The Thirteenth Station: The Body of Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross

These outdoor, tile-mosaic Stations of the Cross were designed
by our own Artisan Sisters of the Monastery.

O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and I will bring you back to your land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live. You shall know then that I am the Lord. I have promised it, and I will do it, says the Lord.
Ezechiel 37: 12-14

Jesus said, "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."  John 12: 24

Holy Thursday

Greetings,

Our Holy Thursday service is complete; silence now hangs in the monastery hallways like the incense and beeswax from our procession with the Blessed Sacrament. Our evening of celebration, prayer and commemoration is reinforced by our call to community.

Following monastic tradition, we held our foot washing ceremony in our Chapter Room for the sisters of the community.  It is a simple service with scripture, chant, and then prioress, sub-prioress, and procurator sit or kneel between the choirs of sisters as we, one by one, come forward to have them wash our feet.  It is powerful to watch as the sister we elected as leader, carefully remove the shoes and socks of each sister and then gently wash and dry her feet before returning the footwear. 

"I chose my classmate [sister who entered at the same time] to wash my feet and it was very touching.  In fact, it brought me to tears.  Being a servant is what my life is about--bringing God's love to others." Sr. Barbara, perpetually professed many years.

"I chose to have my foot washed as a challenge to allow myself to be served rather than focusing on serving others.  At times, I find it very difficult to be served.  We need to remember to allow others the opportunity to serve."  Sr. Barbara, perpetually professed about six months.

After a closing prayer by our prioress, we processed from the Chapter Room to the refectory for a meal celebrating community and love, our love for each other and for Christ.  We shared wine and fresh breads, a wonderful meal that was hard to leave in preparation for our Holy Thursday Mass and upcoming silence.

At the end of our Mass, we processed ahead of Father Monk bearing the Blessed Sacrament to the St. Joseph Chapel.  We sang the Pange Lingua in our Bishop Martin Marty Chapel; then our musician sisters picked up the tune on clarinet and bass clarinet in the dim hallways as we silently followed the candle bearers.  The incense swung by Sister Acolyte before Father still lingers in the hallways, drifting up the stairwell.  We chanted the last verses of the Pange Lingua without accompaniment in the little Chapel as Father turned the key on the tabernacle.

Triduum silence has begun; it is palpable, heavy like the scent of incense and beeswax from the procession.  A silence that will nurture our prayer and reflection that we share as community over these days of Triduum.

Blessings,

The Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross

These outdoor, tile-mosaic Stations of the Cross were designed
by our own Artisan Sisters of the Monastery.

My people, what have I done to you? or in what have I offended you? Answer me. What more should I have done, and did not do? I led you out of the land of Egypt, and you prepared a cross for me. I opened the Red Sea before you, and you opened my side with a lance. I gave you a royal sceptre, and you have given me a crown of thorns. With great power I lifted you up, and you have hung me upon a cross. My people, what have I done to you, or in what have I offeneded you? Answer me.
The Reproaches of Good Friday

Jesus said, "I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more." Luke 12: 4

The Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

These outdoor, tile-mosaic Stations of the Cross were designed
by our own Artisan Sisters of the Monastery.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, far from my prayer, far from the words of my cry? O my God, I cry out by day, and you answer not; I cry out by night, and there is no relief for me. All my bones are racked.  My heart has become like wax melting away within my chest. My throat is dried up like baked clay, my tongue cleaves to my jaws; they have pierced my hands and my feet; I can count all my bones.  Psalms 21: 2-3, 15-17b

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."  Luke 23: 34

The Tenth Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Clothes

These outdoor, tile-mosaic Stations of the Cross were designed
by our own Artisan Sisters of the Monastery.

Happy is the man whom God chastises! Do not reject the happy punishment of the almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up; he smites, but his hands give healing. Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak; I looked for comforters, and I found none. Rather they put gall in my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinigar to drink. Job 5: 17-18, Psalms 68: 21-22

Jesus said, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous."  Matthew 5: 44-45

The Ninth Station: Jesus Falls a Third Time

These outdoor, tile-mosaic Stations of the Cross were designed
by our own Artisan Sisters of the Monastery.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The Lord is my life's refuge; of whom should I be afriad? When evildoers come at me to devour my flesh, my foes and my enemies themselves stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart will not fear; though war be waged upon me, even then will I trust.  Psalm 26: 1-3

Jesus said, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."  Luke 9: 62

The Eighth Station: Jesus Speaks to the Women of Jerusalem

These outdoor, tile-mosaic Stations of the Cross were designed
by our own Artisan Sisters of the Monastery.

Come, all you who pass by the way, look and see whether there is any suffering like my suffering, suffering with which the Lord has afflicted me on the day of his blazing wrath. At this I weep, my eyes run with tears; far from me are all who could console me, far away are any who might revive me. 
Lamentations 1: 12-16

Jesus said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children."
Luke 23: 28