Good Friday–Christina Rosetti
Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss,
And yet not weep?
Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;
Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon–
I, only I.
Yet give not o’er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.
March 20, 2008 at 10:18 pm
One of the best! Thanks, Kristine. Those last lines are an absolute masterpiece.
March 20, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Amen.
March 20, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Good Friday is not a Mormon term. We don’t use it.
March 20, 2008 at 11:58 pm
The Church might not use it officially; there is neither command nor counsel that Mormons not use it individually. “We” may use it or not, according to the dictates of our own consciences.
May “we” remember the reason many sincere and thoughtful Christians around the world remember and celebrate Good Friday, whether or not we celebrate it as they do, and honor the thought and feeling that underlie the glorious event that they (and hopefully we) honor – whether we choose to use the term “Good Friday” or not.
In that spirit, may “we” all have a wonderful and good Friday, whatever we do on that day.
March 21, 2008 at 12:16 am
mj, you’re mistaken. We do use it. You might not, but that’s your prerogative. Don’t be a poop.
March 21, 2008 at 12:26 am
I love Christina Rosetti!
That makes me want to put her poem “In Progress” in a random comment over on Feminist Mormon Housewives and not tell them why. LOL.
March 21, 2008 at 2:37 am
Thanks Kristine – I’ve loved all your Holy Week posts.
March 21, 2008 at 3:25 am
mj,
Speak for yourself.
March 21, 2008 at 10:09 am
I love Christina Rosetti’s poems. Straight to my heart every time.
March 21, 2008 at 10:32 am
Kristine: Thank you for the Holy Week (I do use the term) poems. They have been a wonderful way to mark a sacred occassion. I have saved many in my files for future use and reflection.
March 21, 2008 at 11:47 am
I realize it seems counterintuitive to a lot of people, Mormons included, to call the day Good Friday. We’re not really sure where that name came from; there seem to be three main theories as to why it is called “Good” Friday in English-speaking lands:
1. Some argue that good is archaic for holy.
2. Others argue that good is an archaism for God (as in the expression good-bye, “God be with you”).
3. Still others understand the expression theologically, for the result of the atonement that was effected on that day.
But hey, if you don’t like Good Friday, you could follow the convention used in other languages:
From Wikipedia:
The Dutch name Goede Vrijdag translates as “Good Friday”. Other languages refer to this day in different ways (most often as Holy Friday).
In the Holy Land, Good Friday is known as “Great Friday.” In German it is “Karfreitag”, an Old German word meaning “Friday of lamentation”, although this meaning is not obvious to speakers of modern German. In Armenia it is called “High Friday (???? ??????)”. In Russia it is called “Passion Friday” (????????? ????? / ????????? ???????). In Ethiopia it is called Friday of the Crucifixion (arib siqilat)
Great Friday: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece (?????? ????????? / Megáli Paraskeví), Hungary, Macedonia, Malta (Il-?img?a l-Kbira), Poland (Wielki Pi?tek), Lithuania, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and in the Eastern Orthodox Church generally; Sri Lanka (Maha Sikurada); Indonesia (Jumat Agung)
Holy Friday: Latin America, Spain (Viernes Santo), France (Vendredi Saint), Italy (venerdì santo), Portugal, Brazil (Sexta-Feira Santa), Philippines (Mahal na Araw or Biyernes Santo), Vietnam (Th? sáu Tu?n Thánh), Japan
Long Friday: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Faroe Islands, Iceland
Day of Christ’s Suffering: Chinese-speaking areas
Sad Friday: Arabic-speaking locals
Good Friday (English language) but Aoine Chéasta Passion Friday (Irish Language): Ireland
In some more secular communities Good Friday has been erroneously referred to as “Easter Friday”. However, the following Friday (after Easter) is the correct day to be named Easter Friday.
March 21, 2008 at 12:25 pm
I’ve just been doing research on the term “Good Friday!”
As we meet on Fridays here in the “Kingdom” and I was the main Sacrament speaker today, I gave my talk on the notions of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday. I had about 15 people come up and tell me how much they appreciated the talk! I think we do use the term as individuals, but if you look the term up in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism or do a search for it on the church website, you’ll pretty much find nothin’.
March 21, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Hugh B. Brown gave a radio address entitled “History’s Most Eventful Week” in which he used the term Holy Week.
March 21, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Has this ever been set to music?
March 21, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Thanks, Kristine, for this most edifying series.
March 21, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I don’t read enough poetry anymore, so I especially appreciate this series. Thanks, Kristine.
March 21, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Amen.
March 23, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I also am struck by the last lines — thank you for this Rosetti “stone.”
.
This echoes a passage that well describes my own experience:
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. — Ezk 36
.
I realized sometime later that only a stony heart can (and must) be broken: a fleshy heart yields and stretches.
March 25, 2008 at 8:51 am
In answer to 14:
Mervyn Burtch, a Welsh composer composed a setting in 1975.