2009 Easter Sunday

After a Holy Week of wind

Easter morning arrived with a blue sky, calm sea;

the sun shining brightly in the sky

gave the day's light to the island Crucifix;

Last night's taper that lit the Paschal candle,

with a Latin prayer from the priest,

seemed now to have spread its flame to the whole world:

Lumen Christi gloriose resurgentis

Dissipet tenebras cordis et mentis.

[May the Light of Christ rising in glory

Scatter the darkness of heart and mind.]

The Easter morning

Sunshine and quiet stillness:

Earth, flowers and sky express an Easter Alleluia!

In the spirit of Easter

The stand for the Stronsay Paschal Candle

is borne to the waiting boat.

Our Paschal Candle for Stronsay...

Yes, shorter than normal by far....

....another peep into remote island life....

The two Paschal candles that arrived by post,

one for Papa Stronsay the other for Stronsay,

arrived as four even though marked Fragile.

It was too late to do anything other than

revamp last year's candles.

The image of the Crucified

Glorious and Risen

The Cantors

In Alleluias and Jubilations

Their voices carried mortal men

-and perhaps even angels- ...

all who would

were raised aloft as on Eagles' wings.

Baptised into His death we are raised to new life,

Incensed as the Temples of the Living God,

Members of the Mystical Body of Christ...

The Easter Acolytes

They stand, dressed in white, all aflame

representing the Angels of the Resurrection:

"Now as she was weeping,

she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre;

and she saw two angels in white...

they said to her,

Woman, why weepest thou?..."

(John 20)

The Easter Gospel

"...You seek Jesus of Nazareth,

who was crucified:

He is risen,

He is not here;

behold the place where they laid Him:

but go tell his disciples, and Peter...." (Mark 16)

Incensing of the Crucifix and the Altar
Incensing of the Members of the
Mystical Body of Christ
When words, chant, incense,

flowers, flames and alleluias
all run their course and fall short;
when there is still more needed,

to express what we know,

cannot in time or eternity

be expressed by us;
when the mystery is utterly ineffable;
mortal man goes on,

trying at the impossible,
by ringing out

with the bells of angels' voices:
"...Scimus Christum surrexisse
a mortuis vere:
Tu nobis Victor Rex,
Miserere. Amen. Alleluia.
...We know that Christ indeed has risen from the grave;
Hail Thou King of Victory,
Have mercy Lord, and save. Amen. Alleluia! "