Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

The strife is o’er, the battle done;
The victory of life is won;
The song of triumph has begun: Alleluia!

The powers of death have done their worst;
But Christ their legions hath dispersed;
Let shouts of holy joy outburst: Alleluia!

The three sad days are quickly sped;
He rises glorious from the dead;
All glory to our risen Head! Alleluia!

He closed the yawning gates of hell;
The bars from heaven’s high portals fell;
Let hymns of praise His triumphs tell! Alleluia!

Lord, by the stripes which wounded Thee,
From death’s dread sting Thy servants free,
That we may live, and sing to Thee: Alleluia!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Sábado Santo

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


I grew up on Okinawa. People bury their loved ones in family tombs, and these tombs cover the hillsides of the island. When we first returned to the U.S., we were confused as the hills around San José, California, had no tombs at all. This style tomb is called Kamedo-baka, or Turtle-back tomb. When I think of Jesus' body in the tomb for three days, I can't help but imagine it was a tomb like this.

Viernes Santo en Parroquia San Cristóbal

We had our service of the Three Hours today, and we clocked in at 3 hours 3 minutes, which makes up for last year when we clocked in at 2 hours 45 minutes. We start with Vía Cruzes, the Stations of the Cross. Here is a photo of Mrs. Kelly at Station 7, Jesus Falls A Second Time. Mrs. Kelley was our neighbor when we lived in Paraíso, and she also works with Mona at el Hogar de Niñas on occasion. She helped Mona when she used to give swimming lessons to the girls. But I digress. . .

After the Stations of the Cross, we used the service in the Prayer Book, with several hymns, and Padre Cáceres and I offered two meditations each. The sky opened up and the first really hard rain of the season took place during Padre Cáceres' meditation on the Arrest of Jesus. The thunder broke out during my meditation on the Trial of Jesus, but I figure it wasn't God's displeasure with my meditation, as the thunder continued during Padre Cáceres' meditiation on the Crucifixion.
Here is a fóto of Reverendo Canonigo Luis Cáceres and myself in silent prayer before the Altar.


The Lovely Mona and I came home and had lunch. I watched The Last Temptation of Christ while she wrote papers for class.

Easter Vigil tomorrow!! My Favorite service of the entire year!!!

Good Friday

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your
family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be
betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer
death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


Ah, holy Jesus, how hast Thou offended,
That man to judge Thee hath in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by Thine own rejected,
O most afflicted.

Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon Thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone Thee.
’Twas I, Lord, Jesus, I it was denied Thee!
I crucified Thee.

Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered;
The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered;
For man’s atonement, while he nothing heedeth,
God intercedeth.

For me, kind Jesus, was Thy incarnation,
Thy mortal sorrow, and Thy life’s oblation;
Thy death of anguish and Thy bitter passion,
For my salvation.

Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay Thee,
I do adore Thee, and will ever pray Thee,
Think on Thy pity and Thy love unswerving,
Not my deserving.

Jueves Santo en Parroquia San Cristóbal

Tonight we had our Maunday Thursday or Jueves Santo service at San Cristóbal,
just like you did at your parish. We did all the stuff you did at your parish: feet washing, procession of the Reserved Sacrament to the Garden of Repose, and the Stripping of the Altar and the cleaning of the chancel with the left over chrism oil. Our Holy Week services are all bilingual, so that may different from what you do at your parish.




One tradition at St. Christopher's that I hadn't encountered anywhere else also happens on Maunday Thursday. My first year at St. Christopher's, after we had stripped the altar, an acolyte suddenly appeared at my side holding the chalice with the left over wine from the Eucharist and an elaborately folded palm. She told me I was to pour the wine on the altar and spread it about with the palm. I was amazed by this tradition, because I realized immediately what I was to do; it is similar to the purification ritual of Yom Kippur as detailed in Leviticus 16:18-19. This has become a very important part of my Holy Week observance.

Tomorrow is Good Friday. In Panama everything closes down for Good Friday. Actually, most businesses closed at noon today. Even the television and radio stations go off the air for Good Friday. It is also against the law to buy or sell alcohol on Good Friday. They tape off the alcohol section in the grocery store with that yellow tape used at crime scenes; you can't even go down that aisle! From what I understand, this is to keep drunk bozos from going out and hurting Jews after hearing the terrible version of the Passion from the Gospel of John.

Photos by the Lovely Mona.


All Regular Friday Features Will Be Suspended For Good Friday But Will Return Next Week.

Maunday Thursday

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he
suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood:
Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in
remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy
mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.


Jesu, Jesu,
Fill us with Your love, show us how to serve
The neighbors we have from You.

Kneels at the feet of his friends,
Silently washes their feet,
Master who acts as a slave to them.

Jesu, Jesu,
Fill us with Your love, show us how to serve
The neighbors we have from You.

Neighbors are rich and poor,
Neighbors are black and white,
Neighbors are near and far away.

Jesu, Jesu,
Fill us with Your love, show us how to serve
The neighbors we have from You.

These are the ones we should serve,
These are the ones we should love;
All these are neighbors to us and You.

Jesu, Jesu,
Fill us with Your love, show us how to serve
The neighbors we have from You.

Loving puts us on our knees,
Serving as though we are slaves,
This is the way we should live with You.

Jesu, Jesu,
Fill us with Your love, show us how to serve
The neighbors we have from You.

Kneel at the feet of our friends,
Silently washing their feet,
This is the way we should live with You.

Jesu, Jesu,
Fill us with Your love, show us how to serve
The neighbors we have from You.


Thou, Who at Thy first Eucharist didst pray
That all Thy Church might be forever one,
Grant us that ev’ry Eucharist to say
With longing heart and soul, “Thy will be done.”
O may we all one bread, one body be,
Through this blest sacrament of unity.

For all Thy Church, O Lord, we intercede;
Make Thou our sad divisions soon to cease;
Draw us the nearer each to each, we plead,
By drawing all to Thee, O Prince of Peace;
Thus may we all one bread, one body be,
Through this blest sacrament of unity.

We pray Thee too for wand’rers from Thy fold;
O bring them back, good Shepherd of the sheep,
Back to the faith which saints believed of old,
Back to the Church which still that faith doth keep;
Soon may we all one bread, one body be,
Through this blest sacrament of unity.

So, Lord, at length when sacraments shall cease,
May we be one with all Thy Church above,
One with Thy saints in one unbroken peace,
One with Thy saints in one unbounded love;
More blessèd still, in peace and love to be
One with the Trinity in Unity.

The First Night of Passover

Janet Levi, artist

So we're catching up with the events of Monday. The Lovely Mona has posted about her visit to the Hogar, and I will continue with our Seder on the first night of Passover.
The Seder was held at Janet Levi's home. Janet is an artist and believes in Utilitarian Art, art on useful objects. Much of her artwork is on bateas, wooden trays. She also turns tables, chairs, and other furniture in to pieces of art, a gift she shares with our own Leonardo Ricardo. It was great to share the traditions of the Seder surrounded by family and Janet's art.

So here are some photos of our Seder and of Janet's artwork, used with her permission.
As always, click on photo for larger, more detailed version





You can see more of Janet Levi's artwork here.






This post has been visited by the Alter Guild

Monday at the Hogar

It was really a quiet day at the Hogar. I first worked with Rosa Mari, then Estefani. Sinilda and her sister were at the hospital because they have some problem with their mouth which you can read about in Tia Sue’s blog.

Johana had cut her foot in a painful accident on Sunday. The girls carry her because she can't walk on it. Enibeth brought her my books to read. Johana told me some time ago that Enibeth was her best friend. I don’t doubt it because they are always together when I’m there.

Some of the girls wanted me to take a foto of them so here they are. Aren’t they cute?

Foto 1 Rosa Mari

Foto 2 Estefani practicing cursive

Foto 3 Johana reading

Foto 4 New girl whose name I don't know

Foto 5 Carla

Foto 6 Enibeth

Foto 7 Carla and Sol.

Special Holy Week Edition

Our dear friends at the Diocese of Wenchoster, who, of course, are in Full Communion with the Real Live Orthodox Episcopal Anglican Protestant Catholic Pentecostal Evangelical Fundamentalist Christian Church of All the Americas and Actually the Entire Globe; Yeah, that's Right, We Include the Global South, the Global North AND the Global Center, So Where Else Ya Gonna Go? also known as the RLOEAPCPEFCCAAAEGYRWIGSGNAGCSWEYGG or The True, Really, I Mean It, Church™, have a special Holy Week edition of the Pharisaios Journal. It is your Holy Week duty to visit them.

A Nuddah New Blog!

My friend Matty Boy has started a blog, as he mentioned in the comments down dere somewheah. Dis blog he call it Lotsa ‘Splainin’ 2 Do, and believe me, he does.

He is also a big deal writer at The Smirking Chimp. I used to go there but now they are always asking for money, and I feel that's my job.

Matty Boy and I played in The Wonders Of Science, a kinda synth-pop band in the early 1980's. That's where these pictures come from.

We were a bit ahead of our time and didn't catch on, but we were recently pleased to discover we have fans in Sweden.
Then there was our short-lived sit-com "The Math Professor and the Priest" but since he was designing video games for Activision and I was a Purchasing Agent for United Technologies at the time, they decided to cancel us after our first promo aired. Of course, now he IS a Math Professor and I IS a priest, so maybe we should shop it around again.

But I digress... Padre says, "Check it out!"

We Now Return To Our Regular Programming

Thursday Mr. Green, our Senior Warden, and Mr. Hudson, our Sexton, drove to Summit Gardens in Parque Soberania to search for palms for Sunday. Every year I write a letter to the head of the park requesting permission to find palm fronds and every year they are very cooperative. Mr. Green and Mr. Hudson gathered enough palms for both of our services and for the folks at St. Alban's in Paraíso and St. Simon's in Gamboa. The ladies of the Altar Guild spent several hours Saturday cleaning and trimming the palms. Here is a photo of the palms, waiting their cleaning. We cover them with old bed spreads and water them regularly so they will be nice and pliant on Sunday; everyone spends their time folding them into crosses during the dramatic reading of Christ's Passion.


The following photos are of our Palm Sunday service at 7:30 am and Domingo de Ramos misa at 10:30 am.

1. Congregation gathering for the Liturgy of the Palms
2. The Altar Party
3. Listening to the Gospel
4. Blessing the palms
5. Another shot of the blessing of the palms
6. Proper stance for hitting the back row
7. The procession
8. The congregation in procession
9. Ms. Patsy Pusey with the thurible
10. Comin' at ya!
11. The Altar
12. El Congegación
13. El Coro
14. Blessing palms again
15. Procesión



















































The Altar Guild held a bake sale between services. There was yuca-pone, empanadas de bacalao, muchas dulces and the Lovely Mona's popular chocolate chip cookies.





All in all, a very nice Domingo de Ramos here in Parque Lefevre.

It's the first night of Passover and our extended family is holding our family Seder tonight. I may have photos of our gathering tomorrow.

And The Winner Is. . .

I must admit that I am a little disappointed in the April Fools posts for the "Left, so-called" Anglican or Episcopal Blogosphere. I made my small attempt (which has really brought up my stats!) and Stand Firm made an attempt (why are conservatives, oops, I mean reasserters, so lacking in a sense of humour? Kendall Harmon will give up blogging! PUHLEEZE!! That's the best they could come up with?) But the best April Fools post award goes to The Diocese of Saskatchewan Simply brillant!!! My favorite was the post "Virginia Parishoners Object as Services Switched from English to Yoruba" post, but the "Episcopal Church Fights Colonialism" post came in as a strong second.

At least someone has a great sense of humour!!

Thanks to Eileen, Psuedopiskie, Beliefnet, and Father Jake Stops the World for sending people to the Dance Party today. Tomorrow I will post photos from our Domingo de los Ramos services.