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Notes -
Culture War or not, I don't know.
I've finished watching the Good Friday service from the Vatican and I want to quote this part of the service, sections of Psalm 21 (which includes the famous "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" quotation which is part of the Seven Last Words from the Cross).
Something which Nietzsche would despise, at least going by the discussions about this we've had on here before. The triumph of the weak. Slave morality. "I am a worm and no man" is not what the Strong, the Aristoi, say of themselves, such types are the ones trampled underfoot and rightfully so, pity being wasted on them.
And yet. And yet. This is the God of all Creation, the Maker of the Universe, the ground of all being, the Power beyond power, the True, the Beautiful and the Good who emptied Himself out, who became a slave and lower than a slave, to die a criminal's death.
Maybe true power is not trampling all others underfoot. The wretch who died the slave's death is venerated and remembered in the most gorgeous, opulent setting. Maybe the Strong look tawdry by comparison in their tinsel crowns.
Something, something. Tickling at my brain, to think about it.
And where did all those riches come from? From the works of Nietzchean virtue - conquest and craft and cunning.
And yet this is the symbol venerated, not the glorious, gold and purple robed ruler taken from the statue of Zeus.
If the "Nietzchean virtues" had conquered truly, it would have been easy for the Western church to move to adoration of the majestic and keep this instead as the representative image, but it did not. Even at the height of power and pomp and worldliness, the roots of the Magnificat were maintained and preserved.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
He has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich He has sent away empty.
Which countries showed that 'conquest and craft and cunning'? Which lands are the ones touted as progress and advancement? Do we speak of the great achievements of Greece in the modern world as a leader of technology?
That's the very, very clever imagery of Buddy Christ, where the signs of suffering are stripped out of the Sacred Heart iconography. A new icon, one of success and personal fulfilment. The director knew what he was doing, and how it was going against the actuality.
Well yes, the roman pontiff can hardly justify calling the Holy Roman Emperor to his knees in the snows of Canossa otherwise.
Less cynically, the Pope prostrating himself might be more convincing as a true symbol of humility were it not done on marble floors, silk and velvet fabrics, with gold and fabulous art everywhere - literally a basilica, or a kingly palace.
Venice and the holy league at Lepanto. The Conquistadors in Mexico and Peru. The English in North America. The French, before Napoleon squandered their nation's lifesblood. The Germans in their orderliness, art, and science. And the heir to all of them - America.
I mean, the Hagia Sophia is a mighty-impressive work of architecture; the Byzantine empire was worlds ahead of its contemporaries in governmental organization and finance, and before first the latins and then the muslims sacked and despoiled it, Constantinople was a shining gem; the greatest and richest city in the world. A might ingrateful to the west's greatest shield against the depredations of Arabia and the turkic steppe hordes, I think.
Nietzsche is right. God is dead. He has lain in the tomb and gone down to Sheol, like the rest of us.
And today, He is now alive again, restored to us, and bringing us all into the new life. Alleluia!
This victory has come about not by the heroics of the great heroes like Achilles, but by surrendering and suffering like the most humble. It is the foolishness of the world. The strong and mighty have not achieved this, but the Suffering Servant has done so.
Alleluia!
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