Resurrexit sicut dixit!  The Blessing of the Fire and Procession with the Paschal Candle All the candles in the chapel are lit using the paschal fire Exsúltet iam Angélica turba coelórum exsúltent divína mystéria et pro tanti Regis victória tuba ínsonet salutáris! + Let the angelic choirs of Heaven now rejoice let the divine Mysteries rejoice and let the trumpet of salvation sound forth the victory of so great a King! During the Gloria the bells are triumphantly rung once again and the chapel is flooded with light as the Church joyfully proclaims the Glory of the Risen Lord. Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia.  Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia.  Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia.  Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia! The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer wish you a blessed Easter + Deo Gratias et Mariae +

Holy mother pierce me through In my heart each wound renew Of my Saviour Crucified + Stations of the Cross on Papa Stronsay At the sacred hour of 3pm the Solemn Ceremony of Good Friday was held in our chapel on Papa Stronsay The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to St John Adoration of the Cross + Ecce lignum Crucis, in quo salus mundi pependit + Venite, adoremus!  The body of Our Lord is then carried in solemn procession to the sepulchre Almighty and merciful God, who hast restored us by the Passion and Death of Thy Christ: preserve within us the work of Thy mercy; that by our entering into this mystery we may ever live devoutly. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. Deo Gratias et Mariae +

Last night the Solemn High Mass of the Lord's Supper was celebrated on Papa Stronsay The Confiteor Fr Yousef Marie sings the Gospel according to St John It was on this night that Our Lord left us His greatest gift in the Most Holy Sacrament; His Body and Blood.  At the end of Holy Mass the Blessed Sacrament is taken to the Altar of Repose After which is the stripping of the altar Divisérunt sibi vestiménta mea: et super vestem meam misérunt sortem + They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots. We then keep watch with Our Lord until midnight  +

Ierusalem, Ierusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum + Br Peter Mary sings the first Lamentation of Jeremias At the end of every psalm a candle is extinguished on the "Tenebrae Hearse" Ante diem festum Paschae, sciens Iesus, quia venit hora eius, ut tránseat ex hoc mundo ad Patrem: cum dilexísset suos, qui erant in mundo, in finem diléxit eos. + Before the festival-day of the Pasch, Jesus knowing that His hour was come, that He should pass out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world. He loved them unto the end. Fr Magdala Maria reads the Gospel for the 'Mandatum'

Today is the feast of St Enda of Aran, patriarch of Irish monasticism. It was St Enda who formally introduced monasticism to Ireland by founding a monastery on the isle of Aran which became, in the words of St Columba, the "Sun of all the West". Numberless saints known only to Our Lord lived and died on Aran; learning from that great monastic school all that was necessary to lead a holy life of virtue.  "Hearing how blessed Enda lived apart, Amid the sacred caves of Ara-mhor, And how beneath his eye, spread like a chart, Lay all the isles of that remotest shore; And how he had collected in his mind All that was known to man of the Old Sea I left the Hill of Miracles behind, And sailed from out the shallow, sandy Leigh.  Oft, as we paced that marble-covered land, Would blessed Enda tell me wondrous tales-- How, for the children of his love, the hand Of the Omnipotent Father never fails-- How his own sister, standing by the side...

Our Lord hid Himself today from the fury of those who reject His claims to Divinity. These are the same who would scorn and mock Him upon the cross whilst He hid Himself again, but in a different manner. In the former He hides from them physically because His hour had not yet come, showing that He had full control over all that He was to accomplish but at the moment chosen by Him. The latter was the veiling of His Divinity whilst on the cross - suffering all that He would in order to prove His love for us.    In this spirit Holy Mother Church enters into Passiontide. Veiling the physical statues and images that surround us and comfort us; and the spiritual joys that surround the Mass by omitting the  Psalm 42  at the Foot of the Altar (specifically the response ' ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam ') and the  Gloria. Instead on this day we have parts of Psalm 42 read at the Introit in the person of Christ who says, " ipsa me deduxer...

Around this time of year in Orkney we start seeing a bit more of the sun which means the beginning of work in the greenhouse. Some of the more hardy plants from last year are still being harvested but the majority of the work now requires tilling the ground and painstaking sowing of seeds. Br Alfonso Maria adds compost to some plastic seed trays One seed at a time! For the past few months we've been blessed with chard and lettuce for the table. In the meantime the ground has been totally cleared and new soil and compost laid down ready for the summer. We've also been blessed with beautiful flowers for the altar. And the most encouraging sign of springtime in our greenhouse - flowers on our apricot tree! Now this I say: He who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly: and he who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings. - II Corinthians ix, 6 We are now more than halfway through Lent. But a short time remains for us...

The Fourth Sunday of Lent is commonly known as “Laetare Sunday” after the words of the Introit of the Mass- Laetare Jerusalem: et conventum facite omnes qui diligitis eam: gaudete cum laetitia, qui in tristitia fuistis: ut exsultetis,et satiemini ab uberibus consolationis vestrae. But another tradition calls it the “Sunday of the Golden Rose", from a custom observed at Rome of the pope blessing a rose made of pure gold mixed with musk and balm. The Stational Church today is the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem - representing the joys of the world to come in the New Jerusalem, our Heavenly city, for which the rose is symbolic of the eternal bloom and freshness of paradise.  "We read that the Lord Jesus, at the approach of his passion, wishing to strengthen His disciples against the scandals and humiliations to come, foretold to them often the glory of His resurrection, and even showed his glory to three of them in His transfiguration on Tabor... It is to fol...