Death
The clamor marked
the man for judgment,
Hosanna in accolade by dearer friends,
and murmured rejection
for trickery and words too grandly spoken.
Mount Tabor telegraphed his passing,
confounding disciples,
    too frightened to wave
more honorific branches.
Confessing right to die with him,
companions quaked
to weigh the beam he carried
and spikes the soldiers tucked
    within their belts.
With converse choice of Sunday,
no procession formed,
as scattered mobs
remembered his God-given deeds,
or mumbled in fear,
his goodness made us conscious
of the lives we lead in shadow.
With bruises darkening his cheeks
and lacerations oozing blood
from battered lips,
he speaks of covenant faith
for those whose knees grow weaker,
as he clings to human limitation
while standing where his shadow fills
the image of a standing cross
that seems to cover the world.
He dies as an outcast, confronting sin
and bearing all its weight,
convinced a triune mercy eliminates sin
while flooding the sinner with light.
With the beauty and glow
of washing in the Jordan,
he prepares for the close embrace
that makes two persons one in heart,
when wrapped in the same eternal life.
Palm Sunday 2015
Bonaventure Stefun, OFM Cap.
See more reflections here.
Inspirations for theAdvent-Christmas cycle
are still available.