NIGHT PRAYER: Saturday 4/4

The Easter Vigil opens with a Service of Light which features the Exsultet, a 1200 year old hymn of praise in honor of the Paschal Candle (the Light of Christ in our midst). Back in 1984 I combined the text of the Exsultet (a lengthy chant sung by a solo voice) with the music of Marty Haugen's The Light of Christ to give the assembly of worshipers a sung role in this Easter proclamation. I hope this will give your Easter celebration a joyful beginning!  Following the video and the text, you'll find this day's Night Prayer.   (If a video doesn't appear below, click here!) 

 

 

 

            The light of Christ surrounds us;

            the love of Christ enfolds us;

            the pow'r of Christ protects us;

            the presence of Christ watches over us.

 

            All the earth is ablaze

            with the glory of God,

            for the light has come

            to burn away the darkness.

 

            The light of Christ surrounds us…

 

            Let us fill every space

            with the sound of our joy,

            praising Christ who is living now among us.

 

            The light of Christ surrounds us…

 

            Rejoice, all you heavenly choirs of angels!

 

            Rejoice, all creation around God's throne -

            for our mighty God is victorious!

 

            Rejoice, O earth -                

            you are made radiant by such splendor!

 

            Darkness everywhere has been overcome

            by the brightness of our everlasting God!

 

            Rejoice, O Holy Mother Church -

            you are made radiant by so great a light!

 

            Let this place ring out with rejoicing,

            with the song of all the people gathered here.

 

            The light of Christ surrounds us…

 

            My brothers and sisters:

            Christ has ransomed us with his blood

            and paid for us the debt of Adam's sin,

            and with his precious blood

            washed away the penalty of original sin.

 

            This is the Paschal feast

            in which the true lamb is slain;

            whose blood hallowed the doorposts of the faithful!

 

            This is the night when first you saved our ancestors,

            you freed the people of Israel from their slavery

            and led them dry-shod through the Red Sea!

 

            This is the night when the pillar of fire

            destroyed the darkness of sin!

 

            This is the night which at this hour everywhere

            restores to grace and unites in holiness

            those who believe in Christ,

            separating them from worldly vice

            and the darkness of sin.

 

            This is the night when Jesus Christ

            broke the chains of death

            and rose in victory from the grave!

 

            The light of Christ surrounds us…

 

            Father, how wonderful your care for us!

            How boundless your merciful love!

 

            To ransom us, your servants, 

                you gave away your only Son.

 

            O happy fault!   O necessary sin of Adam

            which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

 

            O truly blessed night

            which alone deserved to know the time and the hour

            when Christ arose from the grave.

 

            It is of this night that Scripture says:

            "And the night shall be as bright as day,

            and the night shall light up my joy!"

 

            The power of this holy night dispels all evil, 

                washes guilt away,

            restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy;

            it casts out hatred, brings us peace, 

                and humbles earthly pride.

 

            This is the night truly blessed   

                when heaven is wedded to earth

                    and creation is reconciled with God.

 

            The light of Christ surrounds us…

           

            As this candle shines out

            through the darkness of night,

            may the love of Christ

            burn ever in our hearts.

 

            The light of Christ surrounds us…

 

            In the East, the Morning Star

            rises bright upon us,

            in its peaceful light

            shines the glory of the Lord.

 

            The light of Christ surrounds us;

            the love of Christ enfolds us;

            the pow'r of Christ protects us;

            the presence of Christ watches over us.

           

            AMEN!

 

Night Prayer 

 

When I go to bed tonight, Lord,
I'll pray for deep and restful sleep
on this night of all nights when,
at a time known only to heaven,
you rose from the dead...

This is the night, Lord,

which restores to grace 

and unites in holiness

all who believe in you....

This is the night

whose light pierces the darkness

and rescues us from sin...

This is the night

when you broke the chains of death

and rose in victory from the grave!

The power of this holy night 

dispels all evil, 

washes guilt away, 

restores lost innocence, 

brings mourners joy; 

casts out hatred,

brings us peace, 

and humbles earthly pride. 

This is the night truly blessed

when heaven is wedded to earth 

and creation is reconciled with God! *

So I shall sleep in peace, Lord,

trusting that even in the dead of night

your risen life beats within me

and that I, too, shall rise:

    when morning dawns tomorrow;

    and at the end of all my days;

    and when at last you come again,

    and death shall be no more!

Amen.

 

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On Saturday, it was hopeless...

 

 

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Pause for Prayer: HOLY SATURDAY

The Dead Christ by Mantegna

 

On Holy Saturday the Church waits at the Lord's tomb, meditating on His suffering and death.  Mantegna's painting is a compelling image, confronting us with the reality of Jesus' death...

 

On this day, Holy Saturday, the altar is left bare and Mass is not celebrated.

Only with the solemn vigil during the night does the Easter celebration begin with a spirit of joy that overflows into an Easter season of fifty days.

Writing in the fourth century, St Epiphanius of Salamis offers us his beautiful appreciation of Holy Saturday.  What he describes here is what we mean when we say of Christ in the Apostles Creed:

    He suffered, died, and was buried.
    He descended into Hell; 

    the third day he rose again from the dead.

Upon his death, Christ went to the nether world to set free the souls of all who had died awaiting his victory over death - beginning with our first parents...

 

    Something strange is happening—

        there is a great silence on earth today, 

            a great silence and stillness. 

    The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. 

    The earth trembled and is still 

        because God has fallen asleep in the flesh 

            and has raised up all who have slept 

                ever since the world began. 

    God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear. 

    He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep.

    Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness 

        and in the shadow of death, 

    he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve:

        He who is both God and the son of Eve. 

    The Lord approached them bearing the Cross, 

        the weapon that had won Him the victory. 

    At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, 

        struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: 

            “My Lord be with you all.” 

    Christ answered him:

            “And with your spirit.” 

    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.”

 

      - St Epiphanius of Salamis

 

A Prayer for Holy Saturday

- by Kerry Greenhil 

This is the hardest time to pray:
after the drama and catastrophe,
before the angels and the big reveal.

The passion, the agony, the desperate grief
have given way to numbness
and absence
in this time in between.

God seems to be offstage,
preparing for the final scene,
taking care of ancient souls in other worlds
or clothing the hidden, broken body
in resurrection glory.

So let our prayer this day be plain
and to the point:
May God be with us in the waiting,
and may we wait with hope,
today
and every time in between.

Amen.

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Stations of the Cross and NIGHT PRAYER

I'm posting Night Prayer early because it's based on the Stations of the Cross and some here might want to pray the Stations this afternoon.  

 

The "stations" are a Lenten devotion whose roots go back to the fourth century ,when pilgrims to the Holy Land would trace the steps of Jesus from Pilate's house to Calvary.  Later, for those who could not travel to the Holy Land, images were erected both outdoors and in churches so that believers could make a virtual pilgrimage and pray their way with Jesus on his way to Calvary.

The stations many of us grew up with number 14.  Of these, some are based in the scriptural accounts of Jesus' last hours and some are not.  For example, while 3 of stations recount Jesus falling under the weight of the Cross, there is no scriptural basis for his having fallen even once. Likewise, the scene of a woman named Veronica wiping the face of Jesus comes not from the bible but from a pious tradition.  

 

Now, however, there's an alternative.  On Good Friday 1991, Saint John Paul II introduced a new set of Stations - still 14 - but all of them based on the gospel accounts of Jesus' suffering and death.  

Here, then, are two videos: the first offers the older form of the Stations and the second the scripture-based devotion.  You'll find the first presentation very plain and simple, leaving most of the praying to the viewer while the second format leads you prayerfully through the scenes in the gospel that tell the story of Jesus' suffering and death.  

 

Following the videos you'll find today's Night Prayer...

 

If two videos don't appear below, click here!

 

Stations of the Cross - by iChurch.org

 

 

Stations of the Cross: 

    by Saint John Paul II Catholic High School

 

 Night Prayer

 

Jesus, my brother,

    in accepting your Cross

    you took on your shoulders

    the weight of my sins and offenses,

    the heft of my faults and my failings... 

Jesus, my friend,

    when you shouldered your Cross

    you bore the brunt of my pride and resentments,

    my lies and deceit, my temper and anger...

 

Jesus, my Lord,

    the Cross you took up scraped and bruised your flesh

    with the splinters of my indiscretions,

    my hasty, foolish and imprudent choices...

Jesus, my brother, my friend, my Lord,

    you carried me on your shoulders that day,

    you took on the weight of my unfaithful heart

        to save and redeem me, to mend and to heal me,

        to free and forgive me of all my sins,

    that I might have life I don't deserve,

        won by your love, 

        sealed in your blood,

        given for me 

        on the arms of your Cross...

 

O Jesus, Son of the living God:

    have mercy on me, a sinner...

Protect me, Lord, while I'm awake

and watch over me while I sleep

that awake, I might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace.

Amen.

 

Tonight's song is below the image...

 

 

Tonight's song is a beautiful, haunting setting of an old hymn,

including some instrumental interludes for your personal prayer...

 

What Wondrous Love Is This by Fernando Orgtega

 

If a video doesn't appear below, click here! 

 

 

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Pause for Prayer: GOOD FRIDAY

                        

For many years now, I've posted the image above on Good Friday but the link to the image and the artist is no longer active.  To the best of my knowledge this is Meditation on the Crucifixion by Mimi Ess. If you click on the image for a larger version, you'll see the crucifix more clearly...

 

Here are two reflections for Good Friday: While Meditating Upon the Passion by Brenda Stinson and The Cross is a Scandal on Every Level by Pastor Brian Zahnd, pastor of the Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri.

 

While Meditating Upon the Passion

I long to be the teardrop
Rolling ever so slowly down your cheek
Searching the curves and creases of your most holy face
Lightly kissing moisture upon your dry lips.

I long to be the air that becomes your breath
Bought with your agony as you push up to draw me in,
Absorbed into your body offered to the Father,
Flowing mercy from your wounds,
Exhaling love upon the world.

I long to be the cry
Welling up from the depths of your soul
Blinded by the night that envelops it.
Rushing to meet you as the all-consuming pain
draws you deeper into the darkness,
Finally bursting forth a helpless scream,
The cry of God - to God -
For mercy.

I long to be the last beat of your heart,
Suspended there in time
Until the Father grants you life anew
And then -
Captured there in eternity,
A prisoner of Divine Love.

- Brenda Stinson

 

The Cross is a Scandal on Every Level

The Cross is a scandal on every level
    A king with a crown of thorns
    A death march processional
    Acclamation by insult
    It’s a macabre coronation

The Cross is a scandal on every level
    You say he won a war?
    You can’t win a war that way
    You have to kill to win a war
    Who could win a war that way?

The Cross is a scandal on every level
    Love your enemy
    Forgive your enemy
    Reconcile your enemy
    Whoever heard such madness?

The Cross is a scandal on every level
    “Take up your cross and follow me”
    No one would ever sign up for that
    Promise me pleasure and riches
    Don’t bid me come and die

The Cross is a scandal on every level
    We’re promised glory and we’re given this
    A kingdom to come and we get that
    The glorious kingdom of a crucified king?
    We want gold and silver, success and splendor

The Cross is a scandal on every level
    Pharaoh did it first
    Alexander did it great
    Caesar did it best
    But not a crucified conqueror

The Cross is a scandal on every level
    Give us sword and shield
    Something we can win with
    Not outstretched arms
    And a pierced side

The Cross is a scandal on every level
    No wonder the followers fled
    What is there left to follow?
    It’s the ultimate dead end
    It’s common sense to run from that

The Cross is a scandal on every level
    You say it’s the road that leads to life?
    It’s quite obvious it’s the way of death
    And when you’re dead the story ends
    Unless you believe what the silly women said

- Pastor Brian Zahnd

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Good Friday homily from 9 years ago...

Photo by CP

 

Homily for Good Friday 

 

I don't have a preaching assignment today so I thought I'd share a homily I preached 9 years ago, under the Cross (see above) in the darkened church of Holy Family Parish in Concord.  The sung components of this homily can be heard on the audio.

Audio for homily

Oh-o-o-o, sometimes
it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble...
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
 

Does it?

Does the thought of Jesus suffering and dying for our sins,
sometimes cause us to “tremble, tremble, tremble?”

How do we understand the story we've just heard?

Is it just a story - even if a true story?

Is it simply a moving account
of one man’s extraordinary sacrifice and goodness?

Have I only heard the story -- second-hand,
or, was I there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they crucified our Lord?

I was there...

And though you may not remember:  

you were there, too.

At least our sins were there:
- every failure of yours and mine to love God
    and to love our neighbor as ourselves - was there;
- every failure of yours and mine
    to live according to the Lord’s word - was there;
- every failure of yours and mine to do what is just
    and to make peace, beginning in our own families

        and extending in ripples all around us - was there;
all of this, which is part of all-of-us,
    was there -when they crucified our Lord.

And we were there together, as a church,

a community of faith with all its warts and wrinkles,

its shame and chagrin,

its selfishness and self-protection...

You and I, and all of us together through the ages:
    we were there when they crucified the Lord…

We were there when Jesus, the Christ, our Passover Lamb,
took upon his innocent shoulders:
    - the sins of all the times we have settled 

        for anything less, than what is true, right, just and good;
    - the sins of all the times we have settled for anything less
        than what is real, pure, chaste and beautiful;
    - the sins of all the times we have settled for anything less     

        than what is life-giving, nurturing and loving;
    - the sins of all the times we put ourselves and our desires'

         ahead of others and their needs:

            marginalizing and excluding others

        and forgetting the poor

            while we ourselves have more than we need…

I was there and you were there,
    the church was there, the world was there
        when they crucified the Lord
because he took on his shoulders all our sins:
    the sins we remember; the sins we’ve forgotten;
        the sins we’ve confessed and the sins we’ve hidden;
    and even the sins we have not yet committed

        -- but surely will...

Oh-o-o-o, sometimes
it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble...
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Look!
    There is the Lamb of God
        who takes away the sins of the world!

    Oh, God!

    Oh, God of love and mercy:
        you are always ready to forgive.
    Time and time again we broke your covenant
        but you did not abandon us.
    Instead, through your Son, Jesus,
        you bound yourself even more closely to the human family
            by a bond that can never be broken.
    When we were lost and could not find the way to you,
        you loved us more than ever.
    Jesus, innocent and without sin,
        gave himself into our hands
            and was nailed to a cross - for our sins...*

For our sins:
    your sins, my sins, our sins;

        the sins of the church, 

            the sins of the whole world -
    Jesus suffered and died…

Oh-o-o-o, sometimes
it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble...
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

We don’t recall these things tonight to make us feel
    guilty, or sad, or uncomfortable.
Rather, we remember these things tonight 

    so that sometimes, at least tonight, 

        we might tremble, tremble, tremble,
    as we ponder the weight of our sins
        on our Jesus’ innocent shoulders
    and then come to glory in the cross of Jesus
        who is our life and our resurrection,
    who is the One in whom we find God's mercy,

        the one in whom we are forgiven

            - saved and delivered.

For if we do not see the love
    with which Jesus shouldered our sins
and laid down his life for us, his unfaithful friends,
    how shall we ever know the victory of his Cross,
        the exquisite, bitter-sweet gift of the Cross
            which makes of us his redeemed friends?

Oh-o-o-o, sometimes
it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble...
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

O Jesus: 

    You are our Passover, our lasting peace.
    You are the lamb, slain for us 

        that the angel of death,
            finding us washed in your blood,
        might spare us and save us for everlasting life.

What, then, shall we return to you, Lord,
    what shall offer  for such undeserved mercy?

We will give you glory, Jesus -
    our innocent brother who suffered for us all!

 

 We will give you glory, Jesus. merciful Lord,

    Lamb of God, who takes away our sins 

        and the sins of the world!

We will give you glory, Jesus,
    Savior and Redeemer, humbled for our sakes,

        Savior and Redeemer, risen Lord,
    we give you glory, even now, this very night,

        as we remember your suffering and death,

    the gift of your life, 

        given that we might have life 

            and have it to the full.

Oh-o-o-o, sometimes
it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble…
Were you there when they crucified my Lord…

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