“He [an absentee vineyard owner in a parable] had still one other, a beloved son; finally he sent him to them [vineyard tenants to collect some fruit], saying, ‘They will respect my son.’  But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’  And they took him and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.”  --Mark 12:6-8, RSV

 

VIA DOLOROSA

            With sorrowful heart,

Yet for the joy of atonement,

You went, O Christ, to Calvary.

            If the stars ceased to twinkle

And the sun forgot to shine,

The ever-increasing rays of God’s love

Would find an earthward passage

Through you.

            O Christ,

That a thousand and a thousand years

Have passed since Golgotha you braved;

And still men gasp with fear

And grasp with greed -- and suffer:

Let us swing into the orbit of your love.

            Hasten the day

When we can forget the borders of countries.

The hues of the skin;

When we -- all of us together --

Can praise in harmony your love.

            O, let us see more vividly

Your blood of love from Calvary,

Streaming like every-increasing rays...

Earthward.                             --Toyohiko Kagawa (1888-1960)

 

            Almighty and loving Father, keep us close to your Son, Jesus Christ, during these last days of Holy Week 2004.  Fill our minds and hearts with the reality and the enormity of your Son’s passion.  And give us eyes to see that on Calvary’s middle cross, the sins of all the world (including ours), were paid for.  Through Jesus Christ we pray.  Amen.