Not in the Heavens: novembro 2013

"God's Song"

"Cain slew Abel Seth knew not why
For if the children of Israel were to multiply
Why must any of the children die?
So he asked the Lord
And the Lord said:

"Man means nothing he means less to me
than the lowiliest cactus flower
or the humblest yucca tree
he chases round this desert
cause he thinks that's where i'll be
that's why i love mankind

I recoil in horror from the foulness of thee
from the squalor and the filth and the misery
How we laugh up here in heaven at the prayers you offer me
That's why i love mankind"

The Christians and the Jews were having a jamboree
The Buddhists and the Hindus joined on satellite TV
They picked their four greatest priests
And they began to speak
They said "Lord the plague is on the world
Lord no man is free
The temples that we built to you
Have tumbled into the sea
Lord, if you won't take care of us
Won't you please please let us be?"

And the Lord said
And the Lord said

"I burn down your cities--how blind you must be
I take from you your children and you say how blessed are we
You must all be crazy to put your faith in me
That's why i love mankind
You really need me
That's why i love mankind"

St. Valerius in Weyarn, Germany

As the Vatican prepares to display bones it believes to be those of St Peter, we explore an amazing series of jewelled saints' remains from southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The skeletons were found in 1578 when some of the catacombs of Rome were opened up, containing the remains of the city's early Christian community. Over the next couple of hundred years, some of the skeletons, identified as saints' remains, were sent north across the Alps to replace relics destroyed in the Protestant Reformation. To mark their newfound status, they were festooned with an extraordinary assortment of jewels, cloth of gold and other precious fabrics, and are still objects of veneration.