I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.
H.G. Wells
How many movements throughout the history of Man have flourished briefly and then vanished into everlasting oblivion, forgotten entirely by History or relegated to the briefest of footnotes? From a human standpoint that was clearly the fate of the movement started by the carpenter/rabbi from Galilee following His death on a cross. His followers had scattered and went into hiding at His arrest. He was denied by the mob, their choosing a bandit and murderer over Him. Condemned by the foreigners occupying His country, His people observed His death by mocking Him. The idea that He had founded a “Church” that would spread around the globe, altering all of human history, and causing Him to be worshiped as God by billions of people would have struck any neutral observer as mad ravings. Yet that is precisely what happened.
All of this is completely inexplicable in human terms. What changed this defeated cause into an everlasting crusade is the Resurrection. Without it Christianity is an utter mystery and the impact of Christ on our planet the greatest riddle in our history. The Resurrection turned a group of cowards, cowering in the shadows, into dauntless missionaries willing to go anywhere and to proclaim, whatever the odds, the truth of the Gospel. It allowed men, women and children who heard the Gospel to embrace it, no matter what bitter persecution they faced, and to often face death with smiles on their faces. Mockery, argument, hatred and murder, nothing could stop the Word from spreading. Three centuries after Christ died the death of an obscure criminal in Judea, the Roman emperor bowed before the Cross. It is all so familiar to us, and yet it was all so very, very unlikely.
With the Resurrection God revealed Himself clearly to humanity, and He altered forever after the course our history would take. He took a footnote and made it the central theme of our story.
A blessed Easter, to all contributors, commenters and readers of TAC!
Happy Easter to all.
Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen!
Easter blessings to all here. Don, thanks for those videos. My bride and I love that Holst adaptation. My other most favorite Easter hymn is Wesley’s “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.”
Ironic, isn’t it, that these two gems were both written by Protestants? Perry, who set his words to Holst’s music, was an Anglican clergyman, and Wesley a former Anglican and co-founder of the Methodist church.
Strangely, to me at least, even the traditional chanted Divine Office, under the 1960 rubrics and earlier versions all the way back to Trent, omits the hymn for the entire Triduum as well as the Octave of Easter. You have to go back to the pre-Trent Monastic Office to find an Easter hymn. I’m told there are plenty of Easter chants used in the liturgies of the Eastern Catholic rites, though I’ve never seen a text.
Thanks be to God, we are able to attend Mass this year, so off we go.
He is risen, indeed! and to all a blessed Easter
It doesn’t seem like Lent is over until I hear the Gloria. That’s still a few hours away. But Happy Easter to all!
Happy Easter, Donald and everyone at TAC!
Iesus Christus Resurrexit Sicut Dixit!
The Strife Is O’er, The Battle Won is another Easter favorite. An old Latin hymn by Palestrina c. 1500s.
May you all receive many blessings during Eastertide!
Twitter confirmed Monday that it suspended Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s account “in error” because she tweeted on Easter, “He is risen” — the second time the social media giant has shelved the Georgia Republican in a month.
https://nypost.com/2021/04/05/twitter-suspended-rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-in-error/
I think their default response to a complaint is to flag / suspend / delete then investigate. That first step may even be automated. Not how I’d design a system, but the suspension is more likely proof she’s being hounded by users than persecuted by Twitter.
Having a system run by an incompetent AI is great for their purposes because it gives them plausible deniability. “Oopsies, looks like the mean old AI took action against you. So we can’t be held responsibility! (Even though we implemented this AI and choose to keep it around.)” For the end user there’s no difference between the “algorithm” deleting something “in error” and individuals in the company intentionally taking action.
Note too that the left never accepts this excuse. Say a deep learning trained algorithm has a harder time identifying black faces because it was mainly trained on whites and asians. No one in a million years would the woke media accept an excuse of “oops! our algorithm is just having some issues, but we didn’t mean to do anything against black people!” They would say that their algorithm is their responsibility and unless they change it immediately they are racists.
But conservatives have a tendency to say “oh, it was just a mistake? Okay then, try better in the future.” And then they wonder why they get banned over and over again.
Happy Easter to all at TAC. Christ is Risen!
Happy Easter to Donald and to all the contributors and readers of this important website
Where O death is your victory?
Vanquished forever.
Have a Blessed octive members of this faith community.
Peace of Christ be yours.
A blessed Easter to all! Last night I persuaded my daughter to go with me to an Easter Vigil Mass, which she hadn’t done in years because she is very much a morning person. (and autistic so she tend to be impatient with long ceremonies) We had all seven Old Testament readings, the new fire, candles, etc. and she loved it. Spent this morning watching the sunrise and playing with mama kitty and her 4 beautiful kittens (2 1/2 weeks old) who are getting floofier and more active by the day. God has been good to us.
Good to see you back again, Philip! Blessed Easter to you and yours! And to all here, of course. 😉
Thank you Frank. Easter JOY to you and yours.
A Blessed Easter greeting to all. It ain’t just about the rabbits and the poor souls who are confused about the gender God gave them.