Gura mea de rai

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Patima şi Învierea Domnului

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Psalmul 41

În ce chip doreşte cerbul izvoarele apelor,
aşa Te doreşte sufletul meu pe Tine, Dumnezeule.
Însetat-a sufletul meu de Dumnezeul cel viu;
când voi veni şi mă voi arăta feţei lui Dumnezeu?
Făcutu-mi-s-au lacrimile mele pâine ziua şi noaptea,
când mi se zicea mie în toate zilele:
"Unde este Dumnezeul tău?"
De acestea mi-am adus aminte cu revărsare de inimă,
când treceam cu mulţime mare spre casa lui Dumnezeu,
În glas de bucurie şi de laudă şi în sunet de sărbătoare.
Pentru ce eşti mâhnit, suflete al meu, şi pentru ce mă tulburi?
Nădăjduieşte în Dumnezeu, că-L voi lăuda pe El;
mântuirea feţei mele este Dumnezeul meu.
În mine sufletul meu s-a tulburat;
pentru aceasta îmi voi aduce aminte de Tine,
din pământul Iordanului şi al Ermonului, din muntele cel mic.
Adânc pe adânc cheamă în glasul căderilor apelor Tale.
Toate talazurile şi valurile Tale peste mine au trecut.
Ziua va porunci Domnul milei Sale, iar noaptea cântare Lui de la mine.
Rugăciunea Dumnezeului vieţii mele, spune-voi lui Dumnezeu:
"Sprijinitorul meu eşti Tu, pentru ce m-ai uitat?"
Pentru ce umblu mâhnit când mă necăjeşte vrăjmaşul meu?
Când se sfărâmau oasele mele mă ocărau asupritorii mei.
Când îmi ziceau mie în toate zilele: "Unde este Dumnezeul tău?"
Pentru ce eşti mâhnit, suflete al meu, şi pentru ce mă tulburi?
Nădăjduieşte în Dumnezeu, că-L voi lăuda pe El;
Mântuirea feţei mele este Dumnezeul meu!
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God is Love

ENCYCLICAL LETTER DEUS CARITAS EST OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF BENEDICT XVI

"That love between man and woman which is neither planned nor willed, but somehow imposes itself upon human beings, was called eros by the ancient Greeks. Let us note straight away that the Greek Old Testament uses the word eros only twice, while the New Testament does not use it at all: of the three Greek words for love - eros, philia (the love of friendship) and agape - New Testament writers prefer the last, which occurs rather infrequently in Greek usage. The tendency to avoid the word eros, together with the new vision of love expressed through the word agape, clearly point to something new and distinct about the Christian understanding of love.

In the critique of Christianity which began with the Enlightenment and grew progressively more radical, this new element was seen as something thoroughly negative. According to Friedrich Nietzsche, Christianity had poisoned eros, which for its part, while not completely succumbing, gradually degenerated into vice. Here the German philosopher was expressing a widely-held perception: doesn't the Church, with all her commandments and prohibitions, turn to bitterness the most precious thing in life? Doesn't she blow the whistle just when the joy which is the Creator's gift offers us a happiness which is itself a certain foretaste of the Divine?

But is this the case? Did Christianity really destroy eros? Let us take a look at the pre-Christian world. The Greeks—not unlike other cultures—considered eros principally as a kind of intoxication, the overpowering of reason by a “divine madness” which tears man away from his finite existence and enables him, in the very process of being overwhelmed by divine power, to experience supreme happiness.

[...] Man is a being made up of body and soul. Man is truly himself when his body and soul are intimately united; the challenge of eros can be said to be truly overcome when this unification is achieved. Should he aspire to be pure spirit and to reject the flesh as pertaining to his animal nature alone, then spirit and body would both lose their dignity. On the other hand, should he deny the spirit and consider matter, the body, as the only reality, he would likewise lose his greatness.

[...] Eros, reduced to pure “sex”, has become a commodity, a mere “thing” to be bought and sold, or rather, man himself becomes a commodity. This is hardly man's great “yes” to the body. On the contrary, he now considers his body and his sexuality as the purely material part of himself, to be used and exploited at will. Nor does he see it as an arena for the exercise of his freedom, but as a mere object that he attempts, as he pleases, to make both enjoyable and harmless. Here we are actually dealing with a debasement of the human body: no longer is it integrated into our overall existential freedom; no longer is it a vital expression of our whole being, but it is more or less relegated to the purely biological sphere.

[...] Love is indeed “ecstasy”, not in the sense of a moment of intoxication, but rather as a journey, an ongoing exodus out of the closed inward-looking self towards its liberation through self-giving, and thus towards authentic self-discovery and indeed the discovery of God.

[...] Eros is somehow rooted in man's very nature; Adam is a seeker, who “abandons his mother and father” in order to find woman; only together do the two represent complete humanity and become “one flesh”. The second aspect is equally important. From the standpoint of creation, eros directs man towards marriage, to a bond which is unique and definitive; thus, and only thus, does it fulfil its deepest purpose. Corresponding to the image of a monotheistic God is monogamous marriage. Marriage based on exclusive and definitive love becomes the icon of the relationship between God and his people and vice versa.

God's way of loving becomes the measure of human love."

Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Alois Ratzinger) - born on 16 April 1927.

Happy B-day, Brother Leonard!

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Happy Birthday, Lady Day!

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A few days late,
But you were
always too
early or late.

Early r(e)aped,
Late for joy,
What a strange fruit!
But you always kept
your wits about you.

Your adamant core
still shakes me
& makes me,
it sets my every string
a-buzzin'

So much sorrow
(how rarely sweet?
or were you also
the Lady of Illusions
& Self-deceit?)
in a charred,
sharded lifetime.


Half a life-
always prime time.

They ate you up,
gobbled you
with shrieks of pleasure -
the buzzards!

Shackled
to your hospital bed,
to your heartbeat,
you draw your last breath
yearning for another low?

I
desperately
want
you
for
my Grand
mother /
lover.
I
want
you
seared
in my flesh,
since my soul
you've already
branded.

Truly
Faithfully
Forever
Yours.

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