Yesterday evening I attended Evensong at the University. The program was a set of fourteen poems written by Paul Claudel on the Stations of the Cross, along with fourteen meditations written for organ by Marcel Dupré to go with the poems. Dupré (1886-1971) played these each year for Lent at the church of St. Sulpice, where he was the organist.I was particularly taken by Claudel's poetry, read by one of our professors emeriti. Claudel surprised me continually with the thoughts he expressed as he meditated on each of the stations of the cross, applying the events and principles to our lives today through deep reflection. This is not the kind of thing you sit and discuss at length with people after the event. It was too personal an experience.
Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a translation of Claudel's poems to which I could refer you on the internet. So I have chosen to use Irish artist Evie Hone's ink-and-wash drawings as illustrations along with the last line of each poem, which I wrote down on the program as I listened to them. Consider:
The First Station: Jesus is condemned to death
"One last time his eyes are turned on us, those eyes full of tears and blood. What could we have done with him?"The Second Station: Jesus receives his cross
"We must carry the cross before the cross carries us."The Third Station: Jesus falls beneath the weight of the cross
"Save us, from the first sin that we commit, by surprise."The Fourth Station: Jesus meets his mother
"She says not a word as she gazes on the holy of holies."The Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry the cross
"He carries it firmly, so that nothing of the cross drag on the ground or be lost."The Sixth Station: A holy woman wipes the face of Jesus
"...that image which is made of his blood, his tears and our spittle."The Seventh Station: Jesus falls a second time
"Save us from the second fall that we commit willingly, out of boredom."The Eighth Station: Jesus comforts the women of Jerusalem
"What will happen when the wood is dead if this is the way when the wood is green?"The Ninth Station: Jesus falls the third time
"Jesus falls a third time, but it is at the summit of Calvary."The Tenth Station: Jesus is stripped of his clothes
"Have pity on us ... and on that terrible love that we must tear out of our hearts."The Eleventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross
"This God is enough for me, who is held by four nails."The Twelfth Station: Jesus dies on the cross
"Do you still have need of me? Am I what is lacking before all things can be fulfilled?"The Thirteenth Station: Jesus is taken down from the cross and given back to his mother
"Here the cross is finished and the tabernacle begins."The Fourteenth Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb
"Lord, how your creature is opened, and how deep."
Thanks. I don't come from a liturgical tradition and have never known exactly what the various stations are. Of course, I will readily forget, but I will manage to remember that I have seen them.
ReplyDeleteAC, I don't come from a liturgical tradition either, so although I knew there was something called "Stations of the Cross," I didn't know how many of them there were or what they were. This was a good experience for me, as you can tell.
ReplyDeleteLovely. This devotion is part of my tradition, but I must say it is always refreshing to see them and reflect of them through another's eyes. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteClaudel is also my favorite :)
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