Day 37 : 5 April : Wednesday in Holy Week

Hear our voice, O Lord, according to your faithful love.

Lectionary readings (Click the links to see the readings):
| Isaiah 50.4-9a | Psalm 70 | Hebrews 12.1-3 | John 13.21-32 |

The anointing at Bethany
by Malcolm Guite

Come close with Mary, Martha, Lazarus,
So close the candles flare with their soft breath,
And kindle heart and soul to flame within us,
Lit by these mysteries of life and death.
For beauty now begins the final movement,
In quietness and intimate encounter,
The alabaster jar of precious ointment
Is broken open for the w0rld’s true lover.
The whole room richly fills to feast the senses
With all the yearning such a fragrance brings,
The heart is mourning but the spirit dances,
Here at the very centre of all things,
Here at the meeting place of love and loss
We all foresee and see beyond the cross.

 from "Holy Week" in Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year. Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2012, p. 35.

Anton Bruckner. Ave Maria (WAB 6) and Christus factus est. (WAB 11). Frieder Bernius conducts Klassische Philharmonie Stuttgart & Kammerchor Stuttgart live in concert.

May God our Redeemer show us compassion and love. Amen.