Into the Darkness and Waiting

Empty Tabernacle

Mother of Perpetual Help Monastery

Redemptoristine Nuns

Espous, New York

Holy Saturday

The following excerpts are taken from an ancient homily on Holy Saturday. It is among those selections chosen by our Church for the only official public worship of this holy day, the Liturgy of Hours. Those participating in the most solemn expression of this at Tenebrae (prayer "in the dark" - a combination of the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer) today, heard this most poetic description of that mysterious time between Jesus' death and his Resurrection. In addition, at Tenebrae, the Psalms of the Offices and the selected readings would be punctuated by sections from the Lamentations of Jeremiah.

Something strange is happening - there is a great silence on the earth today, a great silence and a stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep...He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep...He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: "Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light."

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now, by my own authority, command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated...

The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

This poetic imagery is invitation. Surely we too dwell in darkness. Surely we too have surrendered our freedom and carry the bondage of crippling emotions and addictions, of norms and values thrust on by the surrounding culture. Surely we too suffer a variety of abandonments - grief, disappointing friends, goals not attained. Today we are invited to shed the bonds, to step out into the light because the one who loved us has died for us, died united with our sufferings, whatever they may be. And in these days has prepared the banquet feast of heaven just for us, those who are intensely loved by the Father in whose image we were created out of love. We need not wait until our mortal death to experience this gift of freedom. We can experience he Resurrection now.

What is the nature of my darkness? What binds my soul, spirit and body? Where am I drowsy and unmotivated? What is the particular invitation to me today in the words of Jesus Christ, "Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead."

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return to the Lord your God.

(response to the Lamentations of Jeremiah)

Giotto

Holy Thursday

Spotlight on

* Love as Service

* Communion in Living
Memory

* Sacramental Priesthood




The Drama of the Holy Triduum Begins

These are very solemn yet very busy days in any monastery. We began a time of recollection with Compline, Tuesday evening. But there is much to prepare especially in the way of liturgy and holy celebration. Our library has been transformed into a fitting place for reposition of the Blessed Sacrament and adoration this evening until midnight. Seating in our chapel has been expanded to accommodate Redemptorist students and other guests. A leg of lamb is roasting in the oven as traditional fare for our Passover Seder with Jesus in community.

One of our guests this evening is a non-Catholic friend who asked for some context and explanation of the liturgy of Holy Thursday. Perhaps others would be interested in my background material. May it enrich your experience of the Sacred Triduum.

As for Holy Thursday... I heard once that the liturgies of these three days were, at one time, one great long liturgy of the Paschal Mystery. Understanding each of the components (the rite for each day) is made easier by that image of a continuing drama being played out in a series of 'acts'. This is particularly true with the transition between tonight's liturgy of Holy Thursday and tomorrow's rite which is not a Eucharistic Liturgy, that is, a Mass with a consecration of the species. The Liturgy of Holy Thursday commemorates three things, not necessarily in this order: Jesus model of service and his last request that we loved one another; the institution of the Eucharist and, therefore, the institution of the sacramental priesthood. At times, this last - the priesthood - has been unduly emphasized in some places by a ritual renewal of vows for priests and religious. Liturgically that is really not in keeping with the most important messages of the liturgy. We try to emphasize the model of service in the foot washing and the institution narrative of the Eucharist. In every Catholic Church the Holy Thursday Liturgy will end with some kind of procession from the church to a place of reposition, a place where the consecrated hosts can be reserved with reverence. Since we commemorate the institution of the Eucharist at this liturgy, the Eucharistic procession and private adoration afterward are in order. This removal of the Eucharist leaves the church empty in readiness for the mood of Good Friday. The door of the chapel tabernacle stands open to remind us of emptiness. There are no linens on the altar, no candles, no flowers, etc.

The Good Friday ritual is really a prayer service consisting of three parts: a reading of the Passion Narrative from one of the Gospels; veneration of the Cross after it is ceremoniously brought into the church in procession and held up for all to see accompanied by the sung antiphon, "Behold, behold the wood of the Cross on which is hung your salvation. Come, let us adore Him." ; and last, a communion service in which the reserved Eucharist, consecrated at the Holy Thursday Mass is brought back into the church and is received by the people. After this the consecrated hosts are once again returned to a place of reposition, the altar is left without any linens and a cross of some kind remains in the church for private veneration. All of this sets the scene and the mood which is held throughout Holy Saturday. The empty tabernacle and bare altar, will speak of the death of Jesus and His three day descent to the realm of the dead. It will also speak of the fear, grief, and sense of abandonment in his followers.

The Easter Vigil on Saturday night will begin with the lighting of the new fire from which the Paschal Candle, symbol of the resurrected Christ, will be lit and carried in procession to the church. The Paschal Candle will be set in a prominent place and a great hymn of praise at what has happened in the new Passover of the Lord will be sung (the Exultet). From this ancient hymn comes the line which calls the first sin of Adam, "Oh, happy fault." In the light of the Resurrection even the sin of Adam is seen as in some way fortuitous, as part of the plan of Redemption. Then, in complete darkness, the congregation will hear the Exodus story (seven readings) which culminate in the sung "Gloria" when all the lights go on and all the bells are rung in announcement of the Lord's victory over death.

Entering Holy Week

Photo by Marion Lunt

Entering Holy Week in Union with the Crucified

and in Hope for the Resurrection

Tomorrow the crescendo will begin; the slow yet painful and certain movement of Jesus to the inevitable. How can we move with the growing momentum, not as if we are just sleepwalking through the all too familiar but with our consciousness fully aware and comprehending?

Each day at the Office of Readings the Church offers us its ancient guidance. Today following a reading from the Letter to the Hebrews speaking of the priesthood of Christ and His creation of a New Covenant, we were offered the words of St. Gregory of Nazianzen, 4th century bishop of Constantinople and great theologian. It was an excerpt from a homily about the sharing of the faithful in the approaching Passover of Holy Week. He wrote:

We must now pass through the first veil and approach the second,

turning our eyes toward the Holy of Holies...

We must sacrifice ourselves to God, each day and in everything

we do, accept all that happens for the sake of the Word,

imitating his passion by our sufferings, and honoring the blood

by shedding our own.

We must be ready to be crucified....

Worship him who is hung on the cross because of you,

even if you are hanging there yourself.

Gregory speaks to his flock and to us today of the realities of the human condition, the realities Jesus entered and shared with us by his Incarnation, participation in our humble humanity. And Gregory says unite it all with him on the cross. He acknowledges the certainty of our human suffering and then invites us to exalt it in union with Jesus hanging on the cross. There is no denial of our suffering, but only the suggestion to exalt it.

The photo above - The Cross and the Laundry - speaks to me of the human condition of suffering and Jesus' union with all of it on the cross. His suffering and that of all humanity are one. It is easy today to think of human suffering in terms of the victims of yesterday's massacre in Binghamton, New York, the suffering of their families and the demented torture of the man who wrecked such havoc on the innocent. It is easy to think of the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe without food, clothing, medicine, and schools. Surely there is great suffering in the violence in the Holy Land, Afghanistan, Iraq and Mexican drug wars. Truly these are great sufferings. But here is a pain, a suffering, a struggle, or an addiction in each of us. Jesus took on himself, and continues to take on, both the universal and particular sufferings. He is united with us in ours and St. Gregory invites us to respond from our own experience and unite it, in turn, with that of Jesus on the cross.

The bishop does not end there. He does not stop and remain at the cross.

If you are a Joseph of Arimathea, go to one who ordered

his crucifixion, and ask for Christ's body. Make your own

the expiation for the sins of the whole world.

If you are a Nicodemus, like the man who worshiped God by night,

bring spices and prepare Christ's body for burial.

If you are one of the Marys, or Salome, or Joanna,

weep in the early morning. Be the first to see the stone rolled back, and even the angels perhaps, and Jesus himself.

Solemnity of the Annunciation of Our Lord

Waterhouse

Excerpt from "Annunciation"

by Denise Levertov

...The engendering Spirit
did not enter her without consent.
God waited.
She was free to accept or to refuse, choice
integral to humanness.
This was the minute no one speaks of,
when she could still refuse.
A breath unbreathed,
Spirit,
suspended,
waiting.
She did not cry, “I cannot, I am unworthy,”
Nor, “I have not the strength.”
She did not submit with gritted teeth, raging, coerced.
Bravest of all humans,
consent illumined her.
The room filled with its light,
the lily glowed in it,
and the iridescent wings.
Consent,
courage unparalleled,
opened her utterly.

The life of contemplative nuns is replete with opportunities for withdrawal into some sacred time, some sacred place. It is the very abundance of those opportunities which draws some souls into this life, a life in which we live together alone with God. Yesterday provided such an opportunity for me, my monthly day of private retreat. Yes, by my very entrance into a monastic community I have withdrawn from the larger society in significant ways. But life in a monastery is a communal one in which all of the nuns live, work, eat, pray and play together. This intense life in community brings all of the realities of family living into play - joy, celebration, decision-making, conflict, mis-understanding, compromise, unity of purpose, mutual love and support and forgiveness. And, as if that were not enough, it requires all the work of creating and keeping up a home and giving sustenance to body and soul. It is a tall order. Thus these monthly personal days of retreat into solitude and our annual long personal retreat of ten days are a necessity.

My day of retreat was chosen with a strategy in mind. It was to be a meditation on the eve of the anniversary of my first vows taken six years ago. The picture here of the angel's revelation to Mary and Denise Levertov's poems were used on the invitation and program for my solemn vows. Each speaks of total and free surrender to the will of God. As I walked about the landscape yesterday and meditated upon it as I looked out my bedroom window, I observed flora and fauna perfectly surrendered to God's will, bending in the wind without resistance, patiently waiting for God's sun to warm buds into opening without fear and trembling or pregnant deer basking in the sun awaiting their day of delivery.

We have much these days to disconcert us; trials and fears abound. But Mary's trust, her utter surrender -"Let it be done to me according to your word." - remind us of our recourse to the providence of God.

Among Redemptoristines, every 25th of the month is a celebration of the Incarnation, God taking on our human flesh. We will renew our vows as usual and celebrate Sr. Mary Jane's 30th anniversary of her vows, Sr. Moira's anniversary of entrance into the community twenty-one years ago, and my little six year mile marker. May we all celebrate with Mary a renewed surrender to total trust in Divine Providence.

The Avowal

As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
free fall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.

Denise Levertov
with permission of

New Direction Publishing

Lenten Contemplative Studies Series

The People's Office

That's what the documents of the Second Vatican Council tried to communicate to the faithful; that the Divine Office, now more commonly called the Liturgy of the Hours, was not the exclusive property of clerics, or even of religious but, as the official public prayer of the Church, it belongs to everyone.

These days that is being taken more and more to heart by many in the Church. Last evening, 18 earnest, faithful folks, ranging in age from early 20s to over 80, came to our monastery to be introduced to or to brush up on the Liturgy of the Hours. Their interest spurs us contemplative monastic nuns on in our own apostolate of prayer. And the group included seven men! That's over and third and it is hard to find such a ratio at most religious adult education.

Last night's presentation covered the theology of the Liturgy of the Hours, the trinitarian prayer of the Church to the Father, united with Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit. It is the prayer of the whole Church, sanctifying the hours of the day and fulling the priestly office of Jesus Christ in which we participate by virtue of our baptism.The seven sacraments, especially the Eucharist; the observance of the Liturgical year of the Church; and the Liturgy of the Hours comprise the official public worship of the Catholic Church.

Next week we will compare notes on using the Hours during this coming week - the trials, frustrations of using the book and, hopefully, the contribution made to our prayer lives. We will also cover the long history of the Liturgy of the Hours in our Chruch. The last week will also include more encouragement and how-to but also discussion of the Psalms as a particular prayer form.

If you would like to know more; if you would like to consider this time-honored prayer practice for yourself, here are some resources:

Church Documents
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Vatican Council II)
General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours

Books
The Divine Office for Dodos - Nugent, Catholic Book Pub.
The Origins of the Divine Office and Its Meaning for Today by Taft, Collegeville 1986

Internet Sources
The Holy See on the Internet for all documents http://www.vatican.va/
****Daily Instructions and whole offices for the Liturgy of Hours http://www.blogger.com/www.universalis.com