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 est mis dans le sépulcre

There are further references in this closing movement of the cycle to moments of what has gone before. The Roman soldiers are still here – set as a guard to prevent any disciple making false claims of resurrection; the weight of the cross from movement III and the searing pain of the nails from movement XI are both quoted, but the big difference is that this weight is no longer that of the Cross borne by Christ, but of Christ’s Body borne by disciples; the pain is no longer the physical pain of crucifixion, but the tragedy of loss and confusion which overwhelms His friends as the inter His Body. His disciples; his friends – that is, now, us: He has borne the weight of our sin; we must bear the weight of His sacrifice, unbearable without His Grace. The movement ends on a simple E major triad, a rest in harmonic simplicity and sweetness of the garden where the tomb stood. The triad, however, is in inversion: perhaps there remains another chapter in this story, maybe the grief we bear for the crucified will not be the end…

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