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March 1
Poets Ernesto Cardenal and George Herbert; The Massacre of Vassy.
David Barnhart
March 01, 2025
Stourhead House and Garden, 2011. Own photo.
Today is the anniversary of the Massacre of Vassy, in 1562. French Protestant followers of John Calvin were called Huguenots, and they had begun to grow in numbers at the small town of Vassy. The local Noble’s attempt to disperse a crowd of about 500 worshipers ended with fifty dead. The word “massacre” became a common term for killing unarmed human beings after this event. This was the beginning of the French Wars of Religion, which would lead to the deaths of millions of people at the hands of those who claimed to follow Jesus Christ.
Today marks the death of two poets, both mystical and revolutionary:
Ernesto Cardenal, in 2020. He was a priest, liberation theologian, and poet who also served as cultural minister in Nicaragua.
And George Herbert, in 1633, who was an English priest and poet.
Reflection:
A poem by Ernesto Cardenal, “Give Ear to My Words (Psalm 5)”
translated by Jonathan Cohen.
From the On Being podcast with Krista Tippet
“Give ear to my words O Lord
Hear my groans
Listen to my protest
For you are not a God who is a friend of dictators
nor a supporter of their politics
nor are you influenced by their propaganda
nor do you associate with any gangster
“There’s no honesty in their speeches
nor in their press releases
“They talk of peace in their speeches
while they increase their war production
“They talk of peace at Peace Conferences
and secretly prepare for war
“Their lying radios blare all night long
“Their desks are piled with criminal plans
and sinister documents
“But you will protect me from their plans
“They speak through the mouth of machine guns
Their flashing tongues
are bayonets…
“Punish them O God
foil their politics
mix up their memos
block their programs
“At the hour of the Alarm Siren
you will be with me
you will be my refuge on the day of the Bomb
“You bless the righteous
who don’t believe in the lies of their ads
nor in their publicity and political campaigns
“Your love surrounds them
like armored tanks”
Cardenal’s poem is a liberation theology paraphrase of Psalm 5, and it reminds me of Eugene Peterson’s translation.
A poem by George Herbert called “Prayer”
Prayer the church's banquet, angel's age,
God's breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth
Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tow'r,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six-days world transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;
Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,
Exalted manna, gladness of the best,
Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,
The milky way, the bird of Paradise,
Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood,
The land of spices; something understood.
I love the image of prayer as God’s breath in a human returning to their birth.
Prayer: God of Abundance and Abundant Life, the powers and principalities of this world operate on scarcity, monopoly, buying, selling, and exploitation. Teach us the meaning of “enough,” of sharing, and of the security that comes from trusting our neighbors. Cast down the mighty from their thrones. Fill us with your Breath, your Spirit. Amen.