Table of Contents

July 13-15
and
August 17-19
Call or Text
Fr. Anthony
978-877-3694

or Email
abbeyvocation@aol.com

O vos omnes
qui transitis per viam,
attendite, et videte,
si est dolor similis
sicut dolor meus.
Attendite, universi populi,
et videte dolorem meum,
si est dolor similis
sicut dolor meus.

"O all you
who pass by the way,
pay heed, and see,
if there is any sorrow
like my sorrow.
Pay heed, all ye people,
and see my sorrow,
if there is any sorrow
like unto my sorrow.

Jesus speaking to Adam
in a Sermon from the Fathers for Holy Saturday

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;

On Holy Thursday, we celebrate the Feast of the Lord's Supper. Joyous bells fill the chapel during the Gloria as we recall the First Mass, the Institution of the Eucharist and the Institution of Holy Orders.

The joy of the first Eucharist eventually gives way to the sadness of Judas' betrayal and the Passion and Death of Jesus. The tabernacle is empty and our Sacramental Lord is "hidden" in the Altar of Repose where we all keep vigil.

On Good Friday, we recall the agonizing hours Jesus spent nailed to the cross for our sins and for our redemption. The monks chant the entire story of the Passion according to the Gospel of Saint John. The choir and all the people respond in strident tones, representing the crowd. "Crucifige, crucifige - crucify Him, crucify Him." The liturgical "mood" remains somber but there is a faint hint of hope as we kneel and venerate the cross as the instrument of our salvation then raise the cross to its place of honor above the altar.

Ecce lignum crucis,
in quo salus mundi pependit.
Venite adoremus!

The monks begin the Office of Tenebrae around 2 a.m. Tenebrae is the Latin for "darkness" or "shadows." It is long and arduous - not ending until about 4:15 a.m. We are always amazed every year to see how many guests come to pray with us. We sort of stumble downstairs to the chapel only to find devout men and women of all ages who have come from sometimes over a half hour away to pray.

The prayer is a combination of Psalms, Lessons, and Responsories. The themes woven through the prayer include the dark sadness that fell over Our Lord, partly due to his physical sufferings, partly due to feeling abandoned by those He loves. You also hear the constant call to repentance and conversion. Particularly memorable to hear is the plaintive chant at the close of the Lamentations, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum." Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return (be converted) to the Lord, your God."

A large candelabra is placed in the middle of the sanctuary and as each psalm is completed, another candle is extinguished. By the final prayer, only one candle remains lit, representing Our Lady, who never lost faith, who never abandoned her Divine Son. After the final prayer, the chapel is totally dark.

However, at 4 a.m. on Holy Saturday morning, the Church closes out her prayer with a note of hope as all the monks chant the beautiful soaring Gregorian melody which accompanies the words of Saint Paul to the Phillippians, "Christus factus est pro nobis obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis. Propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum et dedit illi nomen, quod est super omne nomen."
"Christ became obedient for us unto death, even to the death of the cross. For which cause God also exalted Him and hath given Him a Name which is above every other name."

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