Tag Archives: judgment

Why did the maid weep?

November 29, 2025love, poetryjudgment, Stephen Crane, the graveGretchenJoanna

BEHOLD, THE GRAVE OF A WICKED MAN

Behold, the grave of a wicked man,
And near it, a stern spirit.
There came a drooping maid with violets,
But the spirit grasped her arm.
“No flowers for him,” he said.
The maid wept:
“Ah, I loved him.”
But the spirit, grim and frowning:
“No flowers for him.”

Now, this is it —
If the spirit was just,
Why did the maid weep?

-Stephen Crane

The End and egg-dyeing.

April 16, 2025church, Holy WeekFr. Stephen Freeman, judgment, red eggsGretchenJoanna

It’s the end of Holy Wednesday as I write, and Fr. Stephen Freeman tells us that “The first three days of Holy Week are collectively known as the End.” So in a way this is the end of the end, but in another way we are at the beginning of the more intense days of this week leading up to Christ’s glorious Resurrection. In the meantime,

“Christ is moving towards His end, the consummation of the Incarnation. As He is increasingly revealed, everything around Him is revealed as well. Things are shown to be more clearly what they are. Those who hate Him, begin to be revealed as plotters and murderers. What was once only thoughts and feelings of envy become plots and perjury. The power of Rome is unmasked for its injustice, mere people-pleasing. The High Priest is revealed to believe that the destruction of God is good for his nation. The weakness of the disciples and the empty boasting of Peter and the rest are shown for their true emptiness. The sin of the world is revealed in the death of God.”

You can read the whole of it here: “The Bridegroom and Judgment.”

For me, it’s also the day of egg-dyeing. This year another parishioner and I split the work; I dyed only half of the red eggs that will be handed out at the end of our Paschal Liturgy in the wee hours of Sunday morning. I did it at home on my own today, and it was a very restful and quiet time.

The true opium.

December 4, 2022quotes, religionafterlife, Czeslaw Milosz, delusion, judgmentGretchenJoanna

“Religion used to be the opium of the people. To those suffering humiliation, pain, illness, and serfdom, religion promised the reward of an afterlife. But now, we are witnessing a transformation, a true opium of the people is the belief in nothingness after death, the huge solace, the huge comfort of thinking that for our betrayals, our greed, our cowardice, our murders, we are not going to be judged.”