Holy Thursday

I was going to copy a bit from the book on Jesus by Pagola, but just received this poem that was in the Tablet; it seems so powerful for Holy Week with our new Pope Francis that I am copying it here:

Spanish missionary bishop writes an instructive poem for Pope Francis

Pedro Casaldáliga, a Catalan bishop who has spent his life in Brazil, wrote a poem for the new pope before Francis was elected. Casaldáliga is the retired bishop of São Félix do Araguaia in the Amazon. He is the author of A Spirituality of Liberation. Translation by Francis McDonagh.

Leave the Curia, Peter.
Demolish the Sanhedrin and the fortified walls,
Order all the impeccable parchments to be altered
By the words of life, fear.
Let us go to the garden where they plant bananas,
Cloaked and in darkness, whatever the risk,
where the Master sweats the sweat of the poor.
His tunic or cloak is this humble flesh disfigured,
all those children's cries that go unanswered,
and embroidered with the memory of the anonymous dead.
A legion of mercenaries besiege the frontier where the dawn begins,
and Caesar blesses them in his arrogance.
In his tidy sink Pilate washes, legalistic and cowardly.
The people are just a ‘scrap',
a scrap of hope.
Don't leave Him alone among the guards and princes
It's time to sweat with His agony,
It's time to drink the chalice of the poor
And raise the Cross, stripped of certainties,
and break the bonds - law and seal - of the Roman tomb
and bring on the dawn,
Easter.
Tell them, tell us all,
that they are still there, strong, unshakable,
the cave of Bethlehem,
the Beatitudes,
and the judgment of love in food.
Stop worrying!
Just as you love Him,
Love us,
Simply,
Equal to equal, brother.
Give us, with your smiles, your fresh tears,
The fish of joy,
The bread of the word,
The roses of the glowing embers...
...the clarity of the free horizon,
The sea of Galilee, open