We are Pascha People: New Music

Just in time for Holy Week and Pascha I give a musical project called "We are Pascha People" recorded under the moniker Roodscreen. Recorded during Lent 2013, this album takes you into the contemplative desert of Lent, the institution of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday, mourning with Mary at the Cross, lamenting at the tomb, into Hades on Holy Saturday, then to the empty tomb on Easter Sunday.

Some of the songs will appear on the Roodscreen album "Calm of the Stormdriven" later this year. Like all Roodscreen projects, it will be a thematic album, this time about our Blessed Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary.



Desert Darkness (words& music by David Samuel Thomas)
Ave Verum Corpus (translated by Edward Caswall, music by DST)
Mourn with Me (words by Fr. Frederick William Faber, music by DST)
The Earth was Cold, the Night was Dark (words & music DST)
He Descended to the Dead (assembled by DST)
We are Pascha People (words & music DST)
Regina Coeli (translated by Edward Caswall, music by DST)

Produced by David Samuel Thomas at Green Desk Studio--Ypsilanti, MI

"The Feet Man" by Philip Dacey

The Feet Man


The worst job I ever had was nailing
Jesus’ feet to the cross on the
assembly line at the crucifix factory.
Jesus! I’d never thought of myself
as religious before that, but when
I had to strike those nails—I figured
it up once—more than two thousand times
a day, my mind began seeing things:
little tremors along the skin, jerks of
those legs that were bonier than
models’ legs, his eyes imploring,
forgiving. I swear, if a tiny drop of blood
had oozed out of that wood at my pounding,
I wouldn’t have been surprised at all.
I was ripe for a miracle, or a vacation.
All I got was worse: with each blow
of the hammer, I flinched, as if I
were the onegetting pierced. Doing
that job day after day was bad enough,
but doing it to myself—my arms
spread out from one end of my paycheck
to the other—was crazy. I began
to sweat constantly, though the place
was air-conditioned. It wasn’t long before
the foreman took me aside and told me
I was taking my job too seriously, that
if I wanted to keep it I had better calm down.
He was right. I pulled myself together
like a man and put all pointless thoughts
out of my head. Or tried to. It wasn’t easy:
imagine Jesus after Jesus coming down
at you along that line, and you with
your hammer poised, you knowing
what you have to do to make a living.


~ Philip Dacey


From the collection "Nightshift at the Crucifix Factory"
More about Philip Dacey and his poetry can be found at
www.philipdacey.com

Lent & Holy Week recalled

What a glorious Lent and Holy Week I had. I took full advantage of East & West sharing the season.

Started out Lent with the all night vigil for the first Sunday of Lent. Went to the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts at Sacred Heart Byzantine Catholic parish. Attended a Lenten mission at a Roman parish in Ypsi that featured speakers from renewal Ministries. Went to Gorzkie Zale at St. Florian's Catholic church in Hamtramk.

Holy Week started out at my old Orthodox parish in Sylvania, Ohio for Bridegroom Matins. Holy Unction was at St. Joseph Melkite parish in lansing, MI. Holy Thursday at my home parish, Christ the King in Ann Arbor. On Holy Friday went to Greektown in Detroit for Lamentations at the tomb of Christ and the procession with the Epitaphios through the streets.

In 2011 East & West will again be celebrating at the same time. I suggest that Western Christians supplement their Lenten & Holy Week observances with some Eastern services. If you are Roman Catholic you can receive the Sacraments in any Eastern Catholic parish (Mewlkite, Ukrainian or Byzantine Greek Catholic).

Triumphant Entry

"The (willow) branch beats you, not I beat you, Pascha is one week from today!"

This is how Ukrainians and other Slavs greet each other after the Divine Liturgy on Palm Sunday. They do this while tapping each other with blessed willow branches that represent the branches used to welcome our Lord during His entrance into Jerusalem the week before his Passion.

Palm Sunday Troparion (Tone 1) O Christ God, when You raised Lazarus from the dead, before the time of your passion, you confirmed the future resurrection of all. We too, like the children of old, carry before You the symbols of your triumph and victory and cry out to You, the Conqueror of Death: "Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!"

Sabbatum Sanctum

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

Lamentation at the Tomb

Christ our Paschal Lamb has been sacrificed! (1 Corinthians 5:7b)

Holy and Great Friday

I saw how the Lord suffered as He was being scourged. Oh, such an inconceivable agony! How terribly Jesus suffered during the scourging! O poor sinners, on the day of judgement how will you face the Jesus whom you are now torturing so cruelly: His blood flowed to the ground, and in some places His flesh started to fall off. I saw a few bare bones on His back. The meek Jesus moaned softly and sighed.

~St. Faustina Kowalska, Diary 188

Listen to the Heartbeat

"One of His disciples, whom Jesus loved, was lying close to the breast of Jesus." (John 13:23)

We must not hurry past this scene in search of deeper revelation, or we will miss a magnificent insight. John lays his head on the heart of God, on the breast of the Man whom the council of Nicea defined as "being co-equal and consubstantial to the Father... God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God."

This passage should not be reduced to a historical memory. It can become a personal encounter, radically affecting our understanding of who God is and what our relationship with Jesus is meant to be. God allows a young Jew, reclining in the rags of his twenty-odd years, to listen to His heartbeat!

~Brennan Manning "Abba's Child"

Anointing of the Sick

In the Eastern Rite an anointing service takes place on Holy Wednesday evening. During the service the following hymns about healing are sung:

Through the prayers of Your holy Apostles,
You have shown us Your favor, O Lord,
for You are easily swayed and love all people
in this holy anointing for the healing
of the wounds and illnesses of all mankind.
Have mercy now upon those who approach
in faith the anointing with this holy oil.
Sanctify them and show them your mercy,
for you are full of compassion.
Purge from them every illness
of soul and body, and grant them
Your incorruptible blessing, O Lord
(Troparia, Tone 4)

With eyes that are spiritually blind
I come to You, O Christ;
and, like the man who was blind since birth,
I cry out to You with repentance:
You are a shining light to those in darkness.
(Kontakion, Tone 4)

O Lord, with Your divine authority,
as You once raised the paralytic,
now raise my soul, paralyzed dreadfully
with all kinds of sin and disgraceful deeds,
that, being saved, I may cry out to You:
Glory to Your power, O merciful Christ.
(Kontakion, Tone 3)

O faithful healers who worked
for the community without pay,
you were fountains of healing,
for you were deemed worthy
of mighty gifts from our Savior,
the everlasting fountain.
As to the zealous workers,
the Lord said to you:
Look, I have given you power
over unclean spirits,
to cast them out and to heal
every sickness and disease.
You were as zealous as the apostles.
As you lifted uprightly
according to the commandments,
you received freely and gave freely,
and healed the ills of soul and body.
(Troparion, Tone 4)

The Hymn of Kassiana

O Lord, the woman who
had fallen into many sins,
sensing Your Divinity,
takes upon herself
the duty of a myrrh-bearer.
With lamentations
she brings you myrrh
in anticipation of
your entombment.
"Woe to me!" she cries,
"for me night has become
a frenzy of licentiousness,
a dark and moonless love of sin.
Receive the fountain of my tears,
O You who gathers into clouds
the waters of the sea.
Incline unto me,
unto the sighings of my heart,
O You who bowed the heavens
by your ineffable condescension.
I will wash your immaculate feet
with kisses and dry them again
with the tresses of my hair;
those very feet at whose sound
Eve hid herself from in fear when
she heard You walking in Paradise
in the twilight of the day.
As for the multitude of my sins
and the depths of Your judgments,
who can search them out,
O Savior of souls, my Savior?
Do not disdain me Your handmaiden,
O You who are boundless in mercy."

~Bridegroom Matins (Byzantine 9th c.)

Fig Monday

O faithful let us fear the
punishment of the fig tree
which was dried up for
not having borne any fruit;
let us offer worthy fruits of
repentance to Christ,
who grants us His great mercy.

Bridegroom Matins, Tone 8
Metropolitan Cantor's Institute

Holy Week Companion

One way to make Holy Week more meaningful is to spend it with a Biblical character. Follow them through the days. Take them with you to church.

The Blessed Virgin Mary: What joy she must have felt as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. A proud Jewish mother thinking "That's my boy!" Then, sorrow as she meets Him on the Via Dolorosa covered in blood and carrying a cross.

St. Peter: "I will not forsake you." Cutting off a servant's ear while defending the lord. Then denying Christ and going into hiding.

St. John: Leaning on Jesus' breast at the Last Supper. Standing at the foot of the Cross.

The Centurion: Mocking Jesus, whipping Him, guarding Him at the Cross. "Surely this man was the Son of God!"

Who will be your traveling partner?

He Descended

What was Jesus doing on Holy Saturday? Well, the Creed says he descended into "Hades". This is not Hell, or what was known as "Gehenna" the place of eternal punishment made for the devil and his demons. It is "Sheol" the place of the dead where they awaited the Messiah. Too often English speakers get the two places confused, as if they are the same place.

That said, I still enjoyed this cartoon despite th common misunderstanding.

Like a Lamb to the Slaughter

They crucified my Lord,
And he never said a mumblin' word.
They crucified my Lord,
And he never said a mumblin' word.
Not a word, not a word, my Lord,

They nailed him to a tree
And he never said a mumblin' word.
They nailed him to a tree
And he never said a mumblin' word.
Not a word, not a word,

They pierced him in the side,
And he never said a mumblin' word.
They pierced him in the side,
And he never said a mumblin' word.
Not a word, not a word, my Lord.

He never said a word my Lord,
He never said a word my Lord.

He bowed his head and died
He bowed his head and died
He bowed his head and died

Oh my Lord, not a word
Lord my Lord, not a word
My Lord, oh my Lord, not a word
Lord my Lord, not a word
My Lord, not a word,
My Lord, a word my Lord, not a word,
Lord my Lord, not a word,
My Lord, not a word, my Lord, a word,
My Lord, not a word, my Lord,
Not a word, not a word

Not a word , not a word, not a word, my Lord
And he never said a mumblin' word, my Lord,
My Lord, my Lord!

A Happy and Kosher Passover

"With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer..." ~Yeshua

"Mo`adim lesimha" to any Jewish readers celebrating Pesach. How appropriate that as you begin your time of fasting and celebration of deliverance, Catholics are doing the same. For us this is Holy Thursday when we remember Jesus celebrating the Passover with His disciples. The first reading of Mass today is from Exodus chapter 12 where God institutes the Passover.

Jesus took it a step further and became the Passover Lamb. When we make the sign of the Cross on our bodies, it resembles the blood placed on the door posts in Egypt.

At that Seder, Jesus declared the wine to be His Blood and the bread to be His Body. This mystery takes place during every Mass.

Jesus was Jewish, His disciples were, and so was the early Church. You can still see it in the vestments, rituals, and symbols found in the Roman and Byzantine Catholic ceremonies.

Stichera for Great Thursday
Christ is now our mighty pascha,
Eaten for our mystic bread:
Take we of His broken Body,
Drink we of the Blood He shed,
As a lamb led out to slaughter,
And for this world offered.

Christ to all the world gives banquet
On that most celestial Meat:
Him, albeit with lips all earthly,
Yet with holy hearts we greet:
Him, the sacrificial Pascha,
Priest and Victim all complete.

~St. Andrew of Crete, Tr. J.M. Neale

If you missed the series "Jewish Roots of Catholicism", you can catch it on GodTube.
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=3a2206b6497d53bc4f30

Walking with the Man of Sorrows

"I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting." (Is 50:6)

Sometimes we stand by as spectators on the Via Dolarosa. Other times we participate by carrying the cross part of the way. During this Holy Week I have suffered much, putting me under the weight of the Cross, uniting me to the suffering of Jesus.

Pope John Paul II said that we are most united to Christ when we suffer. "Through His suffering on the Cross, Christ has prevailed over evil and enables us too to overcome it. Our sufferings become meaningful and precious when united with His. As God and man, Christ has taken upon Himself the sufferings of humanity, and in Him human suffering itself takes on a redemptive meaning. In this union between the human and the divine, suffering brings forth good and overcomes evil."

Not only are we called to suffer with Christ, we must "die" with Him on Good Friday. Die to self, die to the passions. But if we die with Him, we will also rise with Him on Pascha!

This was a tough Lent for me, and Holy Week isn't any easier. But the hope of new life keeps me going.

Pascha is a week away!

"The (willow) branch beats you, not I beat you, Pascha is one week from today!"

This is how Ukrainians and other Slavs greet each other after the Divine Liturgy on Palm Sunday. They do this while tapping each other with blessed willow branches that represent the branches used to welcome our Lord during His entrance into Jerusalem the week before his Passion.

Palm Sunday Troparion (Tone 1) O Christ God, when You raised Lazarus from the dead, before the time of your passion, you confirmed the future resurrection of all. We too, like the children of old, carry before You the symbols of your triumph and victory and cry out to You, the Conqueror of Death: "Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!"

Writing Assignment:
Imagine that you are Lazarus having dinner with Jesus and your sisters after rising from the dead. What would you say? Please post a reply with your answer.