Through The Watches Of The Night
_________________________________
Picture taken after Compline in the Abbey Church of Mount Saint Bernard’s Trappist monastery, Leicestershire, England
The Liturgy Of The Hours: Compline
“We entrust ourselves to the night as if it were a great ocean from which we can fish up all sorts of wonderful things..”
From The Music of Silence by David Steindl-Rast
Compline completes the Liturgy of the Hours.
Its end marks the beginning of the Great Silence
________________________
“Let all mortal flesh keep silence..”
Picture taken at sunset, Kopua Monastery, New Zealand
Related posts
The Liturgy Of The Hours: Vigils
A full moon lights the way to vigils.
Requiem Introit
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
A hymn becomes you, O God, in Zion,
and to you shall a vow be repaid in Jerusalem.
Hear my prayer;
to you shall all flesh come.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
________________________
Picture taken on the way to 4:00am Vigils, at Southern Star Abbey, Kopua Monastery. New Zealand
Putting On A Show: Night And Day
Darkness falls.
But shooting is now seriously behind schedule.
The film-set cannot sleep.
________________
________________
Picture taken in Fort Cochin
Twilight Traders
________________
We had experienced the magic of its palace and the piety of its temples. Our time in Mysore was almost over.
After taking our last evening meal in one of the city’s many restaurants, we walked back to the hotel through the city’s dark but still crowded streets.
________________
________________
In India, even at night, the shops remain busy.
________________
Ships That Pass In The Night
________________
“Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,
Only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence”
________________
“I look far out into the pregnant night,
Where I can hear a solemn booming gun
And catch the gleaming of a random light,
That tells me that the ship I seek is passing, passing.”
________________
________________
________________
Neither Use Nor Ornament 