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The St. Augustine Schola Cantorae will be singing vespers for the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker at the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche in St. Augustine, Florida on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 6 p.m.
Join us for 30 minutes of chant and prayer in the oldest Marian shrine in the United States (and a darn pretty one, too).
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It's Professor Carol time!
Wishing all my readers wherever they are a blessed and joyful Easter! (And if you're Orthodox, a blessed Palm Sunday!)
Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!
Perhaps the joy of Easter will put you in a charitable frame of mind. Then consider the Monastery of the Holy Myrrhbearers. Why? First of all, they are so aptly named for this time of year, the Myrrhbearers being the Orthodox name for the women who came to the tomb with spices. Secondly, they are deserving and your money will be wisely spent by these thrifty women. Thirdly, monastic houses like this "live on the edge" all the time, and even more so when folks cut back on giving. Your large gift will be welcome, but also welcome will be a small donation. And don't forget their shop.
So, consider the Myrrhbearers. And remember that the Holy Myrrhbearers were themselves generous and unafraid, venturing out when the disciples were still holed up in fear and panic.
From the Matins of Great and Holy Saturday
Tone Two
Today the One who holds creation in the palm of his hand
Is held in the tomb.
A stone covers the One who covered the heavens with glory!
Life sleeps, and Hell trembles,
While Adam is set free from his bonds.
Glory to your dispensation!
Glory to your almighty power, granting us an eternal Sabbath
Your all-holy resurrection from the dead!
What is this sight we behold?
What is this present rest:
The King of the ages, who through His passion
Fulfilled the plan of salvation,
Keeps Sabbath in the bomg, granting us a new Sabbath!
Let us cry aloud to Him:
Arise, Lord, and judge the earth!
For your great Mercy is without measure
And you reign forever!
Come, let us behold the Son of Judah as he sleeps today,
And with the prophet, let us cry aloud to him:
Why do you lie, and sleep as a lion?
Who shall awaken you, O King?
But as you willingly give yourself for us,
Arise by your own free will!
O Lord, glory to you!
Tone 6
Joseph asked for the body of Jesus
And laid it in his own new tomb:
For it was fitting that the Lord should come forth
Out of the grave as from a bridal chamber!
You have broken the power of death
And opened the gates of paradise to men:
O Lord, glory to you!
Glory to the Father …
Tone 6
The great Moses mystically foreshadowed this day when he said:
God blessed the seventh day.
This is the blessed Sabbath.
This is the day of rest
On which the Only-Begotten Son of God rested from his works.
He kept the Sabbath in the flesh,
Through the dispensation of death.
But on this day, he returned again
Through the resurrection.
He has granted us eternal life,
For he alone is good, the Lover of Mankind.
A stunning homily by Fr. Mark:
http://vultus.stblogs.org/2009/04/lest-we-betray-him-with-a-kiss.html
