Holy Saturday

This picture sums up the past three days in the monastery.

What a powerful expression of the reality of the Eucharist.
With out the Crucifixion we can't experience Christ in the Eucharist,
 thus the empty tabernacle supporting the Crucifix.

Good Friday Tenebrae 2013

Good Friday

This is the prayer service that we use during the tenebrae on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, at  St. Emma Monastery. The one following is for Good Friday.

We use the triangle with 15 candles 14 brown and 1 white. The candles are extinguished after each of the psalms until the the only one remaining is the Christ candle which is taken away during the Christus factus est that is sung at the end of the tenebrae, it is brought back in we have the concluding prayer, and then leave in silence.

 We start with Vigils:

 Then we start Lauds right after Vigils

Tenebrae background

I will be posting our Monastic Divine Office Liturgy.

~Wikipedia

In the Roman Catholic Church, Tenebrae is the name given to the celebration, with special ceremonies, of Matins and Lauds, the first two hours of the Divine Office, of the last three days of Holy Week. Originally celebrated after midnight, by the late Middle Ages their celebration was anticipated on the afternoon or evening of the preceding day in most places.[1]

The structure of Tenebrae is the same for all three days. The first part of the service is Matins, which in its pre-1970 form is composed of three nocturns, each consisting of three psalms, a short versicle and response, a silent Pater Noster, and three readings, each followed by a responsory. Pre-1970 Lauds consists of five psalms, a short versicle and response, and the Benedictus Gospel canticle, followed by Christus factus est, a silent Pater Noster, a devotional recitation of Psalm 50 (51), Miserere, and the appointed collect.

The principal Tenebrae ceremony is the gradual extinguishing of candles upon a stand in the sanctuary called a hearse.[2] Eventually the Roman Rite settled on fifteen candles, one of which is extinguished after each of the nine psalms of Matins and the five of Lauds, gradually reducing the lighting throughout the service. The six altar candles are put out during the Benedictus, and then any remaining lights in the church. The last candle is hidden beneath the altar, ending the service in total darkness. The strepitus (Latin for "great noise"), made by slamming a book shut, banging a hymnal or breviary against the pew, or stomping on the floor, symbolizes the earthquake that followed Christ's death, although it may have originated as a simple signal to depart.[3] Following the great noise, the candle which had been hidden from view is returned to the top of the hearse, signifying the return of Christ to the world with the Resurrection, and all depart in silence.

Wednesday of Holy Week, 2013

Holy Wednesday also known as Spy Wednesday

How much is Christ an investment in our lives.......

Not for our own personal gain such as 
Judas, only to later regret his actions...

The more this investment is used and spent
 on others the larger it grows.... 

Tuesday of Holy Week 2013

Last Supper Shrine St. Emma Monastery



It is a little cold out so bring your coats and blankets to the Feast of the Last Supper.
Join me in this wonderful expression of my love for you.

~Jesus

Palm Sunday 1st Vespers 2013

Palm Sunday 

PSALM 144 B

All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord,

and your friends shall repeat their blessing.

They shall speak of the glory of your reign

and declare your might, O God,

To make known to men your mighty deeds

and the glorious splendor of your reign.

Your is an everlasting kingdom;

your rule lasts from age to age.

The Lord is faithful in all his words

and loving in all his deeds.

The Lord supports all who fall

and raises all who are bowed down.

The eyes of all creatures look to you

and you give them their food in due time.

You open wide your hand,

grant the desires of all who live.

The Lord is just in all his ways

and loving in all his deeds.

He is close to all who call him,

who call on him from their hearts.

He grants the desires of those who fear him,

he hears their cry and saves them.

The Lord protects all who love him;

but the wicked he will utterly destroy.

Let me speak the praise of the Lord, /

let all mankind bless his holy name

forever, for ages unending.

TO the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit

give praise forever. Amen.

PSALM 145

My soul, give praise to the Lord; /

I will praise the Lord all my days,

make music to my God while I live.

Put no trust in princes,

in mortal men in whom there is no help.

Take their breath, they return to clay

and their plans that day come to nothing.

He is happy who is helped by Jacob’s God,

whose hope is in the Lord his God,

Who alone made heaven and earth,

the seas and all they contain.

It is he who keeps faith forever,

who is just to those who are oppressed.

It is he who gives bread to the hungry,

the Lord, who sets prisoners free,

The Lord who gives sight to the blind,

who raises up those who are bowed down,

The Lord, who protects the stranger

and upholds the widow and orphan.

It is the Lord who loves the just

but thwarts the path of the wicked.

The Lord will reign forever,

Zion’s God, from age to age.

GIVE praise to the Father Almighty,

to his Son, Jesus Christ the Lord,

TO the Spirit who dwells in our hearts,

both now and forever. Amen.

PSALM 146

Praise the Lord, for he is good; /

sing to our God, for he is loving:

to him our praise is due.

The Lord builds up Jerusalem

and brings back Israel’s exiles,

He heals the broken-hearted,

and binds up all their wounds.

He fixes the number of the stars;

he calls each one by its name.

Our Lord is great and almighty;

his wisdom can never be measured.

The Lord raises the lowly;

he humbles the wicked to the dust.

O sing to the Lord, giving thanks;

sing psalms to our God with the harp.

He covers the heavens with clouds;

he prepares the rain for the earth,

Making mountains sprout with grass

and with plants to serve man’s needs.

He provides the beasts with their food

and young ravens that call upon him.

His delight is not in horses,

nor his pleasure in warrior’s strength.

The Lord delights in those who revere him,

in those who wait for his love.

GIVE praise to the Father Almighty,

to his Son, Jesus Christ the Lord,

TO the Spirit who dwells in our hearts,

both now and forever. Amen.

PSALM 147

O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!

Zion, praise your God!

He has strengthened the bars of your gates,

he has blessed the children within you.

He established peace on your borders,

he feeds you with finest wheat.

He sends out his word to the earth,

and swiftly runs his command.

He showers down snow white as wool,

he scatters hoar-frost like ashes.

He hurls down hailstones like crumbs.

The waters are frozen at his touch;

He sends forth his word and it melts them:

at the breath of his mouth the waters flow.

He makes his word known to Jacob,

to Israel his laws and decrees.

He has not dealt thus with other nations;

he has not taught them his decrees.

GIVE praise to the Father Almighty,

to his Son, Jesus Christ the Lord,

TO the Spirit who dwells in our hearts,

both now and forever. Amen.

READING 1 Peter 1:18-21

Realize that you were delivered from the futile way of life your fathers handed on to you, not by any diminishable sum of silver or gold, but by Christ’s blood beyond all price: the blood of a spotless, unblemished lamb chosen before the world’s foundation and revealed for your sake in these last days. It is through him that you are believers in God, the God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory. Your faith and hope, then, are centered in God.

CANTICLE OF MARY

Luke 1:46-55

The soul rejoices in the Lord

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning, is now,

and will be for ever. Amen.

INTERCESSIONS

Before his passion, Christ looked out over Jerusalem and wept for it, because it had not recognized the hour of God’s visitation. With sorrow for our sins, let us adore him, and say:

– Lord, have mercy on your people.

You longed to gather to yourself the people of Jerusalem, as the hen gathers her young,

teach all peoples to recognize the hour of your visitation.

– Lord, have mercy on your people.

Do not forsake those who have forsaken you,

turn our hearts to you, and we will return to you, our God.

– Lord, have mercy on your people.

Through your passion you gave grace to the world,

help us to live always by your Spirit, given to us in baptism.

– Lord, have mercy on your people.

By your passion, help us to deny ourselves,

and so prepare to celebrate your resurrection.

– Lord, have mercy on your people.

You reign in the glory of the Father, remember those who have died today.

– Lord, have mercy on your people.

Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth,

as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Concluding Prayer

Almighty ever-living God,

who as an example of humility

for the human race to follow,

caused our savior to take flesh

and submit to the Cross,

graciously grant that

we may head his lesson of patient suffering

and so merit a share in his Resurrection.

Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

– Amen.