Raw Material for Discernment

 I continue to go through the Ignatian Lenten Retreat that I shared about in my previous post below. If nothing else, you might like to check out Week Two of the retreat that serves as an excellent foundation for the Examen. Here is the link: Week Two.

My retreat reflection this morning included this quote, which was a good reminder for me today.

Ignatius’s Great Discovery
The point has often been made that the Christian Gospel is a story of strength and triumph arising from weakness and defeat. The Savior is a poor man in a provincial, backwater land. Salvation comes about through suffering and death. In the words of Mary’s Magnificat prayer: “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”

We’re afflicted with divided hearts that cause us to be burdened by angst, uncertainty, and fear when making important decisions. But this very confusion of thoughts and feelings is the place where we find God’s footprints. It’s the raw material for discernment.

This was Ignatius’s great discovery.

— J. Michael Sparough, SJ; Jim Manney; Tim Hipskind, SJ,
What’s Your Decision?

Examination of Conscience – A Prayer Practice for Lent

This Lent I am going through an adapted version of the Spiritual Exercises, called “An Ignatian Prayer Adventure.” I just completed Week One and I recommend this eight-week retreat for prayer and reflection. It also serves as an excellent introduction to Ignatian spirituality. You can check it out by clicking: HERE.

Alongside this retreat, I am using a prayer book I recently purchased, Hearts on Fire: Praying with the Jesuits. I am discovering lots of new prayers and practices that compliment and speak into my formation at this time. The book includes a prayer practice appropriate for Lent called, “Examination of Conscience” based on the examen that Ignatius included in the Spiritual Exercises and urged his friends to do daily. I plan to utilize this practice during Lent and I thought I would pass it on for those who want to check it out. I have posted it on my other blog, “Quotations & Stuff.”

You can find it by clicking here:
Examination of Conscience

Lent 2012

If you haven't noticed, I have been a bit MIA on my blog recently. I'll be back soon! I have not posted my annual Lent resources and reflections. I hope to share some fresh Lent posts soon, but, in the meantime, you can check out my previous posts on Lent from years past by clicking....HERE.

Many of the links and resources remain the same.

Until soon!!

Passion Week Reflection & Invitation

 "Imitating Jesus: A Posture of Love and Service"

I have been reflecting on Jesus' example of washing feet, as I prepare for Passion Week. My reflections were spurred on by the painting, "The Washing of Feet" by Sieger Koder. (You can check out the painting here: http://www.pauline-uk.org/productgroup2.asp?id=1937)

My reflections are now posted on This Ignatian Life blog, "Imitating Jesus: A Posture of Love and Service."

Here is the link: http://ignatianlife.org/imitating-jesus-a-posture-of-love-and-service/

In Love for Me

This is my body, broken for you,

bringing you wholeness, making you free.

Take it and eat it, and when you do,

Do it in love for me.

This is my blood poured out for you,

bringing forgiveness, making you free.

Take it and drink it, and when you do,

do it in love for me.

Back to my Father soon I will go.

Do not forget me; then you will see

I am still with you, and you will know

you’re very close to me.

Filled with my Spirit, how you will grow!

You are my branches; I am the tree.

If you are faithful, others will know

you are alive in me.

Love one another – I have loved you,

and I have shown you how to be free;

serve one another, and when you do,

do it in love for me.

Vv. 1-2 Jimmy Owens

Vv. 3-5 Damian Lundy, based on John 14-16

Taken from: In Celebration of Love - The Washing of the Feet (The Art and Inspiration of Sieger Koder), Pauline Books & Media, 1997.

Fasting & Feasting

I just received the below reflection in an email, which seems appropriate as we enter Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent.

Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ dwelling in them.

Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of life.

Fast from apparent darkness; feast on the reality of light.

Fast from thoughts of illness; feast on the healing power of God.

Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.

Fast from anger; feast on patience.

Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.

Fast from worry; feast on divine order.

Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.

Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.

Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.

Fast from hostility; feast on non-resistance.

Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.

Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.

Fast from discouragements; feast on hope.

Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm.

Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.

Fast from shadows of sorrow; feast on the sunlight of serenity.

Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence.

Fast from problems that overwhelm; feast on prayer that sustains.

~ William Arthur Ward

Some additional recent Lent posts (click on the title):

Lent – A Season of Solidarity by Walter Forcatto

Autumn & Lent

Prayers for Lent

Lent Online Resources & Links

Some Prayers for Lent

This church liturgical year I continue to go through daily reflections in the book, Blessing of the Daily: A Monastic Book of Days by Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourrette. One of the first Lent reflections shares a Lenten prayer by Saint Ephrem of Syria that dates back to the fourth century. This prayer encompasses the spirit of Lent. It is prayed daily by many in the Eastern Church tradition and is often accompanied with a posture of deep bodily prostration and repentance. I thought I would share the prayer in preparation for Ash Wednesday and Lent.

O Lord of my life, take away from me the spirit of laziness, faint-heartedness, lust for power and idle talk. Instead grant me, your servant, the spirit of purity, humility, patience and love. Yes, O Lord and King! Grant me to see my own sins and faults and not to judge my neighbor, for you are truly blessed forever. Amen.

~ Saint Ephrem of Syria (4th-Century)

Here are some additional Lenten prayers I have posted on the Prayer and Creeds blog over the past few years. To see the prayer, just click on the title of the prayer.

Litany of Penance for Ash Wednesday

Taken from The Book of Common Prayer

Prayer for the First Week of Lent

By Christine Sine

Lenten Prayer – Give Me Grace to Amend My Life

By Thomas More

Prayer for Lent: Saint Anselm

Lenten Prayer from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Lenten Prayer for Freedom

Taken from “A Litany for the Brokenness of Hunger,” by Christine Sine

Autumn & Lent

Lent begins in just one week. I continue to contribute regular reflections to This Ignatian Life blog (http://ignatianlife.org/). As Lent spans the end of summer and beginning of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, I reflected on "Autumn and Lent" in my most recent blog post. For those of you who follow my blog or receive my prayer letters some of this may sound familiar.

You can read my reflection here:

http://ignatianlife.org/autumnandlent/

Lent Is Coming...March 9

Lent begins in just two weeks on Ash Wednesday, March 9, 2011. I am beginning to prepare and consider how I will focus my Lenten season this year.

This year I am going through the book, The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister. She introduces and reflects on the primary seasons and celebrations of the church calendar. For starters, here are some words she shares about Lent.

“Lent is a call to renew a commitment grown dull, perhaps, by a life more marked by routine than by reflection…Lent is not a ritual. It is time given to think seriously about who Jesus is for us, to renew our faith from the inside out. It is the moment when, as the baptismal waters flow on every Easter Vigil alter, we return to the baptismal font of the heart to say yes once more to the call of Jesus to the disciples, ‘Come and see’ (John 1:39). It is the act of beginning our spiritual life all over again refreshed and reoriented.” (p. 111)

Below is my annual list of Lenten resources and links. Please share any additional resources you have in comments. I’d love to expand my list.

CRI Voice: Introduction to Lent

The Season of Lent by Dennis Bratcher

(Includes other Lent and Holy Week readings and links.)

http://www.cresourcei.org/cylent.html

Godspace Blog by Christine Sine

(2011 Lenten blog series: “Following Jesus – What Difference Does It Make?” I imagine Christine Sine will include other Lent reflections and links along the way.)

http://godspace.wordpress.com/

Revised Common Lectionary

Sunday Readings for Lent

http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/lections.php?year=A&season=Lent

Lent & Beyond

An Anglican Prayer Blog

http://anglicanprayer.wordpress.com/

Praying Lent

Online Ministries of Creighton University

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Lent/

Ignatian Lent Resources

http://ignatianspirituality.com/lent/

Sacred Space Lent Retreat & Resources

http://www.sacredspace.ie/lent/

Modern Sacred Family

http://www.modernsacredfamily.com/category/lent/

Autumn and Lent

Here's a sneak peak at my March prayer letter. I share some reflections about Lent in the Southern Hemisphere that I posted last year on my blog. Not quite yet autumn here in Buenos Aires, but the temps are cooling down a little.

“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him." ~Romans 6:8

March 2010

Dear Family & Friends,

March 14 will mark two years here in Buenos Aires! I plan to take a personal retreat that weekend to reflect and give thanks for all God has done! I also give thanks for all my family and friends who have supported me in so many meaningful ways these past two years. My anniversary date happens to also fall during the season of Lent. Here in the Southern Hemisphere, the 40-days of Lent span the closing weeks of summer and the beginning days of autumn.

Last year, while away on my one-year anniversary retreat, I made some helpful parallels between autumn and Lent. I went on a boat ride through the local rivers near the city. Being the last weekend of summer, life along the riverbanks was still green and plush. However, I observed one lone tree that jumped the gun a bit in showing off its autumn colors. There in the mist of all the other green trees, this one colorful tree reminded me that autumn was around the corner.

In his book Let Your Life Speak, Parker Palmer reflects on the seasons of life. On autumn he writes, “In my own experience of autumn, I am rarely aware of the seeds being planted. Instead, my mind is on the face that the green growth of summer is browning and beginning to die. My delight in the autumn colors is always tinged with melancholy, a sense of impending loss that is only heightened by the beauty all around. I am drawn down by the prospect of death more than I am lifted up by the hope of new life”

Palmer goes on to conclude, “Autumn constantly reminds me that my daily dyings are necessary precursors to new life. If I try to ‘make’ a life that defies the diminishments of autumn, the life I end up with will be artificial, at best, and utterly colorless as well. But when I yield to the endless interplay of living and dying, dying and living, the life I am given will be real and colorful, fruitful and whole.”

I am learning that Lent is a season to die to the self that does not reflect the characteristics true to God’s image and Kingdom. It is a time to confront our false self. It is a time to put to death identity, value, meaning, and purpose that are inconsistent with being created in the image of God for His purposes. I understand one purpose of the disciplines of Lent is to put to death those parts of our lives that prevent us from living more fully into God’s resurrection Kingdom.

Very soon, the abundance of trees lining the streets and filling the parks and plazas of Buenos Aires will once again turn yellow and gold. These remaining weeks of Lent, I pray that these increasing autumn colors will serve as a daily reminder of the areas of my life that I need to die to, so that I can more fully live the resurrection. As Palmer reminds us, these daily dyings are necessary precursors to new life, more fruitful and whole.

With Love & Gratitude, david

New..."Lent 2010" Sidebar Links

I just added "Lent 2010" on the top of my blog sidebar. There is an abundance of resources, reflections, and prayers out there.

Saint Benedict & Lent

This is a blog replay from 2008. As preparing for Lent this year, I find these themes from Saint Benedict helpful in posturing my heart and life for the season. I decided to go ahead and share it again.

The book, A Monastic Year: Reflections from a Monastery by Brother Victor-Antoine D’Avila-Latourrette, reflects on the seasons of the church year as lived out in the monastery. This particular monastery lives under the Rule of St. Benedict. The reflections on Lent begin by quoting St. Benedict, “the life of a monk ought always to have the character of a Lenten observance.” For St. Benedict, Lent was the model for the monastic life of those striving to live under the Rule.

St. Benedict proposes the following Lenten practices in the Rule. Perhaps these timeless Lenten principles from St. Benedict’s Rule can help us rediscover fresh and renewed meaning and experience in Lent.

1) Refraining from sin.

“Lent should be a time for us, to do battle, a time to fight not only the great temptations but, perhaps more importantly, our subtle faults, the seemingly small habitual sins we consent to every day….Lent is a propitious time to take inventory and a close look at our bare selves, to see the obstacles on out journey to God, things which should be eliminated from our lives.”

2) Prayer with tears.

The parable of the Pharisee and the publican is Luke 18:9-14 is significant to consider. “Jesus teaches that the Pharisees prayer, filled with arrogance and pride, is not pleasing to God. In contrast, the humble prayer of the publican, a tax collector, who recognizes his sinfulness and makes appeal to God’s mercy with inner tears, is the kind that touches the heart of God….Our Lenten prayer, like the publican’s, ought to then be a humble and tearful prayer of compunction, a prayer of simplicity and trust, not in ourselves, but in the loving-kindness and tenderness of our God.”

3) Holy reading.

We “should develop a continual hunger, almost an addiction, for the Word of God, for through the Scriptures the Holy Spirit never ceases to speak and educate us…Lent is this wonderful, particularly well-suited time for reading and listening to the voice of God in his Word.”

4) Repentance.

“At the threshold of Lent, when placing the ashes on our foreheads, the priest repeats the Gospel words, ‘Repent and believe in the Gospel’ (Mark 1:15)….Repentance, the work of the Holy Spirit in the innermost part of our hearts, implies a long sustained spiritual effort. It is true that conversion and repentance are lifelong tasks, but Lent provides us with an exclusive period to work on it intensely. Lent is indeed a “school of repentance.”

5) Abstinence from food.

“Christ used fasting, and encouraged his followers to practice fasting, as a way of learning the self-control and personal restraint we need to keep a humble and wise perspective on our Christian life….The process can be painful and wearying, but when carried out under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it becomes life-giving and a source of powerful grace in our individual lives.”

Lent begins in just one week....

Lent begins just one week from today on Ash Wednesday, 2/17. Last week I compiled some information on Lent for our community here in Buenos Aires, including some helpful quotes from Christine Sine on her GodSpace blog, basic facts, and some website resources. I posted it below. If you have followed my blog in years past, a lot of this will look familiar.

Our community plans to focus on Word Made Flesh's nine Lifestyle Celebrations during Lent. We will make space to reflect and examine our lives in light of these Lifestyle Celebrations. And ask ourselves, "What do we need to die to in order to live more fully into each Lifestyle Celebration?"

What Is Lent Anyway?

“Lent is a time for 'confrontation with the false self' (Thomas Keating) when we reflect on the responses and behaviors we exhibit that are least Christ like and seek God’s help in rededicating ourselves to God and God’s purposes. This is a time for self-denial and fasting when we give up some of the comforts of our lives in order to make ourselves more available to God.”

~ Christine Sine, GodSpace Blog (January 16, 2009)

http://godspace.wordpress.com/2009/01/16/what-is-lent-anyway/

What Is Lent Preparing Us For?

“Lent is primarily about preparing us to live in the world that Christ’s resurrection brought into being - the kingdom of God world - what I like to call God’s resurrection created world. It is about preparing us to follow the one who 'transfigured the world with the Spirit of life.'”

~ Christine Sine, GodSpace Blog (February 26, 2009) http://godspace.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/what-is-lent-preparing-us-for/

• Lent is the forty-day period before Easter, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends during Holy Week with Maundy Thursday. Since Sundays celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, they are not included in the 40-days of Lent.

• Lent originated in the 4th-century with parallels to Jesus’ 40-days in the desert as a time of preparation for baptism at the Easter Vigil. It was a time of preparation for the entire Faith community.

• Today this period of Lent is a time of prayer and preparation for Easter, which most often includes elements of introspection, self-examination, and repentance.

Website Resources:

CRI Voice: Introduction to Lent

The Season of Lent by Dennis Bratcher

(Includes other Lent and Holy Week readings and links.)

http://www.cresourcei.org/cylent.html

Godspace Blog by Christine Sine

(2010 Lenten blog series: “Walking to the Cross: Why Don’t We Follow?” Also includes other Lent reflections and links.)

http://godspace.wordpress.com/

A Journey into Wholeness Lenten Series by Christine Sine

(This guide was created by Christine Sine in 2009.)

http://msainfo.org/articles/a-journey-into-wholeness-lenten-reflection-guide

Upper Room: Lent 101

http://www.upperroom.org/methodx/thelife/articles/lent101.asp

A Good Friday Prayer

A Litany for Good Friday

Jesus Christ, Savior of our world,
Redeemer of all creation,
The bringer of health and wholeness,
We bless and praise your name.
You died for us and hung upon a cross,
Your blood was shed and your body broken,
So that we might be set free,
We bless and praise your name.

Have mercy on us,
Son of the living God,
Healer of lepers, feeder of the hungry,
Releaser of the oppressed, bringer of wholeness,
Christ crucified, Eternal God
Have mercy on us.

Help us to lay down our own lives daily,
And consciously take on Christ’s life,
May we consider the needs of others as more important than our own,
Teach us, Lord, to live the life of the cross.
Enable us to live a life of service and not of selfish ambition,
Empower us to reach out with compassion and care,
May we identify with the poor, the marginalized, and the vulnerable,
Teach us, Lord, to live the life of the cross.
Encourage us to extend ourselves in serving and loving,
Being willing to walk the extra mile,
May we reach out to all those who suffer and are in pain.
Teach us, Lord, to live the life of the cross.
Forgive us for when we discard Christ’s life,
And so quickly reach for our own ways again,
For it is in dying to ourselves that we find life and enter the ways of your kingdom.
Teach us, Lord, to live the life of the cross.

Excerpt from “Litany for Good Friday”
Taken from A Journey Into Wholeness (Lenten Guide 2009)
By Christine Sine
http://msainfo.org/articles/a-journey-into-wholeness-lenten-reflection-guide

Prayer for Palm Sunday

Assist me mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our salvation, that I may enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

From The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle. For Divine Hour liturgies this Holy Week, click here.

I am also following the Passion Week via Twitter. While I usually avoid Twitter because it it just too much real time information, this week I will follow the events of Jesus' final week via the @passionweek account created by John Chandler. The Twitter account will give brief real time glimpes of what Jesus experienced at the estimated time he would of experienced it. You can read more about it by clicking here.

You can check out the Passion Week Twitter here @passionweek.

One Year!

Just a quick post on this year anniversary of my arrival in Buenos Aires (March 14)! I am enjoying a weekend retreat getaway in a riverside town just outside the city, called Tigre (about two hours away by bus & train). I found a B & B right on the river and I am looking forward to a couple “tranquilo” days of rest, reflection, and retreat.

Today is the last Saturday of summer here. And it is giving us one last summer blast of heat. One news headline read, "La Ciudad es un Horno" (The City Is an Oven). Tomorrow the temps drop about 10 degrees celsius. Our clocks also "fall back" tonight. So, the time difference from California is now back to 4-hours.

I continue to seek ways posture my heart during this season of Lent. I recently found a very helpful reflection from Christine Sine, “What Lent Is preparing Us For? You can check out the entire reflection on her blog - click here. But, here is the essence of what she says...

“First I want to emphasize that Lent is not about preparation for the celebration of Stations of the Cross much as I enjoy participating in that experience. Nor is it even primarily a preparation for the celebration of the resurrection of Christ, even though this is the pivotal celebration of our faith.

“Lent is primarily about preparing us to live in the world that Christ’s resurrection brought into being - the kingdom of God world - what I like to call God’s resurrection created world. It is about preparing us to follow the one who “transfigured the world with the Spirit of life.”

This provides a helpful and important shift in understanding the purpose of Lent. Our intentional focus and disciplines during Lent are to clear away the clutter that keeps us from living more fully into God’s Kingdom in this world. Sine goes on to say, “The disciplines that we establish during this season are for that purpose. They are intended to break down the barriers that inhibit us from dwelling fully in this world. It is intended as a time to put to death those parts of our lives that are not centered on God and God’s purposes.”

spanish, lent, & one year in buenos aires

I am wrapping up my intensive Spanish course tomorrow with the oral exam. Friday was the written exam. Overall, this past month of daily Spanish class and study has been just what I needed. On some days I left class feeling encouraged and hopeful, while other days I left discouraged and frustrated. I will continue to press on and meet with a tutor three times a week.

Next weekend marks one year in Buenos Aires! I arrived March 14. I just made a reservation to get away for a couple days of personal retreat next weekend to a riverbank town outside the city called Tigre. Tigre lies on the river, Paraná Delta. I visited there three years ago when I visited the Forcattos during my around the world trip. It should be a tranquilo space to rest, reflect, and celebrate my first year here.

Every Friday our community is praying the Lenten liturgies created by Christine Sine in her Lenten Guide. I continue to contribute every Friday to the Prayers & Creeds blog (www.prayersandcreeds.wordpress.com) This week I posted an excerpt from this week’s liturgy (“A Litany for the Brokenness of Hunger”), but thought I would also share it here.

God, you have set us free
Not free to do what we please
But free to love you with our whole heart gladly
Free to love our neighbors as we do ourselves.
God, we need to know your freedom
Free us from our selfishness
Free us from our indifference to the plight of the poor
Free us to love and serve you with all our being.
God, we want to live in your freedom
Free us to show compassion to all who are cast by the wayside
Free us to share generously so that others will not hunger or lack provision
Free us to live in love and mutual care.
God, you call us to freedom
Freedom to love you with our hearts and souls and minds
Freedom to love our neighbors as ourselves
God, may we enter the freedom of your kingdom today.

Pause to offer up your own prayers for those who face hunger around the world

Let God’s compassion bloom in us
Let God’s righteousness bear fruit
Let God’s generosity be harvested
May God’s life be born afresh in us
May God’s light shine in hidden places
May God’s love take root and grow
Amen

Excerpt from “A Litany for the Brokenness of Hunger”
Taken from A Journey Into Wholeness (Lenten Guide 2009) by Christine Sine
http://msainfo.org/articles/a-journey-into-wholeness-lenten-reflection-guide

Ash Wednesday

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Lent is the 40-day period plus six-Sundays leading up to Easter. This year I am looking forward to using two resources to be my guide through Lent. I will be praying with the church using a The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle (Eastertide: Prayers for Lent through Easter from the Divine Hours). This prayer book includes both Morning and Evening Offices. Many of the scripture readings and prayers are taken from the Book of Common Prayer, as well as other ancient prayer books and hymns. Here is one church’s web site that posts The Divine Hours offices throughout the day: www.annarborvineyard.org/tdh/tdh.cfm

I will also be journeying through Christine Sine’s 2009 Lenten Guide, A Journey Into Wholeness. Our community here in Buenos Aires plans to make space each week to observe the liturgies that Sine has written and shared in the Guide for each week of Lent. The GodSpace blog is a great place to visit if you are looking for other resources for Lent this year. GodSpace will also include a “syncroblog” which will link many Lent reflections and meditations from other blog writers. In addition GodSpace includes some meaningful liturgy videos for Lent. Check it out: www.godspace.wordpress.com

I will close with the prayer for Ash Wednesday from The Divine Hours (taken from the BCP)…

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wickedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

not too early to prepare for lent...

The season of Lent begins in just about two weeks on Ash Wednesday, February 25. If you are considering ways to observe and journey through Lent this year, Christine Sine has written a super helpful Lenten Reflection Guide that is posted on Mustard Seed Associates website for download. It focuses on different themes of brokenness for each of the five weeks of Lent and includes reflections, litanies, and suggested activities for each week.

To check it out, click here....
A Journey Into Wholeness: Lenten Reflection Guide

She also plans to follow up the Lenten Guide with a similar guide for the celebration of Easter and the resurrection, leading up to Penetcost Sunday in May. Good stuff!

Christ the Lord Is Risen Today

Cristo ha resucitado! En verdad, esta resucitado!

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where's thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

King of glory, soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!
~ John Wesley

Holy Saturday

I continue to find reflection this church year with a book that follows the seasons and traditions of one Benedictine monastery. The section on Easter details worship during Holy Week. I especially found the following quote on Holy Saturday helpful and meaningful.

“Holy Saturday follows, called ‘the most blessed Sabbath on which Christ sleeps,’ by the Liturgy. I am particularly fond of Holy Saturday. In a way, it is even quieter than Good Friday, since no liturgy is celebrated, but we share both in the sorrow of the Passion and burial of Jesus and in the anticipated joy of the Resurrection. An Eastern Byzantine text poignantly conveys the mystery of Holy Saturday:

'O happy tomb! You received within yourself
the Creator and the Author of life.
O strange wonder! He who dwells on high
is sealed beneath the earth with his own consent.'

The stillness, the deep silence, and the peace we experience on Holy Saturday, keeping watch by the tomb of Christ, is perhaps the best preparation for the explosive, all-powerful joy of the Resurrection. Very often in life, we are likewise led through loss and sorrow to a new phase of peace and understanding that ultimately culminates in deep joy.”
(Monastic Year: Reflections from a Monastery, Brother Victor-Antoine D’Avila-Latourrette)