of conversation between Lewis, JRR Tolkien, and Hugo Dyson one night in September of 1931. On one of their many walks around Magdalen College, JRR Tolkien explained to Lewis that myths were not merely lies because humans are not “ultimately” liars. The very human act of making myths, “mythopeia,” to express truth, was also part of God’s self-expression of eternal truth. Tolkien went on to say that just as God had expressed his truth in the images and poetry of pagan myths, so God had done so in Christianity; the difference being that in Christianity God used “real people and actual history.” At that point in the conversation something suddenly clicked for Lewis and he was able to equate the old “dying god” myth of paganism with the dying Christ that led toward a full embrace of and belief in Christianity. From that point on, Lewis viewed Christianity as the “myth become fact.” This concept was central to Lewis’ conversion. Lewis would later write in his autobiography of his conversion experience, “Sometimes I can almost think that I was sent back to the false gods there to acquire some capacity for worship against the day when the true God should recall me to Himself.”
Really, John. There IS a connection between the pagan myth and the miracle of myth becoming reality. Human yearning for God expressed in pagan myths is as old as Man and precedes historical Jesus by hundreds of millennia. It is the miracle of risen God that gives the pagan myth its full meaning and the abode it deserves. No coincidence here.
Happy Easter, friend.
John C. Barile says
I concede the insightful observations of you both, friends.
John C. Barile says
Truth is where you find it [Him, that is]–there is no monopoly on truth among us, it seems.
AnneM says
First, Happy Easter Season!
Second, I do believe that that famous homily by St. John Chrysostom became the basis for the Easter chant from the Byzantine Rite Catholic tradition during the Easter Sunday morning mass from St. Peter’s in Rome that had seen replayed last night on EWTN.
Third, that homily speaks about not living in fear and that Christians and even non-Christians must more then ever embrace.
gravenimage says
I’m coming late to this thread, but I hope everyone here had a wonderful Easter, whether they are Christians who celebrate it as the glorious feast of the Risen Christ, as an innocent and gentle secular holiday with egg hunts and visits from the Easter Bunny for the kids, or both.
Happy Easter!
dumbledoresarmy says
Re Easter/ Pascha and the great Christian affirmation, “He is risen/ He is risen indeed!” (which, together with the statement ‘Kyrios Iesou’ are the irreducible core of Christian confession).
An excellent little essay by historian and theologian N T Wright, that was commissioned and published – wonders will never cease – by our Aussie ABC.
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2014/04/17/3988223.htm
Only Love Believes: The Resurrection of Jesus and the Constraints of History
“The Christian claim from the beginning was that the question of Jesus’s resurrection was a question, not of the internal mental and spiritual states of his followers a few days after his crucifixion, but about something that had happened in the real, public world.
“This “something” left, not just an empty tomb, but a broken loaf at Emmaus and footprints in the sand by the lake among its physical mementoes. It also left his followers with a lot of explaining to do, but with a transformed worldview which is only explicable on the assumption that something really did happen, even though it stretched their existing worldviews to breaking point…”.
And something to think about..something that only occurred to me, a little while ago.
Anyone who has read the Gospel of Luke knows the passage where Doubting Thomas falls at the feet of the risen-and-living Yeshua of Nazareth and cries out, “My Lord and my God!”
What if we are meant to hear, in those words, an echo or rephrasing of part of the great affirmation of the Sh’ma Yisroel – “Adonai Elohenu”?
dumbledoresarmy says
There is so much amazing music for Easter, from all Christian traditions, and both modern and ancient, that one barely knows where to begin.
Here’s a modern setting of the “Exsultet”, or Easter Acclamation. (This clip gets off to a slow start, but it is worth the wait).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_25e92Yy1tI
Same piece, in Spanish and English
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk70cahRXjQ
(I defy you to hear this one through to the end without finding yourself wanting to get up and dance; it has something of flamenca, and something of triumphal march).
The text:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exsultet
Exsúltet iam angélica turba cælórum:
exsúltent divína mystéria:
et pro tanti Regis victória tuba ínsonet salutáris.
Gáudeat et tellus, tantis irradiáta fulgóribus:
et ætérni Regis splendóre illustráta,
tótius orbis se séntiat amisísse calíginem.
Lætétur et mater Ecclésia,
tanti lúminis adornáta fulgóribus:
et magnis populórum vócibus hæc aula resúltet.
[Quaprópter astántes vos, fratres caríssimi,
ad tam miram huius sancti lúminis claritátem,
una mecum, quæso,
Dei omnipoténtis misericórdiam invocáte.
Ut, qui me non meis méritis
intra Levitárum númerum dignátus est aggregáre,
lúminis sui claritátem infúndens,
cérei huius laudem implére perfíciat.]
[V/ Dóminus vobíscum.
R/ Et cum spíritu tuo.]
V/ Sursum corda.
R/ Habémus ad Dóminum.
V/ Grátias agámus Dómino Deo nostro.
R/ Dignum et iustum est.
Vere dignum et iustum est,
invisíbilem Deum Patrem omnipoténtem
Filiúmque eius unigénitum,
Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum,
toto cordis ac mentis afféctu et vocis ministério personáre.
Qui pro nobis ætérno Patri Adæ débitum solvit,
et véteris piáculi cautiónem pio cruóre detérsit.
Hæc sunt enim festa paschália,
in quibus verus ille Agnus occíditur,
cuius sánguine postes fidélium consecrántur.
Hæc nox est,
in qua primum patres nostros, fílios Israel
edúctos de Ægypto,
Mare Rubrum sicco vestígio transíre fecísti.
Hæc ígitur nox est,
quæ peccatórum ténebras colúmnæ illuminatióne purgávit.
Hæc nox est,
quæ hódie per univérsum mundum in Christo credéntes,
a vítiis sæculi et calígine peccatórum segregátos,
reddit grátiæ, sóciat sanctitáti.
Hæc nox est,
in qua, destrúctis vínculis mortis,
Christus ab ínferis victor ascéndit.
Nihil enim nobis nasci prófuit,
nisi rédimi profuísset.
O mira circa nos tuæ pietátis dignátio!
O inæstimábilis diléctio caritátis:
ut servum redímeres, Fílium tradidísti!
O certe necessárium Adæ peccátum,
quod Christi morte delétum est!
O felix culpa,
quæ talem ac tantum méruit habére Redemptórem!
O vere beáta nox,
quæ sola méruit scire tempus et horam,
in qua Christus ab ínferis resurréxit!
Hæc nox est, de qua scriptum est:
Et nox sicut dies illuminábitur:
et nox illuminátio mea in delíciis meis.
Huius ígitur sanctificátio noctis fugat scélera, culpas lavat:
et reddit innocéntiam lapsis et mæstis lætítiam.
Fugat ódia, concórdiam parat et curvat impéria.
n huius ígitur noctis grátia, súscipe, sancte Pater,
laudis huius sacrifícium vespertínum,
quod tibi in hac cérei oblatióne solémni,
per ministrórum manus
de opéribus apum, sacrosáncta reddit Ecclésia.
Sed iam colúmnæ huius præcónia nóvimus,
quam in honórem Dei rútilans ignis accéndit.
Qui, lícet sit divísus in partes,
mutuáti tamen lúminis detrimenta non novit.
Alitur enim liquántibus ceris,
quas in substántiam pretiósæ huius lámpadis
apis mater edúxit.
O vere beáta nox,
in qua terrénis cæléstia, humánis divína iungúntur!
Orámus ergo te, Dómine,
ut céreus iste in honórem tui nóminis consecrátus,
ad noctis huius calíginem destruéndam,
indefíciens persevéret.
Et in odórem suavitátis accéptus,
supérnis lumináribus misceátur.
Flammas eius lúcifer matutínus invéniat:
ille, inquam, lúcifer, qui nescit occásum.
Christus Fílius tuus,
qui, regréssus ab ínferis, humáno géneri serénus illúxit,
et vivit et regnat in sæcula sæculórum.
R/ Amen.
John C. Barile says
I don’t think that I’ll ever see Easter Vigil quite the same way as before–now I feel the fusion of the prototypical Passover with the night that Our Lord passed through the realm of Death and Hell and vanquished both, His last enemies.
Geordie says
You are clearly delusional. Odin will not be pleased.
flakmusic says
I have read, well I tried to, few of your “comments” and had to conclude you are an intellectual amoeba. You comment above demonstrates you are also an obnoxious punk. You are clearly delusional believing that the latter can conceal the former.
Geordie says
flakmusic, Your comment leads me to conclude that you are an intellectual amoeba and an obnoxious punk.
Adults with imaginary friends are delusional. Extreme cases, including many within the christian zombie worship cult fall under the diagnostic criteria for Religious Delusional Disorder.
Tell me flak, are you one of them.
flakmusic says
“Adults with imaginary friends are delusional.”
If you weren’t so desperately stupid you would see you are begging a question.
“… you are an intellectual amoeba and an obnoxious punk”
I see you were clearly inspired by my referring to you as an intellectual amoeba and an obnoxious punk. How creative…
flakmusic says
I suspect Geordie is one of Mr.Dude spare identities.
thomas_h says
@flakmusic
“I suspect Geordie is one of Mr.Dude spare identities.”
The thought occurred to me.
John C. Barile says
Come now, you know that I profess the historic Credo of the Church; you know that Jesus of Nazareth is a celebrated–if not adored–historical personage, with enigmatic but still recognizably human character–it’s not beyond normal human experience to give religious expression to one’s subjective feelings. I’ve also, not coincidentally, experienced the loss of a child, and that certainly colors my individual encounter with the paradox of existence, having surrendered a loved one to the grave. As for you, I don’t think Odin will receive you, short of an heroic death in battle.
Geordie says
I was not aware of your loss or that your religion is an emotional copping mechanism. Therapy comes in many forms after a bereavement and I wish you well with yours. I therefor humbly apologise for the sarcasm.
You may find this of some use: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/jksadegh/A%20Good%20Atheist%20Secularist%20Skeptical%20Book%20Collection/The%20God%20Delusion%20by%20Richard%20Dawkins.pdf
FYI if not amusement. In Norse mythology a warriors death ensured entry to Valhalla – Odin’s Hall. Common people who did not die in battle were allegedly admitted to an equally nice place called Hel. At least the upper portion was nice. Yet another term adopted by christian cults, with an additional “l.”
Naughty children and evil people were banished to a lower segment of the Hel called Náströnd. Infested among others by Eitr-Drekar and Heljar-sinnar (or in christian terminology “hells sinners”) collectively the “Helbúar.” Where they all remained ruled over by Níðhöggr the dragon until Ragnarök.
Ragnarök of course, was a catalogued series of events usurped by christianity as the rapture or end times. Rumours abound among Norse scholars that John of Patmos was influenced by Nordic merchants and mercenaries who frequented that region. Spreading their mainly oral traditions and mysterious fireside stories. The crazy pagan origins of Revelations.
Keep this up and I will need to bill you for pre-christian Northern European cultural lessons.
dlbrand says
John, you posted, “I’ve also, not coincidentally, experienced the loss of a child, and that certainly colors my individual encounter with the paradox of existence, having surrendered a loved one to the grave.”
If I may ask, how long ago was it you made your above noted “surrender”?
thomas_h says
John C. Barile,
I am so saddened to read about your loss. I dread to even imagine the pain of losing one’s child.
May the thought of your child’s soul being with God bring solace to your heart and mind.
You are in my thoughts and prayers.
God bless you, my friend.
Thomas H.
John C. Barile says
Here, dlbrand:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/08/a-personal-note
Thank you all for your sympathies; time does pass.
dlbrand says
John, thank you so much for sharing that with me (and obviously, countless others).
My heart breaks anew for you and yours.
Though before this day, I knew not that your name belonged in one of the “groups,” if you will, I pray daily for, you were, have been, and are prayed for daily; that group, the unenviable one of the bereaved, the severely wounded, as well as those yet to join those ranks.
God bless all you who have prayed, and do pray for John and his wife and family. I can tell you from first hand knowledge of the effects of such prayers during the absorption of the “change” in all your future days with your child, those prayers are effectual. Irreplaceable.
Though our hearts break, ache, weep in sorrow secondary to “the change,” I pray you and yours are comforted with the comfort no one in their right mind would ever wish to know and have to pass on—that of knowing when sorrow seemingly cripples you, you are borne up by angels wings, so too, by/in the arms of the Shepherd of Souls, the Comforter par none.
I pray you are comforted daily knowing, your little girl is now in the best place one can ever be: the Arms of the Good Shepherd. Never to know sin, nor fear, nor pain, nor sorrow.
I too know the sorrow, the anguish, the recoil secondary to the sword thrust through one’s heart, soul, and life by the loss of an only child.
What’s more, though this seemingly far-too-early home going of your child is not what you thought you had prayed for, know, if you ever, prayed, desired deeply God’s best for that child, and shared even those thoughts with the Giver, the Builder, and the Receiver of lives, undoubtedly, your child has received just that: God’s very best for her.
Heaven, everlasting peace, a place, where, the lion lays down with the lamb, a child leads the bear, the bear and calf feed together. No sorrow, no sin–It gets no better than that.
Thus so true the country song, “God only cries for the living … because it is the living who are left to carry on.”
And carry on we must…
John and family, I also pray you all have discovered the limitations and powerlessness of the grave to take your child from your lives. I pray you all do as I do with my son–who left his temporal tent of clay on a dirty East Baghdadi street, March 2007, answered the call of his Everlasting Father to go to a far better place–and carry that child daily in the safe box of your hearts.
Never, ever, ever let her go. Never.
Thank you again, for sharing this with me and others; And again, thank you, Robert for allowing that sharing here. Indeed.
John C. Barile says
dlbrand,
I’m so grateful for this gift that you share, for that glimpse into the deepest part of your soul, where God Himself abides, dwells in you; I’m happy to know that human heart “pierced by a sword,” past the keyboard beyond the screen. I’m happy that the Divine touches us, reaches down to us here, now — eternally.
dlbrand says
” I’m happy that the Divine touches us, reaches down to us here, now — eternally.”
Amen, my Friend, Amen.
‘God ever keep, hold near, you and yours.
Debi Brand
John C. Barile says
Debi,
I now realize that your son (I’m pretty sure) from what you say, is a U.S. serviceman (or U.S. contractor) killed while on duty in Iraq. I am so sorry that our nation, our world, have lost one of our own, so precious and promising a young man as yours.
dlbrand says
Thank you, John.
Yes, indeed, he was Sgt. Emerson Noah Brand, US Army, Infantryman.
Thank you.
John C. Barile says
PS: While I had my daughter with me, I told her that our servicemen and women were heroes half a world away, there to protect us from any harm that might reach us here at home.
dlbrand says
John, you posted: “PS: While I had my daughter with me, I told her that our servicemen and women were heroes half a world away, there to protect us from any harm that might reach us here at home.”
Yes, Sir. I wish that were, had been, so.
But reality in this war is we have welcomed the enemy within our borders. In brief. The foolish mantra of “we are fighting them over there so we do not have to fight them here,” is, just that, foolishness.
Briefly here, because on the dark morning of 9/11, while I watched the towers crumble, as a mother that day of a US Infantryman … I knew, simply stated, we were going to war—more accurately stated, already clearly on the receiving end of it.
Basic in war, typically, on both sides, people die. Thus, then and there, I “saw,” if you will, the death angel walking the neighborhood streets, the country roads, highways, and long driveways of our nation. If you are a military family, you know, you stand in the lineup of homes that angel will be dispatched to… in brief.
Thus, that day, my quest to know our enemy began—because it is impossible to defeat an enemy, you fail to identify. And if you fail to do that basic—identify the enemy—you have no chance of understanding it. Clearly grasping what propels it, guides it, feeds, and funds it.
Being brief here, that quest led me to the heart and soul of Islam: their “Sacred Texts”—no shortage of them. It is undeniably all there in their “sacred texts.”
Easily provable. The blueprint for the 9/11 hit comes straight out of Allah’s book—that is an inescapable fact.
So, while we spent lives, limbs, funds and our national prestige abroad aiming to empower an imaginary “Moderate,” we did so disregarding all disclosed clearly in Allah’s book—which points us directly to the Sunnah and sira (the life, biography) of the prophet of Islam.
John, we have simply foolishly, wastefully, spent many a Warrior—my boy, one of them—attempting to, in brief, help Muslims know freedom, but we did that pretending there was no true Islam. No true provable Islam guiding, mastering the Muslims in Iraq. No true provable Islam doing the same with the Muslims here in our nation and elsewhere. What fools we have been, what fools. To be brief here.
I wish what you had told your daughter had been, were true. Sadly, to our shame, the above stated reality.
You take care, My Friend. And thanks for the notes.
John C. Barile says
Iraq was a magnificent, terrible misadventure. In retrospect, there is now no way to keep Iraq from breaking apart along ethnic and sectarian lines. I do, actually, think autonomous Kurdistan could be a viable, useful client state of the U.S.
By the way, My daughter saw the scenes of 9/11 (at a later date); she saw the faces of the 19 Muslim hijackers, and she knew her father’s fear and loathing of Islam of, by, and for Islam. She saw the faces of an alien mob on American streets demonstrating for HAMAS and against Israel right before her eyes–she was there. It wasn’t for nothing that I taught her the Star-Spangled Banner–all four stanzas–and the Hatikvah, too; or that we visited the local Holocaust memorial museum. She responded by drawing a picture of the world on which she stood, across the waters, from a terrorist on the other side; she clearly captioned it, “God protects the Good from the Bad.”
God forever embrace Sgt. Emerson Noah Brand, U.S. Army Infantry. “No greater love has a man but this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Requiescat in Pace. Amen.
dlbrand says
Amen, John, and thank you.
What’s more, your little girl is definitely without question “across the waters,” indeed, where she saw herself, safe from all harm, forever, in the embrace of the Gentle Shepherd of souls.
My love to you and yours.
dl
dlbrand says
John, you said of your little Joann: “She saw the faces of an alien mob on American streets demonstrating for HAMAS and against Israel right before her eyes–she was there. It wasn’t for nothing that I taught her the Star-Spangled Banner–all four stanzas–and the Hatikvah, too; or that we visited the local Holocaust memorial museum.”
You all raised her right, John.
I’d add, though heaven is added to by her being there, our world is a less better place for the absence of the little girl, that life, you invested in.
John C. Barile says
We have our treasure stored in heaven, Mrs. Brand.
dlbrand says
“We have our treasure stored in heaven, Mrs. Brand.”
Amen, John, amen.
dl
dumbledoresarmy says
English translation of the “Exsultet”.
Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven,
exult, let Angel ministers of God exult,
let the trumpet of salvation
sound aloud our mighty King’s triumph!
Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her,
ablaze with light from her eternal King,
let all corners of the earth be glad,
knowing an end to gloom and darkness.
Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice,
arrayed with the lightning of his glory,
let this holy building shake with joy,
filled with the mighty voices of the peoples.
(Therefore, dearest friends,
standing in the awesome glory of this holy light,
invoke with me, I ask you,
the mercy of God almighty,
that he, who has been pleased to number me,
though unworthy, among the Levites,
may pour into me his light unshadowed,
that I may sing this candle’s perfect praises).
Deacon: The Lord be with you.
People: And with your spirit.)
Deacon: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them up to the Lord.
Deacon: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right and just.
It is truly right and just,
with ardent love of mind and heart
and with devoted service of our voice,
to acclaim our God invisible, the almighty Father,
and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his Only Begotten.
Who for our sake paid Adam’s debt to the eternal Father,
and, pouring out his own dear Blood,
wiped clean the record of our ancient sinfulness.
These, then, are the feasts of Passover,
in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb,
whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers.
This is the night,
when once you led our forebears, Israel’s children,
from slavery in Egypt
and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea.
This is the night
that with a pillar of fire
banished the darkness of sin.
This is the night
that even now throughout the world,
sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices
and from the gloom of sin,
leading them to grace
and joining them to his holy ones.
This is the night
when Christ broke the prison-bars of death
and rose victorious from the underworld.
Our birth would have been no gain,
had we not been redeemed.
O wonder of your humble care for us!
O love, O charity beyond all telling,
to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!
O truly necessary sin of Adam,
destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!
O happy fault
that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer!
O truly blessed night,
worthy alone to know the time and hour
when Christ rose from the underworld!
This is the night
of which it is written:
The night shall be as bright as day,
dazzling is the night for me, and full of gladness.
The sanctifying power of this night
dispels wickedness, washes faults away,
restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners,
drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty.
On this, your night of grace, O holy Father,
accept this candle, a solemn offering,
the work of bees and of your servants’ hands,
an evening sacrifice of praise,
this gift from your most holy Church.
But now we know the praises of this pillar,
a flame divided but undimmed,
which glowing fire ignites for God’s honour,
a fire into many flames divided,
yet never dimmed by sharing of its light,
for it is fed by melting wax,
drawn out by mother bees
to build a torch so precious.
O truly blessed night,
when things of heaven are wed to those of earth,
and divine to the human.
Therefore, O Lord,
we pray you that this candle,
hallowed to the honour of your name,
may persevere undimmed,
to overcome the darkness of this night.
Receive it as a pleasing fragrance,
and let it mingle with the lights of heaven.
May this flame be found still burning
by the Morning Star:
the one Morning Star who never sets,
Christ your Son,
who, coming back from death’s domain,
has shed his peaceful light on humanity,
and lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
John C. Barile says
Yes, I can see now the recapitulation of Abraham’s sacrifice, here brought to its fruition, its final end–fiat.
dumbledoresarmy says
And the ancient Easter canticle, Pascha nostrum, Christ our Passover:
“Alleluia.
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us;
therefore let us keep the feast,
Not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Alleluia.
Christ being raised from the dead will never die again;
death no longer has dominion over him.
The death that he died, he died to sin, once for all;
but the life he lives, he lives to God.
So also consider yourselves dead to sin,
and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Alleluia.
Christ has been raised from the dead,
the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since by a man came death,
by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die,
so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Alleluia.”
Unfortunately, I simply *cannot* find anywhere online the lovely musical setting of this text – the English translation of the Pascha nostrum – that we use in *our* church, and which I would love to share with others here.
Each time we sing the Alleluia we repeat it three times in a setting that is based on, but not wholly identical with, the original Gregorian plainchant.
It never fails to lift my heart.