sacred sonnet
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“O Come, O Come, Behold Emmanuel”: A Sonnet for Good Friday
I was reflecting on the “O Antiphons” today, those ancient prayers that inspired the familiar Advent carol, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” As it is Good Friday, though, I began to wonder how the Messianic titles of the “O Antiphons” might inform a consideration of the cross. As so often happens, this contemplative exercise produced Continue reading
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A Poem for the Day after Palm Sunday
I recently saw the sharp contrast between Palm Sunday and Passion Week described as “liturgical whiplash,” which seems just about right. The day following Palm Sunday always leaves me contemplative, struck anew by the fickleness of the crowd as they turn from cheering to jeering, from “Hosanna!” to “Crucify him!” But because we know how Continue reading
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Crushed – Poetry as a Holy Week Discipline
I’m convinced that if you ponder any aspect of Scripture long enough, you’ll discover a poem waiting to be written. Not that I believe this sonnet of mine is all that great, but writing it was a devotional act. Imagining the withering fronds abandoned after the Triumphal Entry propelled me deeper into the narrative. Regardless Continue reading
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Ash Wednesday
Speak o’er me those desired and dreaded words:Pronounce my death while I yet live and breathe.Adorn me with the burnt kiss of our Lord,Preparing me for glory—and for grief. Say to me what I most long and fear to hear!Announce my life to be of little worthEven as you declare that I am dearTo the Continue reading
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Holy Saturday 2022
This is the space between all life and death, Between his final cry and second-first breath;The stillness between singing and applause,Between the reign of love and rule of laws. The space before the church door is unlocked,Before the stone is rolled, the grave is rocked. The stretching shadow’s still beneath the cross,The stretch of time Continue reading
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Joseph’s Magnificat
My troubled soul shall magnify the LordWhose glory proves through my humiliation.May it be unto me according to his wordFor the promised hope of this, my own nation. The Master works through my humbled estateAs the fitting tool to smooth my splintered grain.He gives and takes away and by his greatCraft turns my lonesome loss Continue reading
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Surgery & Sanctification
The “wounded surgeon” works while I’m awake And only by compassion does not break The heart which beat so steady yet so dead While severed from the life of Him, the Head. The subject upon which His scalpel strikes Is the awful altar of my blood-bought life Which, once decked with sentimental blooms Has become Continue reading
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Ryanne Molinari 