Preparing for the Light: Tenebrae

Throughout the 40 days of Lent, the Church has repeatedly echoed the invitation of Jesus: “Repent!  The kingdom of God is at hand…”  We have fasted and prayed, done acts of penance and works of mercy, and perhaps have stumbled and failed in some way.  But even these failures are gifts of God grace, when we offer them to Him, He uses them to draw us more deeply into Himself and our knowledge of Him and His mercy. 

Now, we enter Holy Week and the Triduum.  The Triduum is a liturgical season in and of itself, the three days of the year marked profoundly by the passion and death of our Lord and Savior Jesus.  The days are marked with special liturgies, full of silence, lamentation and sorrow.  Through these liturgies the Church looks on the face of Jesus and sees the reality of sin, and also sees her hope and deliverance through His offering of love.

In the monastery, the last days before Easter, the Holy Triduum, are spent as days of retreat as much as possible – all but the most essential work stops as the sisters are given more time to complete their tasks for the Triduum and Easter preparation, such as reviewing and practicing the liturgies, cleaning, decorating and cooking for Easter, but most importantly, spending extra time in prayer and meditation.  You are invited to join us in prayer and reflection, in the celebration of the liturgies and in time of silent prayer in our chapel.

Most people are familiar with the afternoon and evening liturgies of the Triduum: Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, and, of course, the Easter Vigil Mass the night before Easter Sunday.  But there is also another powerful time of liturgical prayer during the early morning of these three days: Tenebrae.

Tenebrae is traditionally prayed in complete darkness, with the only light coming from a hearse holding burning candles.  As the hour of prayer proceeds, at various times, the candles are extinguished, representing the disciples abandoning our Lord.  Chantresses intone passages from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, which describe the sins of Jerusalem (representative of the Jewish people, and also of the Church) and entreat her to return to the Lord, her God.

Eventually only the center, or Christ candle, remains burning, until near the end of Tenebrae when its flame is also removed after the chanting of the Benedictus.  Then, in Dominican tradition, two chantresses stand at the front of the choir, two more chantresses stand in the middle of the choir and all face the altar as the chantresses and choir pray for Christ’s mercy.

May God’s grace pour out on us all during these holy days of Triduum as we prepare for His Resurrection and the triumph we share with Him over the captivity and death of sin.

Overcome With Paschal Joy: Living in the Fullness of Grace

Alleluia!  He is risen!  Are you still overcome with Paschal joy?

Nearly every day at Mass during the Easter season, if we pay close attention, we hear those words during the preface of the Eucharistic liturgy: “…overcome with Paschal joy…”  So how come many of us feel more relief that Lent is over and a bit of anxiety over what to do about all the Easter candy in the house with shorts season right around the corner?  Because we are thinking like “grown ups.” 

Paschal joy is given only to the extent we are childlike, because the kingdom of heaven can only be received by the childlike.  Being childlike is not the same as being childish.  Being childlike is to live through Jesus the relationship He had with His Father.  It is to be simple of heart, to receive everything as a gift because the childlike recognize everything they have is a gift.  It is to see the world as full of delightful surprises – from the colors of the sunset, to the twinkling of stars in the sky, to the way an ant carries its food back to its home.  And it is to express this wonder and joy in heartfelt praise and prayers of gratitude.

Jesus was childlike.  One of our sisters wrote a haiku from her meditations on Jesus’ appearances after His resurrection: “now the fun begins” as He began appearing here, there and everywhere to His disciples.  We must remember that Jesus’ resurrection was not merely a physical “resuscitation”.  As Pope Benedict expressed in “Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week”, His resurrection was a quantum leap forward in human existence: to have a physical body, but to be free from all laws of physics and the weaknesses of a physical body.  Imagine!  And as we live in Christ, that will also be our eventual existence.  Though now, for a season, we groan in pain, someday it will not be that way.  And because of that hope, we can begin to experience a foretaste of heaven now and be overcome with Paschal joy!

We heard yesterday how Mary was also childlike, and because of her humble simplicity, trust in and love of God, the Word was made flesh in her womb.  She was full of God’s grace and her praise and thanksgiving for Him bursts forth in her Magnificat: “my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord!  My spirit rejoices in God my savior!”  And Mary wants our hearts to also burst forth in freedom and joy, being filled with God’s grace and goodness. 

This is our hope, this is what we celebrate for these fifty days of Easter.  Let’s begin today by counting our blessings, no matter how small, and giving thanks to God for them.  The more we give Him thanks, the more we see what we have to be grateful for and the larger are hearts become to be filled with His love and peace.

Want to learn more about living filled with grace as a young, single Catholic woman in today’s culture?  Then our April Janua Caeli Retreat Day is for you!  The theme is “Fullness of Grace: How to Receive an Overabundance of God’s Gifts.”  Janua Caeli are days of retreat for single Catholic women between the ages of 18-38 who are not actively discerning a vocation, but desiring to learn more about and grow as Catholic women in today’s culture.  The day of retreat will include talks, Eucharistic Adoration, Mass and the Divine Office prayed with the Dominican nuns, and more!  For more information and to register, visit Upcoming Events.

Alleluia! Our Paschal Lamb Has Been Sacrificed

Alleluia!  He is risen!  Though we may prepare for Easter with forty days of fasting, we celebrate our new life in Christ by His passion, death and resurrection with fifty days of feasting!  

Alleluia! He is risen!!

"I have risen, and I am with you still..."

The chapel is dark and hushed.  We've processed inside from the Easter fire, holding our lighted candles.  In darkness we stood for the Exultet, listened to excerpts from the Scriptures telling our salvation history, responding in psalms and prayers.  Then the  moment comes: the sounds of the Gloria swells, the bells peal, the lights come on and all the sisters cast off their black copes, revealing the full white of the Dominican habit.  The Mass continues with the blessing of the water, the renewal of our baptismal promises and then the liturgy of the Eucharist.  Jesus returns in the Real Presence of the Blessed Sacrament to the tabernacle which had laid empty since Holy Thursday.  He is risen, and He is with us still.

Love has conquered death!  Jesus has thrown wide the gates of paradise and broken down the bars of the underworld.  Rejoice!  Our Lord has conquered sin and death and He invites us to share in His victory not at some distant point in the future, but today!  "By dying, he destroyed our death, and by rising, restored our life."  Let us truly be overcome with Paschal joy!

Christians, to the Paschal Victim
Offer your thankful praises!
A Lamb the sheep redeems;
Christ, who only is sinless,
Reconciles sinners to the Father.

Death and life have contended
in that combat stupendous:
The Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal.

Speak, Mary, declaring
What you saw, wayfaring.
"The tomb of Christ, who is living,
The glory of Jesus' resurrection;
Bright angels attesting,
The shroud and napkin resting.
Yes, Christ my hope is arisen;
To Galilee he goes before you."

Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining.
Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning!
Amen.  Alleluia.

Preparing For the Light: Join Us for the Triduum

Throughout the 40 days of Lent, the Church has repeatedly echoed the invitation of Jesus: Repent!  The kingdom of God is at hand…  We have fasted and prayed, done acts of penance and works of mercy, and often have failed in some way in those we had intended to do.  But even these failures are gifts of God grace, when we offer them to Him, He uses them to draw us more deeply into Himself and our knowledge of Him and His mercy. 

Soon, we'll be entering into Holy Week and the Triduum.  The Triduum is a liturgical season in and of itself, the three days of the year marked profoundly by the passion and death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  The days are marked with special liturgies, full of silence, lamentation and sorrow.  Through these liturgies the Church looks on the face of Jesus and sees the reality of sin, and also sees her hope and deliverance through His offering of love.

In the monastery, the last days before Easter, the Holy Triduum, are spent as days of retreat as much as possible – all but the most essential work stops as the sisters are given more time to complete their tasks for the Triduum and Easter preparation, such as reviewing and practicing the liturgies, cleaning, decorating and cooking for Easter, but most importantly, spending extra time in prayer and meditation.  You are invited to join us in prayer and reflection, in the celebration of the liturgies and in time of silent prayer in our chapel.

Most people are familiar with the afternoon and evening liturgies of the Triduum: Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, and, of course, the Easter Vigil Mass the night before Easter Sunday.  But there is also another powerful time of liturgical prayer during the early morning of these three days: Tenebrae.

Tenebrae is traditionally prayed in complete darkness, with the only light coming from a hearse holding burning candles.  As the hour of prayer proceeds, at various times, the candles are extinguished, representing the disciples abandoning our Lord.  Chantresses intone passages from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, which describe the sins of Jerusalem (representative of the Jewish people, and also of the Church) and entreat her to return to the Lord, her God.

Eventually only the center, or Christ candle, remains burning, until near the end of Tenebrae when its flame is also removed after the chanting of the Benedictus.  Then, in Dominican tradition, two chantresses stand at the front of the choir, two more chantresses stand in the middle of the choir and all face the altar as the chantresses and choir pray for Christ’s mercy.

Each day of the Triduum has slightly different entreaties; those recorded in this clip are from Holy Thursday.

May God’s grace pour out on us all during these holy days of Triduum as we prepare for His Resurrection and the triumph we share with Him over the captivity and death of sin.

If you would like to see the full schedule, check out our Upcoming Events.

2018 Holy Week and Easter Sunday at the Monastery

You're invited to join us for the celebration!