We want him Crucified !!

THEE most delightful part of the church calender is now upon us - Holy Week. It stared yesterday with Palm Sunday, the one day Our Saviour got mad love from the adoring masses as he went into the Palestinian capital city of Jerusalem and was met with adoring crowds waving palms. John Sponge rightly- well, I guess, rightly - that maybe palms weren't 'in bloom' during the usual passover time (Don't ya love scholars?!?), but it makes for a good visual.

In the catholic church, there is always a set piece in mass on Palm Sunday - the first, and admittedly less best - reading of the passion. It's a 15m play type 'reading', where the priest takes the role of Christ, there is a narrator, a second priests role.......... and US!! We get to shout shit sorta like "CRUCIFY HIM !! CRUCIFY HIM !! " and "WE WANT BARABBAS!!" and other great stuff. It's taken from Matthew, and on Good Friday - my most loved of all holidays/holy days since I was little (true too, and not the usual self aggrandizing of my past) -we do it all again, except it's from.... who, Mark?? Not sure. There are differences. In Matthew it's the lame "We want him crucified", not the deeply-grand and shouted response :"CRUCIFY HIM !! CRUCIFY HIM !! ". There are other changes - it's on Good Friday that we also get to shout "WE WANT BARABBAS!! ".

Good Friday is just so much better. Better than Christmas, Better than Thanksgiving, better than New Years Eve, better than 4th of July, better than Mai Day, better than Super Bowl Sunday, better than my birthday, better than Bloomsday, better than..........

........... well, yes, fuck it-better than Easter, St. Patricks Day, and the opening Thursday of the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament.

Holy Week indeed !!!