Improperia, the Lament of the Savior in the Good Friday Liturgy

In the Good Friday at the beginning of the veneration of the Cross, the liturgy intones the  Improperia, the laments of the Saviour. It refers to the Old Testament Micah 6.3 to 4: "My people, what have I done to thee, Or in what have I grieved thee? Answer me! I took thee out of the land of Egypt, rescued thee from the house of bondage. As a leader I sent you Moses, Aaron and Miriam ... "

The whole  is a legal dispute and as such, it returns to the Good Friday Liturgy: a dispute between the Messiah and his ungrateful people.

This includes the hymn Trisagion, which is sung not only in Latin but also Greek and in the Latin Church as among the Christians of the East.

In addition to the Kyrie Eleison  it is the only remaining Greek-speaking part in the Liturgy of the Roman Church, whose liturgical language is Latin since the 4th century.

My people, what have I done to thee? Or in what have I grieved thee? Answer me.

Because I brought thee out of the land of Egypt: Thou hast prepared a cross for thy Savior

Hagios o Theos - Sanctus deus
Hagios Ischyros - Sanctus fortis
Hagios Athanatos eleison hemas - Sanctus immortalis, miserere nobis

Because I led thee through the desert 40 years: and fed thee with manna, and brought thee into a land exceedingly good, thou hast prepared a cross for thy Savior.

O Holy God. O Holy Strong One. O Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us.

What more ought I to do for thee, that I have not done? I planted thee, indeed, my most beautiful vineyard: and thou hast become exceedingly bitter to Me: for in My thirst thou gavest me vinegar to drink: and with a spear thou has pierced the side of thy Savior.

O Holy God. O Holy Strong One. O Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us.

For thy sake I scourged Egypt with its firstborn: and thou hast scourged Me and delivered Me up.

My people, what have I done to thee? Or in what have I grieved thee? Answer me.

I brought thee out of Egypt having drowned Pharaoh in the Red Sea: and thou hast delivered Me to the chief priests.

My people, what have I done to thee? Or in what have I grieved thee? Answer me.

I open the sea before thee: and thou with a spear hast opened My side.

My people, what have I done to thee? Or in what have I grieved thee? Answer me.

I went before thee in a pillar of a cloud: and thou hast brought Me to the judgment hall of Pilate.

My people, what have I done to thee? Or in what have I grieved thee? Answer me.

I fed thee with manna in the desert: and thou hast beaten Me with blows and scourges.

My people, what have I done to thee? Or in what have I grieved thee? Answer me.

I gave you the water of salvation and from the rock to drink: and thou hast given me gall and vinegar.

My people, what have I done to thee? Or in what have I grieved thee? Answer me.

For thee I struck the kings of the Canaanites: and thou hast struck My head with a reed.

My people, what have I done to thee? Or in what have I grieved thee? Answer me.

I gave thee a royal scepter: and thou hast given to My head a crown of thorns.

My people, what have I done to thee? Or in what have I grieved thee? Answer me.

I have exalted thee with great power: and thou hast hanged me on the gibbet of the Cross.

My people, what have I done to thee? Or in what have I grieved thee? Answer me.

Text: GN
Illustration: Rogier van der Weyden, Kreuzigungstriptychon (um1440), Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien/Wikicommons

April Fool's Joke and Serious --- Good Friday Processions in Paris and Munich

Pope Francis Blesses Political Stunt Prop

(Paris / Munich) From April Fool's back to serious. As a number of readers immediately realized  that the report on the Prohibition of the Good Friday processions was an April Fools joke. The French Blog Salon Beige wanted to illustrate the latent to open aversion shown by the French Government against Christianity in a joke. A serious issue was packaged into a joke.

At  several Parisian parishes, Good Friday processions are held as usual again this year.

So back to serious. Tomorrow is Good Friday, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the most influential supporter of the Kasper theses among the diocesan bishops is leading the Good Friday procession in Munich. He will wear the so-called "Lampedusa Cross", which was made on the Italian Mediterranean island to bring attention to the "fate of asylum seekers." This was announced by the archbishop's press office  yesterday.

Cardinal Marx's politically correct Good Friday procession

In July 2013, the island of Lampedusa was thrown in the spotlight when Pope Francis made his first trip abroad there.

The "Lampedusa Cross" is made of two planks of a ship, with which immigrants from North Africa came to the island, which belongs to Italy.  Lampedusa is off the coast of Tunisia and is the first destination of migrant vessels coming today mainly from Libya to bring illegal immigrants to Europe. Lampedusa is the first place where the arrivals are first received by the Italian Government  before being sent to  Sicily or the European continent.

The 60 kg cross was made by the carpenter Franco Tuccio of Lampedusa and shown to Pope Francis on April of 2014 at St. Peter's Square and blessed by him. It is apparently the symbol of a "spiritual relay race". "Whoever requests it,  gets it," said Emmanuele Vai, Casa dello Spirito, Director of the Foundation e dell'Arte, which supports the action.

"Lampedusa Syndrome"

Cardinal Marx and the Cross

Cardinal Marx thus leads a "crossroads of peoples", who are gathered in "the various linguistic and ethnic groups", said the press office of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. The motto of the Good Friday procession is "I was a stranger, and ye took me in." It will provide the focus,  on the "often life-threatening exodus of asylum seekers."

In Italy, critics speak of a "Lampedusa syndrome", which had been introduced into the political debate. In this escapees and refugees would be interwoven with migration and migrants and generalized into the extreme example of immigrants in fragile boats in  distress off Lampedusa and stylized into a symbol that serves as a taboo for the immigration debate in Europe.

In reality, distress tragedies - thank God - even off Lampedusa, are a rarity. In addition,  only a tiny part of Europe's immigration comes by sea to Lampedusa. It is therefore inappropriate to give the impression to make Lampedusa a synonym for millions of migrants to Europe.

"The Cardinal always has the pulse of the times and the State"

Cardinal Marx thus puts the accent on Good Friday by manipulating a politically-correct issue. "The Cardinal  always has the pulse of the times and the State," said a Bavarian canon, who wishes to remain anonymous, with an ambiguous smile. "He's  taken a heavy cross to bear" in reference to the weight of Lampedusa Cross. 

The SSPX spoke in connection with the Pope's visit to Lampedusa 2013 of a "slant-progressive simplification" of a complex issue.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Famiglia Cristiana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Islamics Attack Marian Procession on Good Friday

(Melilla) in the Spanish enclave of Melilla on the North African coast, the traditional liturgical celebrations on the night of Good Friday were overshadowed by a clash between Christians and Muslims.  Drunken Muslims insulted the procession from the terrace of a restaurant.  The procession carried through the streets a statue of the Virgin Mary, who is particularly revered in Melilla in the miraculous image of the Virgin of Solitude.

Shortly after the statue of the Virgen de la Soledad was carried  out of the Sacred Heart Church in procession, there were  obscene insults on the Mother of God by drunken Muslims from the roadside. When they were asked by the Christians to stop, the Muslims reacted violently, throwing bottles, plates, chairs and tables on the Catholic procession participants and with palpable results. It broke panic among the faithful.  As a result, there was a fierce fight until the police arrived. Four Muslims were arrested and four injured who had to be patched up.

The procession was to be continued after the interruption. The incident was captured on video.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Commission of Melilla distanced itself from the provocateurs.