Holy Saturday - Holy Week - Blogging Holy Week

Holy Saturday - Holy Week - Blogging Holy Week

Holy Saturday - Holy Week - Blogging Holy Week

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalm 22 - Good Friday - Blogging Holy Week

22

1	My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? *     and are so far from my cry     and from the words of my distress?
2	O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer; *     by night as well, but I find no rest.
3	Yet you are the Holy One, *     enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
4	Our forefathers put their trust in you; *     they trusted, and you delivered them.
5	They cried out to you and were delivered; *     they trusted in you and were not put to shame.
6	But as for me, I am a worm and no man, *     scorned by all and despised by the people.
7	All who see me laugh me to scorn; *     they curl their lips and wag their heads, saying,
8	"He trusted in the LORD; let him deliver him; *     let him rescue him, if he delights in him."
9	Yet you are he who took me out of the womb, *     and kept me safe upon my mother's breast.
10	I have been entrusted to you ever since I was born; *     you were my God when I was still in my                               mother's womb.
11	Be not far from me, for trouble is near, *     and there is none to help.

12	Many young bulls encircle me; *     strong bulls of Bashan surround me.
13	They open wide their jaws at me, *     like a ravening and a roaring lion.
14	I am poured out like water; all my bones are out of joint; *     my heart within my breast is melting wax.
15	My mouth is dried out like a pot-sherd; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; *     and you have laid me in the dust of the grave.
16	Packs of dogs close me in, and gangs of evildoers circle around me; *     they pierce my hands and my feet;     I can count all my bones.
17	They stare and gloat over me; *     they divide my garments among them;     they cast lots for my clothing.
18	Be not far away, O LORD; *     you are my strength; hasten to help me.
19	Save me from the sword, *     my life from the power of the dog.
20	Save me from the lion's mouth, *     my wretched body from the horns of wild bulls.
21	I will declare your Name to my brethren; *     in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.
22	Praise the LORD, you that fear him; *     stand in awe of him, O offspring of Israel;     all you of Jacob's line, give glory.

Psalm 22     611

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23	For he does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty; neither does he hide his face from them; *     but when they cry to him he hears them.
24	My praise is of him in the great assembly; *     I will perform my vows in the presence of those who                                worship him.
25	The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the LORD shall praise him: *     "May your heart live for ever!"
26	All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to                                 the LORD, *     and all the families of the nations bow before him.
27	For kingship belongs to the LORD; *     he rules over the nations.
28	To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down                                 in worship; *     all who go down to the dust fall before him.
29	My soul shall live for him; my descendants shall serve him; *     they shall be known as the LORD'S for ever.
30	They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn *     the saving deeds that he has done.

Maundy Thursday Vigil - Blogging Holy Week 2012

Last Supper - Star Wars - Blogging Holy Week

Last Supper - The Big Lebowski - Blogging Holy Week

Maundy Thursday - Blogging Holy Week 2012

Collect of the Day: Maundy Thursday

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Last Supper by the "Brick Testament" - Blogging Holy Week

Wednesday in Holy Week Prayer - Blogging Holy Week 2012

Prayer for Wednesday of Holy Week 

"Jesus the annointed, teach us to honor those who need our help, 

and we shall give without condescension, 

and receive with humility."

~from the New Zealand Book of Common Prayer

Tuesday in Holy Week - Prayer - Holy Week 2012

O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Tuesday in Holy Week - Holy Week 2012

Mark 11:27-33 (NRSV)
27 Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him 28 and said, "By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?" 29 Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me." 31 They argued with one another, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?' 32 But shall we say, 'Of human origin'?"-they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet. 33 So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."

Holy Week - 2012 - Monday in Holy Week - Prayer by John Keble

From a poem for the Monday before Easter, by John Keble:

“Father to me Thou art, and Mother dear,

And Brother too, kind Husband of my heart!”

So speaks Andromache in boding fear,

Ere from her last embrace her hero part—

So evermore, by Faith’s undying glow,

We own the Crucified in weal or woe.

Strange to our ears the church-bells of our home,

The fragrance of our old paternal fields 

May be forgotten; and the time may come

When the babe’s kiss no sense of pleasure yields

Even to the doting mother: but Thine own

Thou never canst forget, nor leave alone.

There are who sigh that no fond heart is theirs,

None loves them best—O vain and selfish sigh!

Out of the bosom of His love He spares—

The Father spares the Son, for thee to Die:

For thee He died—for thee He lives again:

O’er thee He watches in His boundless reign.

Thou art as much His care, as if beside

Nor man nor angel lived in Heaven or earth:

Thus sunbeams pour alike their glorious tide

To light up worlds, or wake an insect’s mirth:

They shine and shine with unexhausted store—

Thou art thy Saviour’s darling—seek no more.

From a poem for the Monday before Easter, in The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays Throughout the Year by John Keble (London: Suttaby and Co., 1883).

A tip of the holy hat goes to my friends at the Episcopal Cafe...

Jesus enters Jerusalem - from Jesus Christ Superstar - Blogging Holy Week

from Jesus Christ, Superstar (1973).  Such a classic!

Jesus enters Jerusalem - from Giotto's Arena Chapel - Blogging Holy Week - Palm Sunday

Image by Giotto, Arena Chapel frescoes

C.S. Lewis on Holy Week - Blogging Holy Week 2012

“The good news of Jesus Christ is a thing of great comfort, but it doesn’t begin in comfort.
It begins in distress and despair and there’s no way to get to the comfort by bypassing the despair.”


~ C. S. Lewis.

Last Supper by "Lost" - Blogging Holy Week 2012

Holy Week - 2012 - Peter Abelard's prayer during Holy Week

Walking alone, Lord, you go to your sacrifice,
victim of death, and our death’s mighty conqueror.
What can we say to you, knowing our poverty,
you, who have freed us from sin and from slavery?

Ours are the sins, Lord, and we are the guilty ones,
you, in your innocence, take on our punishment;
grant that our spirits may share in your suffering,
may our compassion respond to your pardoning.

Three sacred days are the time of our sorrowing,
as we endure now the night of our heaviness,
until the morning restores to us joyfulness;
Christ, newly risen, brings gladness for tearfulness.

Grant us, O Lord, to take part in your suffering,
that we may share in your heavenly victory;
through these sad days living humbly and patiently,
may we at Eastertide see you smile graciously.

Peter Abelard’s prayer during Holy Week

Holy Week - 2012 - Dali's Last Supper

Holy Week - 2012 - Rowan Williams on Holy Week

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, gives his thoughts on Holy Week.

Holy Week is 'a week when we discover in a way we don't at any other time just we are and just who God is'.