O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
There are many translations of this old hymn, here's one of my favorite translations of the first stanza-
O sacred Head, now wounded,
With grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded
With thorns, Thine only crown.
O sacred Head, what glory,
What bliss, till now was Thine!
Yet, though despised and gory,
I joy to call Thee mine.
The joy and sadness, the triumph and pain, the evil and the ultimate good, all join together as Christ saves sinners.
O sacred Head, now wounded,
With grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded
With thorns, Thine only crown.
O sacred Head, what glory,
What bliss, till now was Thine!
Yet, though despised and gory,
I joy to call Thee mine.
The joy and sadness, the triumph and pain, the evil and the ultimate good, all join together as Christ saves sinners.
posted by pilgrim at 12:56 AM
4 Comments:
We sang that yesterday at Mass, and I was reminded how much I love it! (Well, OK, Good Friday isn't a Mass, but you know what I mean.) It also reminds me of the hymn "Amazing love, how can it be/That Thou, nmy God, should'st die for me."
I don't know if they were doing it when you were RC, but one of the parts of the Good Friday liturgy consists of people coming forward one by one to kiss a crucifix. Leaving arguments aside about "graven images," I can't think of a better way to remind us that Jesus died for each of us individually, and if there had been only one sinner, He still would have done the same. Each person - as an individual - came forward to thank Him for His sacrifice.Awe-inspiring!
"(Well, OK, Good Friday isn't a Mass, but you know what I mean.)"
I was about to correct you on that one.
"Leaving arguments aside about 'graven images'"
But I can't leave those aside.
It has to do with God's commands.
I need no idolatry to remember His sacrifice. My existence every day shows me His Grace--and that's more than enough reminder.
To me what He has done, is doing, and will do inspires awe in me.
Knowing that as He was dying on the cross He had in mind every believer--including me--blows me away.
He didn't die for a possibility or a maybe--He died for a certainty of salvation.
And just to get nit picky here. Charles Wesley's song (And can it be)
And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Is incorrect. God can not die. Christ the man died, but the eternal Son did not die. And as Steve Camp says Christ died for God.
But Jesus died and He is our God--so it is correct in that sense.
I get your point, but you may be overstating your case.
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