Holy Saturday

Today, the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer were said in a desolate church while the wind and the rain raged outside. After the Liturgy of Good Friday there are no words of ours which can add anything to  what the words of the scriptures and the liturgy say about the mystery we are celebrating. A great silence descends over the Church as we experience not only the defeat, despair and fear of the Cross and the quiet of the tomb, but as we wait for what God will do next…..

At the end of the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Thursday, just as the Watch before the Altar of Repose was beginning, I knelt before the Tabernacle and was surprised by a light fluttering sound, magnified by the silence,  as from under the altar came a butterfly, presumably woken up by the unaccustomed warmth in church over the last few days. It remained in front of the Blessed Sacrament for a few minutes and then took off into the darkness of the Church. Perhaps not quite an illustration worthy of St Bede, but perhaps a prompt for some musings on our future in the light of the Lord's death and resurrection. If I were feeling either prophetic or whimsical. Which at this stage in Holy Week, I'm emphatically not.

A few photos taken in the last few days:

The physical reality, of course, is a little different: the Church here as in so many other places will be filled with people preparing the building for the Easter Vigil - even in a small church, not an uncomplicated process!

A few updates:
Biretta tip to Fr Hunwicke for this link to an important article on Pope Benedict from an orthodox Lutheran perspective. More realignment? 
http://www.logia.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=121&catid=39:web-forum&Itemid=18
Some atrociously "Celtic" weather for our outdoor Stations of the Cross yesterday - courtesy of  Fr Mark at 'All Gas and Gaiters' http://allgassandgaiters.blogspot.com/2010/04/good-friday.html