As a welcome relief to both blog writer (and readers), the words below are not mine. They belong to Karl Rahner and I use them here, today, because they express beautifully and profoundly the essential meaning of Easter. Rahner (1904-1984) was a Catholic theologian who taught theology at the universities of Munich and Munster and he was an influential voice at the Second Vatican Council. His collected essays make up 23 volumes in their printed English edition! These words are from The Content of Faith, a one volume collection of his theological writings. The pictures used here are by Sir Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) one of the 20th century's most distinctive British painters. He said he wanted ‘to take the inmost of one's wishes, the most varied religious feelings…and to make it an ordinary fact of the street’, and he is best known for pictures in which he set biblical events in his own village of Cookham. He painted several paintings depicting the Resurrection. Each one shows very ordinary people awakening to a life in world like yet unlike the one they once knew. It seemed to me that these pictures provide a fitting visual commentary to Rahner's words The Easter Message"It is difficult in well worn human words to do justice to the joy of Easter. Not simply because all the mysteries of the gospel have difficulty in penetrating the narrow limits of our being and because it is even more difficult for our language to contain them. The message of Easter is the most human news brought by Christianity. That is why we have most difficulty in understanding it. It is most difficult to be, do and believe what is truest, closest and easiest. For we people of today live by the tacitly assumed, (and therefore to us all the more self evident) prejudice, that what is religious is purely a matter of the innermost heart and the highest point of the mind, something which we have to do for ourselves alone and which therefore has the difficulty and unreality of the thoughts and moods of the heart. "The message of easter is the most human news brought by Christianity. |
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18 Benedictions
1 Corinthians 3
1 Enoch
1 Samuel
1 Thessalonians 4
2 Baruch
2 Chronicles
2 Corinthians 12.2-4
2 Enoch
2 Esdras
2 Kings
4 Ezra
Abel
Abel As Judge
Abiram
Abraham
Abraham Geiger
Abraham Rattner
Acheron
Acherusian Lake
Adam
Adam And Eve
Adam In Glory
Adoration Of The Magi
Aeneas
Aequitas
Ahaz
Alan Bernstein
Alien
Alms For The Dead
Altichiero Da Zevio
Amidah
Amos
Anastos-Park Psalter
Ancient Of Days
Andrei Orlov
Angelic Princes
Angel Nathaniel
Angel Of Fire
Angels
Angels Blow Trumpets
Angels Control Elements
Angels Hold Back Winds
Animal Apocalypse
Ante-chamber To Hell
Antichrist
Antiochus IV Epiphanes
Antiquity
Antonio Molleno
Apocalypse
Apocalypse Of Moses
Apocalypse Of Paul
Apocalyptic Judgement
Apostle Paul
Arabic Infancy Narrative
Arthur Boyd
Ascension Of Elijah
Ascension Of Jesus
Ascent To Heaven
Assumption Of The Virgin
Astronomical Book
Augustine
Avaricious Punished
Babylonian Exile
Babylonian Talmud
Baptism Of Jesus
Beatitudes
Beatrice
Beaune Altarpiece
Belshazzar's Feast
Bible Of S Paolo Fuori Le Mura
Blessed Are The Meek
Blind See
Boatman
Bob Dylan
Bodleian Library
Book Of Biblical Antiquities
Book Of Hours
Book Of Jubilees
Book Of Life
Book Of Watchers
Botticini
Bowyer Bible
Bradi Barth
Broad And Narrow Gates
Broad And Narrow Paths
Burning And Freezing
Call Of Isaiah
Camille Corot
Carthusian
Castle Of Hell
Catherine Cleves Hours
Catherine Of Cleves
Cauldrons
Chariot Of The Moon
Chariot Of The Sun
Charles Mahoney
Charon
Chasing The Banner
Cherubim
Child Sacrifice
Choosing And Being
Christopher Columbus
City Of God
City Of Life
Cocytus
Collin De Plancy
Cologne Cathedral
Colton Burpo
Columba Altarpiece
Commedia
Consuming Fire
Cooked In Ovens
Cookham
Cords Of Death
Cosmic Renewal
Cosmology
Covenant
Creation
Creation Of Angels
Creation Story
Cross Of Christ
Crucifixion Of Jesus
Crystal Table
Damned
Damned Melted
Dan
Daniel
Daniel 7
Dante
Dark Wood
David Einhorn
David Norton
Dead Raised
Deaf Hear
Death's Appetite
Death's Mouth
Death Swallowed Up
Defeat Of Death
Demons
Despair In Hell
Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 11
Devil
Devils
Dew Of God
Dictionnaire Infernal
Dike
Divine Comedy
Divine Liturgy
Divine Temple In Heaven
Dokiel
Dombild Altarpiece
Domenico Di Michelino
Dome Of Heaven
Don Piper
Duccio
Duc De Berry
Early Netherlandish Painting
Eaten And Defecated
Eaten By Beasts And Snakes
Ecclesiastes
Eden
Egyptian Afterworld
Egyptian Book Of The Dead
Eileen Gardiner
Elijah
Elisha
Enoch
Epistle Of Enoch
Euripides
Exodus 24
Exodus 32
Expulsion From Eden
Ezekiel
Ezekiel 1
Ezekiel's Chariot Vision
Face Of God
Fate Of The Wicked
Feast On God's Mountain
Fiery Chariot
Fiery Rivers
Fire Of Judgement
Fires Of Hell
Firmament
Flemish Painting
Florence
Fornication
Four Rivers Of Eden
Fra Angelico
Fra Mauro World Map
Francesco Botticini
Francis Anderson
Francis Thompson
Fraud
Frozen In Hell
Gabriel
Garden Of Eden
Gates Of Death
Gates Of Hades
Gates Of Heaven
Gates Of Prayer
Gates Of Sheol
Gates Of The Moon
Gates Of The Sun
Gehenna
Ge Hinnom
Genesis
Genesis 37
Genesis 42
Genesis Rabbah
Genitals Eaten
Gerard David
Gevurot
Giorgio Vasari
Giovanni Di Paulo
Giovanno Da Modena
Gislebertus
Gisuto De' Menabuoi
Gluttons Punished
God As Light
Godly Immune To Fire
Gods Judgemet
God's Justice
God's Throne
Golden Haggadah
Golden Throne
Gomorrah
Good Death
Gospel Of Matthew
Gospel Of Nicodemus
Gospels
Gough Psalter
Graham Stanton
Grave
Great Deep
Green Goblin
Grip Of Death
Guardian Angels
Guariento Di Arpo
Gustave Dore
Hades
Hamēstagān
Hammath Tiberias Synagogue
Hans Memling
Harrowing Of Hell
Heaven
Heaven Is For Real
Heavenly Books
Heavenly Liturgy
Hebrew Afterlife
Hebrew Cosmology
Hebrew Hope
Hell
Hellenism
Hell In A Handcart
Hellsmouth
Hell's Mouth
Hells Mouth
Hell's Vestibule
Henry Scott Holland
High Priest
Homer
Hospices De Beaune
Hours Of Catherine Of Cleves
Hugh Broughton
Illustrations
Immortality
Impregnated By Monsters
Infernal Forge
Infernal Wheel
Inferno
Infertility
Inheriting The Earth
Iranian Religion
Isaiah
Isaiah 24-27
Isaiah 25.7-8
Isaiah 26.19
Isaiah 38.10-12
Isaiah 40
Isaiah 5.12-14
Isaiah 65
Isaiah 65.17-25
Isaiah Apocalypse
Ivan Filichev
Jacob
Jacob's Death
Jacob's Ladder
Jair
James Dunn
Jaws Of Death
Jennifer Sliwka
Jeremiah
Jerome
Jerome Commentary Daniel
Jerusalem Temple
Jesus And The Kingdom
Jesus Christ
Jesus Exorcises Demons
Jesus Raises Lazarus
Joan Ferrante
Job
Job 22
Job 31
Job 38
Job 38.16-18
Job 7
John Day
John Martin
John Of Patmos
John The Baptist
Jonah
Jon Levenson
Joseph
Jubilees
Judgement After Death
Judgement By Fire
Judgement Of Christ
Julia Stankova
Karl Rahner
Kate Bush
Keres
Kingdom Of God
Kingdom Of Heaven
King James Version
Korah
Korah's Death
Lake Of Fire
Lame Walk
Lapiz Lazuli Pavement
Le Livre De La Vigne Nostre Seigneur
Leonardo Bellini
Leopard
Les Tres Riches Heures
Les Visions Du Chevalier Tondal
Lethe
Leviticus
Libra
Life Of Adam And Eve
Limbourg Brothers
Lion
Long Life
Lord's Prayer
Lorne Campbell
Lucas Cranach The Elder.
Luca Signorelli
Luke 12.27
Lust
Lust Punished
Maccabean Revolt
Manasseh
Manna From Heaven
Marc Chagall
Marcus The Monk
Markus Bockmuehl
Mars
Master Of Sant Pau De Casserres
Matteo Palmieri
Matthew 11.1-6
Matthew 13.36-43
Matthew 16.18
Matthew 25.41-46
Matthew 5.2-10
Matthew 6.28
Medieval
Merhan Nasseri
Meshach
Metal Clawed Dragon
Metaphor
Metropolis
Micaiah
Michael
Michael Weighs The Dead
Michelangelo
Molech
Molten Metal
Monreale Cathedral
Monsters Bursting Out
Morgan Library
Moses
Mountain Of Virtue
Mouth Of Acheron
MS Douce 134
Multiple Heavens
Murderers Punished
Muslims
Myles Smith
National Gallery London
Neither Hot Nor Cold
Nemesis
Neutrals
New Earth
New Heavens
Niccolosa Di Seraggli
Nicholas Roerich
Nicolas Rolin
Nikolai Ge
Noah
Noisy Hell
Numbers 16
Odilon Redon
Odysseus
Odyssey
Office Of The Dead
Osiris
Ottomans
Otto Van Moerdrecht
Padua Cathedral Baptistry
Palmieri Altarpiece
Papacy
Papyrus Of Ani
Paradise
Paradiso
Paradisum
Parousia
Paula Gooder
Paul Weller
Penitent Thief
Perdition
Pesikta Derab Kahana
Peter Brown
Phaedo
Pharisees
Philo
Phlegeton
Pit
Pitchforks
Pitiless Angels
Plato
Pope Boniface VIII
Pope In Hell
Pope Innocent IV
Poseidon
Powers And Principalities
Powers In Heaven
Prayers For The Dead
Priamo Della Quercia
Pride Punished
Priests In Hell
Promised Land
Psalm 107
Psalm 139
Psalm 18
Psalm 31
Psalm 33
Psalm 49
Psalm 53
Psalm 66
Psalm 88
Psalm 9
Psalm 91
Pseudepigrapha
Purgatorial Suffering
Purgatory
Puriel
Purifying Fire
Rabbinic Texts
Raising The Dead
Ransom Of The Soul
Raoul De Presles
Raqia
Rashid Al Din
Rashid Al-Din
Recording Angels
Reform Judaism
Rembrandt
Remus
Rephaim
Resurrection
Resurrection Of Christ
Resurrection Of The Dead
Return To Dust
Revelation
Revelation 1.17-18
Revelation 20.10 15
Revelation 20.10-15
Revelation 20.13 14
Revelation 20.13-14
Revelation 21
Rhea
Richard Of St Victor
Ridley Scott
Rivers Of Hell
Rogier Van Der Weyden
Rome
Romulus
Rosh Hashanah
Sadducees
Saint Julian
Saint-Lazare D'Autun
Salerno Cathedral
Sammayim
Samuel Summoned
San Pier Maggiore
San Vitale
Sarajevo Haggadah
Satan's Wings
Septuagint
Set
Setne
Seven Deadly Sins
Seventh Heaven
Shadrac
Shadrach
Sheol
She-wolf
Shroud
Sibylline Oracles
Sick Healed
Signs Of The End
Simon Marmion
Slavonic Enoch
Sleeping In Dust
Sloth Punished
Socrates
Sodom
Song Of Hannah
Son Of Man
Souls Liquefied
Souls Waiting
Spiky Bridge
Stanley Spencer
St Dismas
Stefan Lochner
Stench Of Hell
Storehouses Of Heaven
St Ormer Psalmter
Stung By Wasps
Styx
Sulphur
Sulphurous Lake
Survival Of Souls After Death
Sweet New Style
Symeon The Mountain Man
Tartarus
Tatyana Denisova
Teodolinda Barolini
Terminal
Testament Of Abraham
The Dew Of God
The Flood
The God Hades
The Heavenly Council
The Keres
The Last Judgement
Themis
The Narrow Bridge
The Not-so-very-bad
Theomastus
The Satan
The Tree Of Life
The Wasteland
The Watchers
The Winged Man
Thieves Punished
Third Heaven
Threefold Judgement
Throne Chariot Vision
Thrown In The Furnace
Thy Will Be Done
Tintoretto
Tomb Of Sennedjem
Topheth
Torments Of Hell
Toros Roslin
Tortures Of Hell
Tour Of Creation
Translation
Translation Of Enoch
Tree Of Knowledge
Tree Of Life
Très Riches Heures Du Duc De Berry
Très Riches Heures Du Duc De Berry.
Trial By Fire
Troy
Trumpet Of Fire
T. S. Eliot
Tundale
Tyrants Punished
Ukobach
Ulrich Simon
Uncommitted
Underworld
Union Prayer Book
Uriel
Usurers Punished
Utnapishtim
Vault Of Heaven
Vereveil
Viktor Navorski
Violence
Violent Punished
Virgil
Vision Of Ezra
Vision Of Tundale
Visions Of Heaven
Visio Pauli
Vulcan
Vulcan's Forge
Vulgate
Weighed In The Balance
Whipped By Angels
Wicked Punished
Wild Things
William Blake
William De Brailes
Winchester Psalter
Wisdom Of Solomon
Witch Of Endor
Worms
Wrathful Punished
Writing On The Wall
Zechariah
Zeus
Zeus Weighs Fates
Zoroastrianism