Some pics of our latest festive dinners. I post these mainly for our own future reference.
Palm Sunday table setting:
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| Braised lamb shanks, herbed carrots, baked potatoes. The first course was creamed chicken soup. Dessert, not shown, was lemon mousse in parfait glasses. Everything was quite delicious. |
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I won't ask where the Republican voices are - they sold their souls to the Devil a long time back when they swore allegiance to Trump. But where are the protests? Where are the voices of sanity and outraged conscience? If there is any is outcry, in the streets or in the TV studios, the news feeds I see way down here in Texas sure aren't reporting any. The train is about to fall off the bridge, and no one seems upset in the U.S. of A., where life is humming along as usual.
For God's sake, will no one tell this maniac to his face to just stop it? Will no one stay his evil hand from this monstrous crime? No one at all?
God have mercy on us all, the whole human race.
Update, 7 p.m.:
Trump "Agrees" to Two-Week Ceasefire
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Your Head Trucker asks: Why are there not millions in the streets right now, all over this country, demanding an end to these evil threats? Destroying a whole country? Killing millions of people? If that isn't the Devil talking, what is it?
And you know, what goes around, comes around. Don't think this country or its leaders are invulnerable. And there would be a chain reaction of events, probably, that just might devastate the whole world. Is there anyone in Washington with enough guts to stand up and say NO to that maniac?
Time's a-wasting. We're standing on the edge of a bottomless abyss.
BTW: There's a lot of talk online about invoking the 25th Amendment. But that would only make J.D. Vance president. How do you feel about that?
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| R E J O I C E ! |
The Choir of King's College Cambridge:
Sylvia McNair exquisitely performs the much-loved aria from Messiah:
The Lessons Appointed for Use on
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Bonus: Rick Steves takes us on a fascinating tour of unusual European Easter customs:
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15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
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| Murillo, The Crucifixion, circa 1675. Click to enlarge. |
Fernando Ortega gives a deeply moving performance of the well-known hymn from Bach's St. Matthew Passion.
The Lessons Appointed for Use on
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Therefore let us keep the feast.
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| Agnus Dei by Zurbaran, circa 1635. |
The Lessons Apppointed for Use on
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| Hippolyte Flandrin, The Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, 1844. Click to enlarge, |
Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race, you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Addendum, 3/20: In his Palm Sunday homily, Pope Leo said God does not listen to the prayers of those who claim to wage war in the name of the Prince of Peace, quoting from the first chapter of Isaiah:
Pope Leo on Sunday said death and suffering caused by the war in the Middle East are a “scandal to the whole human family”, as he once again pleaded for an immediate ceasefire.As the US-Israeli war on Iran enters its fourth week, the first U.S. pope said that he continues to follow with “dismay” the situation in the Middle East and in other regions torn apart by war and violence.“We cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering of so many people, the defenceless victims of these conflicts. What hurts them hurts the whole of humanity,” Leo said at his weekly Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.“I strongly renew my appeal for us to persevere in prayer, so that hostilities may cease and the way may finally be paved for peace,” he added.
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