Thursday night, after returning home from the Maundy Thursday liturgy, I was inspired to pull my copy of Kathleen Norris's book "Amazing Grace" off the shelf. Allow me to share with you a brief excerpt from the introduction.
Language, used truly, not mere talk, neither propaganda, nor chatter, has real power. Its words are allowed to be themselves, to belss or curse, wound or heal. They have the power of a "word made flesh," of ordinary speech that suddennly takes hold, causing listeners to pay close attention, and even to release bodily sighs - whether of recognition, delight, grief, or distress.
On Good Friday, it is traditional to meditate on the "Seven Last Words (actually, phrases)" of Christ. I was leafing through my 1940 hymnal (Anglican) earlier tonight, searching to see if it uses the same translation of "O Sacred Head" as Kathy the Carmelite posted (it doesn't, but nor is it the version I find in my missalette) and I found what looks to be a musical meditation on these seven phrases. Here it is from the Oremus Hymnal online. There are three verses for each phrase.
I remember hearing about the "Seven Last Words", but I never really knew what they were - foolish me, I thought it was seven individual words and I couldn't make sense out of that. This year, I have a subscription to Magnificat magazine, and I found in the Holy Week volume the actual words and a well done meditation as well. Something to remember and learn. I have been Catholic for 30 years now, and have studied my faith as well as I could in between the inane perversities of everyday life, and I am still learning new things! How do all you cradle Catholics keep up with 2000 plus years of tradition?
