Holy Week in the Desert

HOLY WEEK AT THE MONASTERY


http://www.hrmonline.org/



Office of Holy Anointing on Wednesday of Great and Holy Week














HINT: “great” and/or “royal” are code words for making an already long service even longer
This length of this service depends on the number of priests present. There are now two priests at the monastery which meant that something almost unheard of happened—we skipped from page 24 to page 44 in the service booklet thus reversing the normal course of monastic church going! During the course of this particular service each priest reads a Gospel passage and then anoints those present with blessed oil.



















Since the Bad Bug from Bako has gotten down and dirty with my lungs I savored this healing service more than I might have before. Where else but in Byzantine Catholic churches do phrases such as “incorruptible delight” and “Holy Unmercenaries and Wonderworkers, visit our weaknesses” stand out in comparison to the ploddingly mundane English that is so intentionally inflicted on the faithful who still stumble into Roman Catholic services?















Where else can the ear tickle the mind by addressing God as He who “chastens and heals again, who raises the poor from the earth and exalts the pauper from the dung heap?” Any closing prayer that begins “Attend to the entreaties of your suppliants, O All-blameless, putting an end to the assaults of dire evils upon us and freeing us from every affliction. For we have you as our only safe and sure anchor…” certainly has my attention and appreciation! And when the priest prayed that we would “be no longer a laughing stock to the devil” I remembered the good laugh we had over the camouflaged RV out in Owl Canyon.
























Thursday Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil the Great


















The booklet for this liturgy was 49 pages long and was preceded by nearly half an hour of warm-up. There would be no skipping of pages at this Divine Liturgy! The entire service was two and a half hours—a mere prelude to the main occupation of the next three days! You know you’re in the major leagues when the church service outlasts the candles!

Two and a half hours gives the mind a lot of time to wander and then return to the focus of Holy Thursday. How can one’s brain simultaneously think about the unjust results of American Idol last night, a presidential candidate’s offensive name, while at the same time appreciating the ironic language of “…they are making ready for judgment the One who is coming to judge the living and the dead; they are preparing for the passion of the One who cures the passions…”? But it does.

My mind was also an intersection for remembering the Integretron over in Landers. WHAT?? You have not heard of the Landers’ Integretron? This is a building that a local man built with the whispered help of extraterrestrials! Here is the text from the plaque:




http://www.ufomind.com/area51/list/1997/jan/a12-001.shtml

The Integratron is the creation of George Van Tassel, and is based on the design of Moses’ Tabernacle. The writings of Nikola Tesla, and telepathic directions from Extraterrestrials. The domed structure 35 feet high and 55 feet in diameter, was originally constructed of wood and fiberglass without the aid of metal fastners. In 1947 Van Tassel began operating the giant rock airport a short distance northeast of here, and in 1953 initiated communications with Extra Terrestrials. He subsequently hosted 17 spacecraft conventions for UFO enthusiasts. The purpose of the Integratron is the rejuvenation of the human body, similar to recharging a battery, and basic research in time travel. According to Van Tassel, the Integratron is located on an intersection of powerful geomagnetic forces that, when focuses by the unique geometry of the building, will concentrate and amplify the energy required for cell rejuvenation. This energy is created by the revolution of an external ring at the shoulder of the building, generating electrostatic forces that are fed to the stator centered in the lower room. Construction began in 1957, but was incomplete at Van Tassel’s death in 1978.

Dedicated May 1, 2005
By the Billy Holcomb Chapter of
The Ancient and Honorable Order of E. Clampus Vitus
In cooperation with the Morongo Basin Historical Society

You see how easy it is to digress! Another phrase in the liturgy “consume the thorns of our transgression” triggered a memory from Monday’s trek into the desert when I drove the Jeep into a mesquite bush—a very nasty bush with wicked thorns. More desert “pin striping” on the Jeep!



















I suppose it is our nature to try to hold more than one strand of thought in our consciousness. “Deign to enter the manger of my irrational soul” travels with “Why did Byrdie have to eat the cats’ food and get sick every 20 minutes in Yucca Valley?”

“Never silent hymns and unceasing songs of glory” mingles with “Can you really make a prison shiv with only newspaper and wax off the floor?” (I have this last factoid from a local friend here in the desert who ought to know.)





















The ferocious winds have finally died down. Breathing is a tad easier and with only a quart more body lotion I might not shed my dry skin like a snake. For now the days are good and I’m sure these memories will provide comfort many times during the 2 weeks ahead of me in Denver.