Nativity, Spiritual Exercises 116 – “… that he may die on the cross; and all this for me.”
In the Portinari Altarpiece By Hugo van der Goes The naked newborn Jesus Lies on the cold bare ground As Mary and Joseph, adoring, kneel While angels, gathered round And vested for a Mass, reveal What would otherwise be missed: Jesus – there as the host, In a primitive Eucharist. There are shepherds come to worship Angels hover in the trees A few are standing upright Some kneel on angelic knees There are angels vested in alb and stole In surplice, cope, dalmatic But none dressed in the priestly role. Incarnate vulnerability: His flesh the chasuble That vests divinity This image of a naked God Susceptible of pain Is Jesus hanging on the cross, Fully naked once again, Exposed to the worst men can devise Thorn-crowned as King In a ritual of shaming As Mary, tendresse undefiled, Shares the suffering Of his inner child