Sing, my tongue, of the battle of that glorious struggle.
And tell the noble triumph over the trophy of the Cross,
how the Redeemer of the world was victorious through his sacrifice.
When he had lived for thirty years, fulfilling his time in earthly body,
by his own free will, he gave himself over to the Passion for which he had been born.
The lamb was lifted up on the wood of the Cross to be sacrificed.
Lo, the vinegar, the gall, the reed, the spitting, the nails and the spear:
His tender body is pierced, blood and water pour forth,
and by this flood the earth, sea, stars and the whole world are washed clean.
Bend your branches, noble tree,
relax your tightened sinews, and let that hardness,
which your birth bestowed on you, grow soft,
so that with tender beams you might uphold the limbs of the King of Heaven.
You alone are worthy to bear the ransom of the world,
and as a sailor to make ready a harbor for a shipwrecked world,
you, whom the sacred blood has anointed,
flowing from the body of the Lamb.
Poignant images and stunning contrasts--the glorious struggle, the trophy of the Cross, victorious through his sacrifice. Jesus is the example of a new way. He did not gather an army, seize the banks, introduce new economic models, establish a political party. Humility, giving over to something entirely different, showing us the sacrifice of dying to self.
Struck, too, but the concluding address to the tree. God's creation an actor in the story of redemption. A challenge to us in these times, as well?
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