Holy Week, the Devil and Easter Octave

Easter Monday I was hit with an awful case of bronchitis.

I was in bed until today, coughing myself silly.

We had a very beautiful Holy Week; we celebrated the Sacred Liturgy of Holy Thursday and Good Friday with much zeal, attention and the good graces of assistance from Fr. Joseph Redfern (Pastor of St. Mary, Altoona) and Br. Mark, an Oblate of the Camaldolese.

The chant and liturgical actions, assisted by Br. Mark, Br. Joseph and on Good Friday, Patrick (Paddy) Phillips and Greg (a college student from the University of Eau Claire), were indeed inspiring.

That's why I'm sick as a dog this week.

I'm paying for it, so to speak. I'm always suspect that the Devil will pay "his due" whenever something good happens here. And, this, is just another example of that.

It's okay.

Dying and rising with Jesus make a considerable cost. I'm just paying the price, so to speak.

I'll be okay in a week or two.

I'm just so very grateful that we were able to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord with the kind of reverence, care, and total dedication that He deserves.

In addition, last Monday of Holy Week I was hit with a horrendous virus/worm, you name it.

Put me out of business for a good week.

I was Googling info about "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" which I had viewed in the previous day.

Go figure.

The Volto Santo (Holy Face) of Manoppello

Monday in Holy Week: Mary Anoints the Feet of Jesus

"Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of right spikenard, of great price,a nd anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment." (John 12,3)

What Mary performs here is the gesture of absolute extravagant giving. It is the deed of contemplation. Nothing has prepared this act. But still, the ointment is there. It is present in the house of the contemplative, who has renounced everything for the Lord. In the house in which one assuredly does not know any special wealth. Nor is it something that belongs to the house; it is rather something that belongs to Mary alone. It is only the symbol of her extravagant giving. And she uses the whole of the precious ointment, she uses it only for the Lord's feet, and she pours it out still more lavishly in that she dries the anointed feet again with her hair and lets the perfume spread in this ordinary house...Mary shows...how much she has lavished the gift of her own self. She no longer knows what calculation and proportion are. Her entire relationship to the Lord is expressed through one single word: everything. Everything for him.

(Adrienne von Speyr, The Discourses of Controversy, Meditations on John 6-12, San Francisco: Ignatius Press)



Let Thy holy Mysteries, O Lord, impart to us divine fervour; that we may delight both in their celebration and in their fruit. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen. (Postcommunion Prayer, Monday in Holy Week, 1962 Missale Romano)


Image: Mary Anoints of the Feet of Jesus by Frank Wesley

Passion/Palm Sunday at Cor Jesu Oratory

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament before the Conventual Missa cantata



Woven palms and pussy willows



The singing of the Passion Gospel



Elevation of the Chalice

Ecce Homo--Behold the Man

Ecce homo--"Here is the man!" (John 19,5)

Ecce homo--the expression spontaneously takes on a depth of meaning that reaches far beyond this moment in history. In Jesus, it is man himself that is manifested. In Him is displayed the suffering of all who are subjected to violence, all the downtrodden. His suffering mirrors the inhumanity of worldly power, which so ruthlessly crushes the powerless. In Him is reflected what we call "sin": this is what happens when man turns his back upon God and takes control over the world into his own hands.

There is another side to all this, though: Jesus' innermost dignity cannot be taken from Him. The hidden God remains present within Him. Even the man subjected to violence and vilification remains the image of God. Ever since Jesus submitted to violence, it has been the wounded, the victims of violence, who have been the image of the God who chose to suffer for us. So Jesus in the throes of His Passion is an image of hope: God is on the side of those who suffer.
--Pope Benedict XVI
From Jesus of Nazareth-Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection (2011. San Francisco: Ignatius Press).

Holy Week Schedule at Cor Jesu

17 April 2011
Passion Sunday (2nd)/Palm Sunday
10:30 AM Blessing of Palms
Procession
Missa cantata (1962 Missal)



21 April 2011
Holy Thursday
4PM Missa cantata of the Lord's Supper (1962 Missal)
Tenebrae (Extraordinary Form)
Adoration until midnight
9 PM Sung Compline (Extraordinary Form)




22 April 2011
Good Friday
4PM Liturgy of the Lord's Passion (1962 Missal)
Tenebrae (Extraordinary Form)

The community will attend the Easter Vigil and Mass at St. Charles Borromeo Parish, Chippewa Falls--no Easter Vigil at Cor Jesu Oratory


Easter Sunday
10:30 AM Missa cantata (1962 Missal)

Cor Jesu Oratory is at Sacred Heart Church, Edson. Directions found at isjoseph.com.