Easter Evening Prayer

                       John 20:19

When it was 
evening 
on that day,
 the first day 
of the week, 
& the doors 
of he house 
were closed
because of 
fear of 
the Jews, 
Jesus came 
and stood
among them 
and said 
        PEACE 
        TO 
        YOU 

Easter afternoon

                                      George H Niederauer, 

                                     Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco

When a Christian comes to the end of life, he or she will have left behind a trail of empty tombs, only the last of which will be the grave. 

Easter Day

                                                    Pope Francis’ Easter Vigil Homily  

Jesus 
does not 
simply 
return
 to life - 
he IS life.
He is the 
everlasting 
today 
of God. 

Easter mroning

                                                                    Easter Greeting 

          

          Alleluia! 

          Christ 

          is risen! 

           

You know you're living in a post-Chrsitian world when Caesar Chavez is featured on the Google homepage rather than Easter… But then as I consider it, he is a better exemplar of Easter than the Easter bunny,  eggs and candy which would be which is a lot of people's idea of the Resurrection.

         

early mroning

                  Mark 16:2-3

very early 
in the
morning 
on the first day of the week, after the sun had risen, they went to the tomb...
they saw that the stone, which was very large
                                   had already been rolled back

The Easter Vigil

                                             The Exsultet at the Great Vigil of Easter

This 

is the 

night when 

all 
who 
believe 
in Christ are delivered from the gloom of sin & are restored to grace & holiness of life. How wonderful &  beyond all 
telling is your mercy and 
loving-kindness that 
to redeem a slave, 
you gave a Son. 

Noon on Holy Saturday

                            From an ancient homily on the holy and great Sabbath 

Christ has gone in search of our first parent, as for a lost sheep...  He took him by the hand and raised him saying, “Awake 

O sleeper, and rise from the dead, Arise....  
I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell...  Rise up, let us 
leave this place... The kingdom of 
heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity. 

Holy Saturday morning

  Holy Saturday Antiphon on Canticle 14

Lord
remember 
me when 
you come 
into your 
kingdom. 

and then there was nothing left but grief

Friday evening

                                                         Matthew 27:57

...when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; 

then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 

3:00 in the afternoon

                                 Matthew 26:50 

Jesus 
cried 
aloud 
again 
with 
a 
loud 
voice 
and breathed his last.

The Crucifixion

                                                                      John 19:25

standing 

near 

the cross 

of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister,  

Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 

Excerpt from the Easter Message

                                                                           Katherine Jefferts Schori, 

                                                             Presiding Bishop  of the Episcopal Church 

God re-creates 
and redeems all life 
from dead, dry, and destroyed bones. 

We are released from the bonds of self-obsession, addiction, and whatever would steal away the radical freedom of God-with-us.  
Praise God 
who brings light out of darkness, life out of death, and newness out of the stale and moribund.

Good Friday morning

                                                                           Canticle 14 

Your 

merciful promise is beyond all measure; it surpasses all our minds can fathom.

Early Good Friday

Good Friday

                                                                                Isaiah 53:3

A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief 

Peter's betrayal

                                                               Matthew 26:74-75

Peter began to curse and he swore an oath, 
“I do not know 
the man.” 
At that moment 
the cock crowed. 
Then Peter 
remembered 
what Jesus 
had said:
“Before the 
cock crows, 
you will deny me
three times. 
And he went out and wept bitterly. 

Juda's betrayal

                                                                    Matthew 26:48-49 

The betrayer 
had given 
them a sign,
saying,  
"The one I 
will kiss 
is the man. 
Arrest him.”

Judas leaves

                                                                                                   John 13:27, 30
  After Judas received the piece of bread, Jesus said to him

”Do quickly what you are going to do” .... Judas went out.

                                                                            And it was night.

Institution of the Lord's Supper

After

supper

 he 

took 

the 

cup...

Maundy Thursday foot washing

                                                                       John 13:8

Peter said 

to him, “You will never wish my feet.: Jesus an-swered “Unless I wash you, 

you have no  share with me.”

While in the past Francis’ predecessors washed the feet of priests in the Basilica of St John Lateran -  the most important of the four major basilicas in Rome -- Francis chose to kneel down before young offenders at the Casal del Marmo Penitentiary Institute for Minors, a continuation of a tradition he began ias Archibishop of Argentina.

sThe group of 12 young people who had their feet washed and kissed by the pope included two young women - the first time a pope included females in the rite. Tanks you NBC News.

Maundy Thursday morning

                                             Psalm 102:11-12

My days 
pass away
like a shadow, 
and I wither 
like the grass. 
But you, 
O Lord, 
endure 
for ever, 
and 
your 
Name 
from 
age
to 
age. 

Tonight is the full moon after the spring equinox

   

                                         John 12:35

Walk 
while
you 
have 
the 
light 
so 
that 
darkness 
may not overtake you. 

Tonight is the full moon. According tot he Book of Common Prayer  Page 880 “Easter day is always the Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or before the spring equinox on 

March 21” 

Wednesday in Holy Week, before we plunge into Thre Great Days

                                                                           Collect of the day

Give 
us 
grace 
to
accept 
joyfully the sufferings of this present time, confident 
of the glory that shall be revealed

Tuesday heading toward evening

                                                                          Psalm 94:19

When 

many 

cares 

fill 

my 

mind, 

your consolations cheer my soul. 

Tuesday in Holy Week

                                 The PostComminion Prayer: Taize 

Dying 
and 
living 
he declared your love, gave us grace and opened the gate of glory. 

         O God, by the passion of your Blessed Son            you made an instrument of shameful death            to be for us the means of life...

                                           collect of the day 

Noon, Monday in Holy Week

                                      Thomas Traherne, d. 1674
                                         English poet, theologian and presbytyr

The Cross

is the abyss 

of 

wonders, the center 

of 

desires, the school of virtues, the house  of wisdom, the throne 

of 
love, the theatre of joy, the place of sorrows. It is

the root of happiness and the gate of heaven. 

The Feast of the Annunciation on the Monday in Holy Week

                                                         Antiphon on Psalm 85 for the feast 

Truth has sprung up 

from 

the earth, and righteousness has looked down from heaven. 

Technically, liturgically, correctly, any feast that comes during  Holy Week or Easter Week is celebrated After those 2 weeks and so the Annunciation is celebrated on April 8th...  Hence, if you are a purist you can look at this then... 

But this particular year it seems wonderful that today is Monday in Holy Week  AND the Annunciation  - new beginnings in the face of death, joy in the midst of grief, truth springing up from  the very earth.

This is actually verse 11 of Psalm 85 but here’s it’s in the past tense because it’s a done deal!. It blew me away when I read the antiphon - I have often wanted to use this verse as a meditation verse but it was never quite right.... Until now, when truth Has sprung up from the earth, righteousness Has looked down from heaven with the Annunciation! God never waits for our proper timing to accomplish things - "please wait til I do this and Then...." Nope, NOW it  the time.  

I have encountered this antiphon more than once, let’s just say, but it feels like today is the first time I noticed the change in tense! Such is the power of Scripture, "ever ancient, ever new" to steal from St Augustine. And Augustine always reminds me of Bill Mahedy who was fond of saying  that the joy of getting older is that you can hide your own Easter eggs! I Guess that’s good news...  And so, as we enter Holy Week and the very guts of the faith, we are back at the beginning again, reminded that it all begins with the desire of God and is  accomplished by our willing assent,  as it was that day  by Mary's "Yes." And the wold changed.  Happy Day! 

Palm Sunday

                                            Jeremiah 9:9

Rejoice
greatly...
         Lo, 
your king 
comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he; humble and riding on a donkey. 

First Vespers of Palm Sunday

                                                                     Antiphon on the Magnificat 

Glory 

to 
our 

King,

the 
Son 

of 
David, 

and 

Redeem-
er of

the 

world... 

Gregory the Illuminator, Bishop adn Missionary to Armenia, ca 332

The Venite 

The sea 

is his 

for he 

made it 

and his 

hands 
have 

molded 

the 

dry 

land

Friday

                                                                              Psalm 22:10

I have been en-trusted to you ever since 
I was born; you were my God when I was in my other’s womb.

Yesterday was St Cuthbert Bishop of Lindesfarne, 687

                                                                                       The Gospel of  John 10:27

My 
sheep 
hear
my 
voice. 
I know 
them 
and
they follow me. 

After the Viking invasions 

of the late 8th century 

the monks were forced 

to leave Lindesfarne. 

and they took his bones 

inland to o Durham 
where he is buried along 
with The Venerable Bede 

the first day of spring

                                                                  Absolution at The Daily Office 

      strengthen us in all goodness

Evening Prayer on The eve of Spring

                                                                                                  Psalm 34:14

Turn from 

evil 
& do good; seek peace & pursue it. 

The Feast of St Joseph, the worker, the doer, the foster father of Jesus and husband of Mary

                                                       Isaiah 63:7

I will recount the grac-ious deeds of the Lord, the praise-worthy acts of the Lord, because of all that the Lord has done for us, and the great 
favor to the house of Israel that
he has show... according to his
mercy & his steadfast love. 

St Cyril of Jerusalem, d.386

Roman’s 9:21

will what 

is mold-ed 

say 

to 

the 

one 

who molds it, 

“Why have you made me 

like this?”
Has the potter no right over the clay? 

“it is likely that Cyril organized the devotions and instituted the observances of Palm Sunday and Holy week ... As Christians returned home form Rome, they took with them to liturgies of Holy Week and  (their) observance spread through the Church.” Lutheran New Book of Festivals... 

The Fifth Sunday in Lent

                                                                           Collect of the day     

Grant that among the swift and varied chan-ges 
of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found