Holy Thursday (Everything Ends this Night)

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Paschal Triduum: A Personal Journey

Holy Thursday

 

Everything Ends this Night

We walked the green hills of Bethsaida

And sailed the blue waters of Galilee.

On the dusty roads of Samaria

We saw hope dawn in the hearts of our daughters.

In villages temporarily calmed by Roman peace

And guided by Greek insight

A rabbi unfolded scenes of a father’s love.

We saw before us

A living litany

Of new life

When lame limbs walked

Fevered brows cooled

Deaf ears heard

And eyes saw for the first time.

Our eyes saw for the first time

Our limbs moved with grace

Our fevered minds became lucid

And music filled our ears.

But everything ends this night.

The altar is laid bare.

Joy becomes sorrow

Hope withers before the emperor’s army.

Peace fades in the wake of ecclesiastical edict.

The last light goes out.

It's all over now.
Everything ends this night.

                                                 ~ CK

*     *     *

"In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me”… Then all the disciples deserted him and fled." (Matthew 26: 55, 56)

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Photo: Church altar stripped for Maundy Thursday

           St. Paul's, Bow Common


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