Exsultabit solitudo...

Christmas in the Wilderness of Mount Saint Joseph's Kakahu

2018

Laetabitur deserta et invia, 
et exsultabit solitudo...
The land that was desolate and impassable shall be glad,
and the wilderness shall rejoice...
(Is. 35:1)

Christmas-Eve
The Oratory of Saint Joseph in the Wilderness.
The doors, wide open and waiting.

The space for His dwelling was empty ...

The new Tabernacle arrives.
It is beautiful beyond words! A work of careful devotion!
It is adorned with hand painted images of
the Loving Pelican and the Twelve Apostles.
It arrives just in time to receive Him at His birth
in Midnight Mass.

Let the Wilderness exalt!

Haec requies mea in saeculum saeculi; 
hic habitabo, quoniam elegi eam.
This is my rest for ever and ever:
here will I dwell, for I have chosen it.
(Ps 131:14)

Preparation for Midnight Mass in the Wilderness.
Brother Romuald and Father Michael Mary
await the time for Midnight Mass.
It is Silent Night.

+ He has come. He is here. +

King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth he stood,
Lord of lords in human vesture
In the Body and the Blood
He will give to all the Faithful
His own self for Heavenly food.

Sleep Holy Babe;
Thine angels watch around,
And bending low with folded wings,
Before th' incarnate King of kings,
In reverend awe profound.

Sleep Holy Babe,
Ah! Take Thy sweet repose;
Too quickly will Thy slumber break,
And Thou to lengthen'd pains awake,
That death alone shall close.

Viderunt omnes fines terrae salutare Dei nostri;
jubilate Deo, omnes terra. 
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God:
Sing joyfully to God all the earth.

(Ps. 97:3)