Wednesday, February 24, 2010

"The Love of Christ Which Passeth Knowledge"

[A useful reflection for Lent] 

I bore with thee long weary days and nights, 
Through many pangs of heart, through many tears; 
I bore with thee, thy hardness, coldness, slights
For three and thirty years*. 


Who else had dared for thee what I have dared? 
I plunged the depth most deep from bliss above
I not My flesh, I not My spirit spared: 
Give thou Me love for love

For thee I thirsted in the daily drouth, 
For thee I trembled in the nightly frost: 
Much sweeter thou than honey to My mouth: 
Why wilt thou still be lost? 

I bore thee on My shoulders and rejoiced: 
Men only marked upon My shoulders borne 
The branding cross; and shouted hungry-voiced, 
Or wagged their heads in scorn. ---Christina Rossetti

*It's not clear that Jesus lived exactly 33 years on this earth. His public ministry began when he was "about" 30 years old and lasted three years.