GLAD SATURDAY

 

Glad Saturday

Better known as

Holy Saturday

Is not a Mass

But a time of

Prayer and fasting

And meditating on Christ’s

Passion and Death

His Descent into Hell

And his Resurrection

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – THE ROBE (1953)

 

The Robe, Directed by Henry Koster, is set in the Roman province of Judea during the 1st century, where Roman tribune Marcellus Gallio (Richard Burton) is ordered to crucify Jesus of Nazareth, but is tormented by his guilty conscience in the aftermath.

After the Crucifixion he gets drunk and wins Jesus' homespun robe and suffers nightmares and delusions after the event.

After a period of time in Rome he hopes to find a way to live with what he has done, and although still not believing in Jesus as a Messiah, he returns to Palestine to try and learn what he can of the man he killed. 

It’s a poignant script powerfully acted by Burton, while the lovely Jean Simmons is incredible as the young woman he loves, Diana. Michael Rennie is a quiet but forceful Peter, but Jay Robinson steals the picture as the depraved Emperor Caligula, and as he normally did Victor Mature played himself as Demetrius and there were a host of competent performances in the minor roles.

The cinematography is quite magnificent filmed in Cinemascope, while the film is graced by Alfred Newman beautifully and eerily haunting musical score.

A very watchable movie that stands the test of time but is not given the exposure it so richly deserves, perhaps because programmers are of a more secular bent.

GOOD FRIDAY

 

Good Friday

Marks the day

The Temple Guards

Aided by the Judas kiss

Arrested Jesus

At Gethsemane

Also, his interrogation

By High Priest Caiaphas

And the Sanhedrin

Who condemned him to death

Before conveying him before

The Roman governor

Pontius Pilate

Who with reluctance

Ordered his crucifixion

At the place of the Skull

 

ONE OF THE TWELVE - JUDAS ISCARIOT

One of the twelve

Judas Iscariot

The betrayer

The taker of coins

The lost soul

Satan’s pawn

Hanged himself

Replaced as an apostle

By Matthias

IT'S SAD THAT IN DEMOCRATIC AMERICA

 

It's sad that in Democratic America

That Black Friday gives them more of a lift

Than Good Friday, as they are more

Interested in bargains than the greatest gift

FOR A FEW SILVER COINS

 

One of the twelve

Chosen Apostles

Possessed of Evil?

Or pawn of Christ

Judas Iscariot met

High Priest Caiaphas

And left the temple

With the Sanhedrin bribe

“Thirty pieces of silver”

Bought an apostle

And Christ’s fate was sealed

For after the last supper

In the gardens of Gethsemane

Judas Iscariot delivered

His kiss of betrayal

Condemning them both

By that single act

To an untimely death

Judas by his own hand

And Christ on the cross

THE SHADOW OF GOLGOTHA

 

Our lord beaten and bloody

Must die like a criminal

To add insult upon injury

Atop his tousled curls

Was set a thorny crown

Pressed into his scalp

He carried his cross

Upon his bloodied back

Through narrow streets

To the baying of the crowds

Then onto the hill of Calvary

Where the prince of peace

Was nailed to his cross of pain

And dealt the final blow

His side pierced by a spear

His earthly life ebbing away

Through the open wound

He called out to God

But not for vengeance

He asked that they be forgiven

And his cross of pain

Cast a Holy shadow

Across the world

That reached every corner

But the shadow cast

Was not one of darkness

But one of light

A divine light

The light of love

Which still shines today

For it is the eternal light of God