As we journey through Holy Week, the blog is taking a slightly different format with short reflections on Marcel Dupré’s Le chemin de la croix, a musical version of the Stations of the Cross. Instead of one reflection released on Wednesday, these episodes are to appear through the week from Palm Sunday until Good Friday.

Jésus rencontre sa mère

The tenderness with which the Blessed God-Bearer is venerated comes to the fore in this musical encounter of Jesus with his mother even while he walks the way of the Cross. The purity of the flute stop holding extended notes, inflected with triadic descents, even when coloured with chromatic extensions, hold the almost other-worldly purity of Mary. Even as Jesus continues to bear the weight, those heavy steps are now muted, registered only on voix célestes. The pain of the road to Calvary is not denied, but the same pain encounters love, purity, and beauty. Does that encounter lead to the suffering one hiding His pain? Does He, even at this point, comfort the Mother?

Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi: quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum