‘A scene of the film Barabbas (1961) in which a total solar eclipse that occurred on February 15, 1961, was used to recreate the crucifixion darkness,’ Wikipedia.

Religious scholars tell us that darkness fell for three hours during Christ’s Crucifixion. I witnessed a solar eclipse a few years ago and it was a spiritual experience. Having worked the evening or night shifts for the majority of my career at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale I became very fond of night. In my neck of the woods, the night is serene and peaceful and yet there is an element of danger to it. Elie Wiesel wrote of his survival in a Nazi Death Camp in his Nobel Prize-winning book…Night. I met Mr. Weisel at SIUC. He was inspiring and his eyes had a profound sadness.

The night is where we find ourselves often in our modern age. We have more labor-saving devices than ever and less contentment. Antisemitism is on the rise. Some are banning books. Others are banning art. Governors and legislatures are writing to mandate the morality that is popular with their constituents…with little heart or soul in the legislation. They seek to form the government into a theocracy that they have invented specifically to suit their political aspirations.

There is a loud political/religious cry for holiness and prayer and the theology of Us Against Them… We love the embryo and the fetus…but once the child is born it is time for them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps…or their booty straps… Children are food insecure…they are hungry…and yet when the government reaches out to ensure that they get something to eat we say that their mom and dad should get a job and feed their kids. That wish does not seem to feed the hungry children.

‘Behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.’

“And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.’