Octave of Easter
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
Hæc dies quam fecit Dominus: exsultemus et lætemur in ea.
This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein.
AFTER having glorified the Lamb of God, and the Passover whereby our Lord destroyed our enemies; after having celebrated our deliverance by water, and our entrance into the Promised Land; let us now fix our respectful gaze upon him whose triumph is prefigured by all these prodigies. So dazzling is the glory that now beams from this Man-God, that, like the prophet of Patmos, we shall fall prostrate before him. But he is so wonderful, too, in his love, that he will encourage us to enjoy the grand vision: he will say to us, as he did to his disciple: ‘Fear not! I am the First, and the Last; and alive, and was dead; and behold! I am living for ever and ever, and have the keys of death and of hell.’[1]
Yes, he is now Master of death, which had held him captive; he holds in his hand the keys of hell. These expressions of Scripture signify that he has power over death and the tomb; he has conquered them. Now the first use he makes of his victory is to make us partakers of it. Let us adore his infinite goodness; and, in accordance with the wish of holy Church, let us meditate to-day upon the effects wrought in each one of ourselves by the mystery of the Pasch. Jesus says to his beloved disciple: 'I am alive, and was dead the day will come when we also shall triumphantly say: 'We are living, and we were dead!
Death awaits us; it is daily advancing towards us; we cannot escape its vengeance. ‘The wages of sin is death’:[2] in these few words of Scripture, we are taught how death is not only universal, but even necessary; for we have all sinned. This, however, does not make the law less severe; nor can we help seeing a frightful disorder in the violent separation of soul and body, which were united together by God himself. If we would truly understand death, we must remember that God made man immortal: this will explain the instinctive dread we have of death, a dread which one thing alone can conquer; and that is, the spirit of sacrifice. In the death, then, of each one of us there is the handiwork of sin, and consequently a victory won by Satan: nay, there would be a humiliation for our Creator himself, were it not that, by sentencing us to this punishment, he satisfied his justice.
This is man’s well-merited but terrible condemnation. What can he hope for? Never to die? It would be folly: the sentence is clear, and none may escape. Can he hope that this body, which is to become first a corpse, and then be turned into a mere handful of dust, will one day return to life, and be reunited to the soul for which it was made? But who could bring about the reunion of an immortal substance with one that was formerly united with it, but has now seemingly been annihilated? And yet, O man! this is to be thy lot! Thou shalt rise again; that poor body of thine, which is to die, to be buried, forgotten, and humbled, shall be restored to life. Yea, it even now comes forth from the tomb, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ; our future resurrection is accomplished in his; it is to-day that we are made as sure of our resurrection as we are of our death. This, too, makes part of our glorious feast, our Pasch!
God did not, at the beginning, reveal this miracle of his power and goodness: all he said to Adam was: ‘In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken; for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.’[3] Not a word, not an allusion, which gives the culprit the least hope with reference to that portion of himself which is thus doomed to death and the grave. It was fitting that the ungrateful pride, which had led man to rebel against his Maker, should be humbled. Later on the great mystery was revealed at least partially. Four thousand years ago, a poor sufferer, whose body was covered with ulcers, spoke these words of hope: ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth. And I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see God: this my hope is laid up in my bosom.’[4]
But, in order that Job’s hope might be realized, this Redeemer, of whom he spoke, had to come down to this earth, give battle to death, feel its pang, and finally conquer it. He came at the time fixed by the divine decree. He came, not indeed to prevent us from dying (for the sentence of God’s justice was absolute), but to die himself, and so take away from death its bitterness and humiliation. Like to those devoted physicians, who have been known to inoculate themselves with the virus of contagion, our Jesus 'swallowed down death,’[5] as the Apostle forcibly expresses it. But the enemy’s joy was soon at an end; for the Man-God rose to die no more; and by his Resurrection, he won that same right for us.
Henceforth, then, we must see the grave under a new aspect. The earth will receive our bodies, but only to yield them back again, just as she yields back a hundredfold the seed that was confided to her. Her great Creator will, at some future day, bid her restore the deposit he entrusted to her. The archangel's trumpet will give the signal of his command; and in the twinkling of an eye, the whole human race will rise up from the grave, and proclaim the final defeat of death. For the just it will be a Pasch, a continuation of the Pasch we are now celebrating.
Who could describe the joy we shall experience at such a meeting! Our soul, after, it may be, a separation of hundreds of years, united once more to that essential part of her being, the body! She, perhaps, has been all that time enjoying the beatific vision; but the whole man was not there; our happiness was not complete, because that of the body was wanting; and in the midst of the soul's rapturous felicity, there was a trace still left of the punishment to which man was condemned, when our first parents sinned. Our merciful God would not, now that his Son has opened the gates of heaven, wait till the general resurrection to reward the souls of his elect with the vision; and yet these elect have not their whole glory and happiness until that last day comes and puts the last finish to the mystery of man's redemption. Jesus, our King and our Head, wills that we his members shall sing with him the song that comes from his own divine lips, and that each of us shall say for all eternity: 'I am living, and I was dead!' Mary, who on the third day after her death was united to her sinless body, longs to see her devoted children united with her in heaven; but wholly and entirely, soul and body: and this will be, when the tomb has done its work of purification.
The holy angels, whose ranks are waiting to be filled up by the elect among men, are affectionately looking forward to that happy day, when the glorified bodies of the just will spring up, like the loveliest of earth's flowers, to beautify the land of spirits. One of their joys consists in gazing upon the resplendent bodies of Jesus and Mary—of Jesus, who, even as Man, is their King as well as ours, and of Mary, whom they reverence as their Queen. What a feast-day, then, will they count that, whereon we, their brothers and sisters, whose souls have been long their companions in bliss, shall be revested with the robe of flesh, sanctified, and fitted for union with our radiant souls! What a canticle of fresh joy will ring through heaven, as it then receives within itself all the grandeur and beauty of creation! The angels who were present at Jesus' Resurrection were filled with admiration at the sight of this Body, which was, indeed, of a lower nature than themselves, but whose dazzling glory exceeded all the splendour of the angelic host together: will they not gladly hail our arrival, after our resurrection? Will they not welcome us with fraternal congratulations, when they see us, members as we are of this same risen Jesus, clad in the same gorgeous robe of glory as he, who is their God?
The sensual man never gives a thought to the eternal glory and happiness of the body: he acknowledges the resurrection of the flesh as an article of faith, but it is not an object of his hope. He cares but for the present; material, carnal pleasures being all he aspires to, he considers his body as an instrument of self-gratification, which, as it lasts so short a time, must be the more quickly used. There is no respect in the love he bears to his body; hence he fears not to defile it; and after a few years of insult, which he calls enjoyment, it becomes the food of worms and corruption. And yet this sensual man accuses the Church of being an enemy to the body! the Church that so eloquently proclaims its dignity, and the glorious destiny that awaits it! He is a tyrant, and a tyrant is ever an impudent calumniator. The Church warns us of the dangers to which the body exposes the soul; she tells us of the infectious weakness that came to the flesh by original sin; she instructs us as to the means we should employ for making it ‘serve justice unto sanctification’;[6] but far from forbidding us to love the body, she reveals to us a truth which should incite us to true charity, namely, that it is destined to endless glory and happiness. When laid on the bed of death, the Church honours it with the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, fitting it for immortality by anointing it with holy oil; she is present at the departure of the soul from this the companion of her combats, and from which she is to be separated till the day of the general judgement; she respectfully bums incense over the body when dead; for, from the hour of its Baptism, she has regarded it as something holy; and to the surviving friends of the departed one, she addresses these inspired words of consolation: ‘Be not sorrowful, even as others, who have no hope!’[7] But what is this hope? That same which comforted Job: ‘In my flesh I shall see my God.’
Thus does our holy faith reveal to us the future glory of our body; thus does it encourage, by supernatural motives, the instinctive love borne by the soul for this essential portion of our being. It unites together the two dogmas: our Lord's Pasch, and the resurrection of our body. The Apostle assures us of the close relation that exists between them, and says: ‘If Christ be not risen again, your faith is vain; if the dead rise not again, neither is Christ risen again:’[8] so that Jesus' Resurrection and our resurrection seem to be parts of one and the same truth. Hence the sort of forgetfulness, which is nowadays so common, of this important dogma of the’resurrection of the body,' is a sad proof of the decay of lively faith. Such people believe in a future resurrection, for the Creed is too explicit to leave room for doubt; but the hope which Job had is seldom the object of their thoughts or desires. They say that what they are anxious about, both for themselves and for those that are dear to them, is what will become of the soul after this life: they do well to look to this; but they should not forget what religion teaches them regarding the resurrection of the body; by professing it, they not only have a fresh incentive to virtue, but they also render testimony to the Resurrection of Jesus, whereby he gained victory over death, both for himself and for us. They should remember that they are in this world only to confess, by their words and actions, the truths that God has revealed. It is therefore not enough that they believe in the immortality of the soul; the resurrection of the body must also be believed and professed.
We find this article of our holy faith continually represented in the catacombs: its several symbols formed, together with the Good Shepherd, quite the favourite subject of primitive Christian art. In those early ages of the Church, when to receive Baptism was to break entirely with the sensuality of previous habits of life, this consoling dogma of the resurrection of the body was strongly urged upon the minds of the neophytes. Any of them might be called upon to suffer martyrdom: the thought of the future glory that awaited their flesh inspired them with courage when the hour of trial came. Thus we read so very frequently in the Acts of the Martyrs, how, when in the midst of their most cruel torments, they declared that what supported them was the certain hope of the resurrection of the body. How many Christians are there nowadays who are cowardly in the essential duties of their state of life, simply because they never think of this important dogma of their faith!
The soul is more than the body; but the body is an essential portion of our being. It is our duty to treat it with great respect, because of its sublime destiny. If we at present chastise it and keep it in subjection, it is because its present state requires such treatment. We chastise it because we love it. The martyrs and all the saints loved their bodies far more than does the most sensual voluptuary: they, by sacrificing it, saved it; he, by pampering it, exposes it to eternal suffering. Let us be on our guard: sensualism is akin to naturalism. Sensualism will have it that there is no happiness for the body but such as this present life can give; and with this principle its degradation causes no remorse. Naturalism is that propensity we have to judge of everything by mere natural light, whereas we cannot possibly know the glorious future for which God has created us except by faith. If, therefore, the Christian can see what the Son of God has done for our bodies by the divine Resurrection we are now celebrating, and feel neither love nor hope, he may be sure that his faith is weak; and if he would not lose his soul, let him henceforth be guided by the word of God, which alone can teach him what he is now, and what he is called to be hereafter.
At Rome, the Station is in the basilica of the twelve Apostles. The neophytes were brought, to-day, into the church dedicated to the witnesses of the Resurrection, where repose the bodies of two out of the twelve: St Philip and St James the Less. In the Mass, frequent allusions are made to the apostolic labours of these heralds of our risen Jesus; they preached his Name throughout the world, and all ages shall hear their teachings.
MASS
The Introit is taken from the Book of Wisdom. It tells us of the heavenly eloquence of the Apostles, who, at first, were dumband timid as little children. Divine wisdom changed them into other men, so that they everywhere published the victory of the Man-God.
Introit
Victricem manum tuam, Domine, laudaverunt pariter, alleluia: quia Sapientia aperuit os mutum, et linguas infantium fecit disertas. Alleluia, alleluia.
Ps. Cantate Domino canticum novum: quia mirabilia fecit.
℣. Gloria Patri.
Victricem.
They praised with one accord thy victorious hand, O Lord, alleluia: for wisdom hath opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the tongues of infants eloquent. Alleluia, alleluia.
Ps. Sing to the Lord a new song: for he hath done wonderful things.
℣. Glory, etc.
They praised, etc.
The Collect alludes to the effect produced by the preaching of the Apostles—the union of all nations into one family. The neophytes, by their Baptism, have been admitted into this great unity: the Church prays that God would preserve them in it, by his grace.
Collect
Deus, qui diversitatem gentium in confessione tui Nominis adunasti: da ut renatis fonte baptismatis una sit fides mentium, et pietas actionum. Per Dominum.
O God, who hast united various nations in the confession of thy Name: grant that they who have been born again by the water of Baptism, may have the same faith in their hearts, and the same piety in their actions. Through, etc.
Then is added one of the two Collects given in yesterday's Mass, p. 218.
Epistle
Lectio Actuum Apostolorum.
Cap. viii.
In diebus illis: Angelus Domini locutus est ad Philippum, dicens: Surge et vade contra meridianum ad viam, quæ descendit ab Jerusalem in Gazam: hæc est deserta. Et surgens abiit. Et ecce vir Æthiops, eunuchus potens Candacis reginæ Æthiopum, qui erat super omnes gazas ejus, venerat adorare in Jerusalem: et revertebatur sedens super currum suum, legensque Isaiam prophetam. Dixit autem Spiritus Philippo: Accede, et adjunge te ad currum istum. Accurrens autem Philippus, audivit eum legentem Isaiam prophetam, et dixit: Putasne intelligis quæ legis? Qui ait: Et quomodo possum, si non aliquis ostenderit mihi? Rogavitque Philippum ut ascenderet, et sederet secum. Locus autem Scripturæ quam legebat, erat hic: Tanquam ovis ad occisionem ductus est: et sicut agnus coram tondente se, sine voce, sic non aperuit os suum. In humilitate judicium ejus sublatum est. Generationem ejus quis enarrabit, quoniam tolletur de terra vita ejus? Respondens autem eunuchus Philippo, dixit: Obsecro te, de quo propheta dicit hoc? de se, an de alio aliquo? Aperiens autem Philippus os suum, et incipiens a Scriptura ista, evangelizavit illi Jesum. Et dum irent per viam, venerunt ad quamdam aquam: et ait eunuchus: Ecce aqua, quid prohibet me baptizan? Dixit autem Philippus: Si credis ex toto corde, licet. Et respondens ait: Credo Filium Dei esse Jesum Christum. Et jussit stare currum: et descenderunt uterque in aquam, Philippus et eunuchus, et baptizavit eum. Cum autem ascendissent de aqua, Spiritus Domini rapuit Philippum, et amplius non vidit eum eunuchus. Ibat autem per viam suam gaudens. Philippus autem inventus est in Azoto, et pertransiens evangelizabat civitatibus cunctis, donec veniret Cæsaream, nomen Domini Jesu Christi.
Lesson from the Acts of the Apostles.
Ch. viii.
In those days: An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying: Arise, go towards the south, to the way that goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza: this is desert. And rising up he went. And behold a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge over all her treasures, had come to Jerusalem to adore. And he was returning, sitting in his chariot, and reading Isaias the prophet. And the Spirit said to Philip: Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip running thither, heard him reading the prophet Isaias, and he said: Thinkest thou that thou understandest what thou readest? Who said: And how can I, unless some man show me? and he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. And the place of the Scripture which he was reading was this: 'He was led as a sheep to the slaughter: and like a lamb without voice before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth. In humility his judgement was taken away. His generation who shall declare, for his life shall be taken from the earth?' And the eunuch answering Philip, said: I beseech thee, of whom doth the prophet speak this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opening his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came to a certain water; and the eunuch said: See, here is water, what doth hinder me from being baptized? And Philip said: If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest, And he answering, said: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more. And he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found in Azotus, and passing through, he preached the Gospel to all the cities till he came to Cesarea.
The Church, by this passage from the Acts of the Apostles, would remind her neophytes of the sublime grace of their Baptism, and under what condition they have been regenerated. God put the opportunity of salvation in their path, as he sent Philip to the eunuch. He gave them a desire to know the truth, in the same manner as he inspired this servant of Queen Candace to read what was to occasion his being instructed in the faith of Christ. This pagan, had he chosen, might have received the instructions of God’s messenger with mistrust and indifference, and so have resisted the grace that was offered him; but no, he opened his heart, and faith filled it. Our neophytes did the same; they were docile, and God’s word enlightened them; they went on from light to light, until at length the Church recognized them as true disciples of the faith. Then came the feast of the Pasch, and this mother of souls said to herself: ‘Lo here is water—the water that purifies, the water that issued from Jesus’ side when opened by the spear: what hinders them from being baptized?' Having confessed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, they were baptized, as was the Ethiopian of our Epistle, in the life-giving waters: like him, they are about to continue the journey of life, rejoicing, for they are risen with Christ, who has graciously vouchsafed to associate the joy of their new birth with that of his own triumph.
Gradual
Hæc dies quam fecit Dominus: exsultemus et lætemur in ea.
℣. Lapidem quem reprobaverunt ædificantes, hic factus est in caput anguli: a Domino factum est istud, et est mirabile in oculis nostris.
Alleluia, alleluia.
℣. Surrexit Christus, qui creavit omnia: et misertus est humano generi.
This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein.
℣. The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is wonderful in our eyes.
Alleluia, alleluia.
℣. Christ is risen, who created all things, and hath shown mercy to mankind.
The Sequence, Victimæ Paschali, p. 145.
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem.
Cap. xx.
In illo tempore: Maria stabat ad monumentum foris, plorans. Dum ergo fleret, inclinavit se, et prospexit in monumentum: et vidit duos angelos in albis sedentes, unum ad caput, et unum ad pedes, ubi positum fuerat corpus Jesu. Dicunt ei illi: Mulier, quid ploras? Dicit eis: Quia tulerunt Dominum meum: et nescio ubi posuerunt eum. Hæc cum dixisset, conversa est retrorsum, et vidit Jesum stantem: et non sciebat quia Jesus est. Dicit ei Jesus: Mulier, quid ploras? quem quæris?Illa existimans quia hortulanus esset, dicit ei: Domine, si tu sustulisti eum, dicito mihi ubi posuisti eum: et ego eum tollam. Dicit ei Jesus: Maria. Conversa illa, dicit ei: Rabboni (quod dicitur magister). Dicit ei Jesus: Noli me tangere, nondum enim ascendi ad Patrem meum. Vade autem ad fratres meos, et dic eis: Ascendo ad Patrem meum et Patrem vestrum, Deum meum et Deum vestrum. Venit Maria Magdalene annuntians discipulis: quia vidi Dominum, et hæc dixit mihi.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to John.
Ch. xx.
At that time: Mary stood at the sepulchre without, weeping. Now as she was weeping, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre: and she saw two angels in white sitting one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid. They say to her: Woman, why weepest thou? She saith to them: Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing; and she knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith to her: Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She thinking that it was the gardener, saith to him: Sir, if thou hast taken him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him: and I will take him away. Jesus saith to her: Mary, She, turning, saith to him: Rabboni (which is to say, Master). Jesus saith to her: Do not touch me, for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say to them: I ascend to my Father, and to your Father, to my God. and your God. Mary Magdalen cometh, and telleth the disciples: I have seen the Lord, and these things he said to me.
To-day’s Station is in the basilica of the twelve Apostles; and, instead of patting before us any of the apparitions related by the Gospel as having been made to his Apostles by our Saviour, after his Resurrection, the Church reads to us the one wherewith Magdalen was honoured. Why thus apparently forget the very heralds and ambassadors of the New Law? The reason is obvious. By thus honouring her, whom our Lord selected as the Apostle of his Apostles, the Church would put before us, in their full truth, the circumstances of the day of the Resurrection. It was through Magdalen and her companions that the apostolate of the grandest mystery of our Jesus’ life upon earth began; they have every right, therefore, to be honoured to-day in the basilica which is sacred to the holy Apostles.
God is all-powerful, and delights in showing himself in that which is weakest; he is infinitely good and glorious in rewarding such as love him. This explains how it was that our Jesus gave to Magdalen and her companions the first proofs of his Resurrection, and so promptly consoled them. They were even weaker than the Bethlehem shepherds; they were, therefore, the objects of a higher preference. The Apostles themselves were weaker than the weakest of the earthly powers they were to bring into submission; hence, they too were initiated into the mystery of Jesus’ triumph. But Magdalen and her companions had loved their Master even to the Cross and in his tomb, whereas the Apostles had abandoned him; they therefore had a better claim than the Apostles to Jesus’ generosity, and richly did he satisfy the claim.
Let us attentively consider the sublime spectacle of the Church receiving the knowledge of that mystery, which is the basis of her faith, the Resurrection. After Mary—in whom the light of faith never waned, and to whom, as the sinless Mother, was due the first manifestation—who were the first to be illumined with that faith whereby the Church lives? Magdalen and her companions. For several hours, this was the ‘little flock’ on which Jesus looked with complacency: little, indeed, and weak in the world’s estimation, but grand, as being the noblest work of grace. Yet a short time, and the Apostles will be added to the number; yea, the whole world will form a part of this elect group. The Church now sings these words in every country of the earth: 'Tell us, O Mary! what thou sawest on the way!' And Mary Magdalen tells the Church the mystery: 'I saw the sepulchre of Christ, and the glory of him that rose.’
Nor must we be surprised that women were the first to form, around the Son of God, the Church of believers, the Church resplendent with the brightness of the Resurrection: it is the continuation of that divine plan, the commencement of which we have already respectfully studied. It was by woman that the work of God was marred in the beginning; he willed that it should berepaired by woman. On the day of the Annunciation, we found the second Eve making good by her own obedience the disobedience of the first; and now, at Easter, God honours Magdalen and her companions in preference even to the Apostles. We repeat it: these facts show us not so much a personal favour conferred upon individuals, as the restoration of woman to her lost dignity. 'The woman,' says St Ambrose, ‘was the first to taste the food of death; she is destined to be the first witness of the Resurrection. By proclaiming this mystery, she will atone for her fault;[9] therefore is it that she, who heretofore had announced sin to man, was sent by the Lord to announce the tidings of salvation to men, and to make known to them his grace.’[10] Others of the holy Fathers speak in the same strain. They tell us that God, in the distribution of the gifts of his grace, gives woman the first place. And in what happened at the Resurrection, they recognize not merely an act of the supreme will of the Master, but, moreover, a well-deserved reward for the love Jesus met with from these humble women; a love which he did not receive from his Apostles, though he had treated them, for the last three years of his life, with every mark of intimacy and affection, and had every right to expect them to be courageous in their devotedness towards him.
Magdalen stands as a queen amidst her holy companions. She is most dear to Jesus; she has loved him more than did all the rest of his friends; she has been more heart-broken at seeing him suffer; she has been more earnest in paying honour to the sacred Body of her buried Master. She is well-nigh beside herself, until she has found him; and when she at length meets him and finds Jesus himself, still living, and still full of love for Magdalen, she could die for very joy I She would show him her delight, but Jesus checks her, saying: Touch me not! for I am not yet ascended to my Father!
Jesus is no longer subject to the conditions of mortality. True, his human will be eternally united with his divine nature; but his Resurrection tells the faithful soul that his relations with her are no longer the same as before During his mortal life, he suffered himself to be approached as man; there was little in his exterior to indicate his divinity; but now his eternal splendour gleams through his very Body, and bespeaks the Son of God. Henceforth, then, we must see him with the heart rather than with the eye, and offer him a respectful love, rather than one of sentiment, however tender. He allowed Magdalen to touch him so long as she was weak in her conversion, and he himself was mortal; but now she must aspire to that highest spiritual good, which is the life of the soul—Jesus, in the bosom of the Father. In her first estate, Magdalen is the type of the soul when commencing its search after Jesus. But her love needs a transformation: it is ardent, but not wise; so that the angel has to chide her: ‘Why,’ says he, ‘seekest thou the living among the dead?’[11] The time is come for her to ascend to something more perfect, and seek in spirit him who is Spirit.
Jesus says to Magdalen: I am not yet ascended to my Father! as though he would say:The mark of love thou wouldst show me is not what I now wish to receive from thee. When I have ascended into heaven, and thou art there with me, the sight of my human nature shall be no obstacle to thy soul’s vision of my divinity: then thou shalt embrace me!’ Magdalen takes in the lesson of her dear Master; she loves him more, because her love is spiritualized. After his Ascension, she retires into the holy cave.[12] There she lives, pondering upon all the mysteries of her Jesus’ life. Her love feeds on the memory of all he has done for her, from his first word which converted her, to the favour he showed her on the morning of his Resurrection. Each day she advances in the path of perfect love. The angels visit and console her. Her probation completed, she follows her Jesus to heaven, where she lavishes on him the ardour of her love in an unrestrained and eternal embrace.
The Offertory alludes to the land flowing with milk and honey, into which the preaching of the Apostles has led our neophytes. But the altar, whereon the holy Sacrifice is now being offered, will give them a still more delicious nourishment.
Offertory
In die solemnitatis vestræ, dicit Dominus, inducam vos in terram fluentem lac et mel, alleluia.
In the day of your solemnity, saith the Lord, I will bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey, alleluia.
In the Secret, the Church beseeches God to accept the gifts presented him by his new people. The bread will be changed, by the words of Consecration, into a food that will fortify them in their journey towards that heavenly country.
Secret
Suscipe, quæsumus Domine, munera populorum tuorum propitius: ut confessione tui nominis, et baptismate renovati, sempiternam beatitudinem consequantur. Per Dominum.
Graciously accept, we beseech thee, O Lord, the offerings of thy people: that being renewed by the confession of thy name, and by Baptism, they may obtain everlasting bliss. Through, etc.
To this is added one of the two Secrets given in yesterday's Mass, p. 224.
In the Communion Anthem, it is the Apostolic College that speaks by the mouth of St Peter to the newly made children of God. With paternal affection, the Apostles congratulate our neophytes on the favours they have received from God, the author of light.
Communion
Populus acquisitionis, annuntiate virtutes ejus, alleluia: qui vos de tenebris vocavit in admirabile lumen suum, alleluia.
Ye, who are a purchased people, publish his might, alleluia: it is he who hath called you from darkness to his wonderful light, alleluia.
The Postcommunion tells us of the grand effects produced in us by this adorable Sacrament. It enriches us with every blessing; it is our support during this life’s pilgrimage; and it gives us a foretaste of heaven, even in our exile.
Postcommunion
Exaudi, Domine, preces nostras: ut redemptionis nostræ sacrosanctacommercia, et vitae nobis conferant præsentis auxilium, et gaudia sempiterna concilient. Per Dominum.
Graciously hear our prayers, O Lord, that by frequenting these sacred mysteries of our redemption, we may obtain the necessary helps of this life, and the endless joys of the next. Through, etc.
To this is added one of the Postcommunions given in yesterday’s Mass, p. 225.
The work of the Son of God, the creation, advances towards completion. To-day there appear living beings in the waters and in the air. Countless varieties of fishes sport in the sea; and the thrilling melody of birds breaks that solemn silence, which hitherto had nothing to disturb it save the wind rustling amidst the trees. Here, again, the visible is the type of the invisible. The waters of Baptism are to give birth to other fishes; and from this our earth, souls, like birds of heaven, are to soar aloft on the wings of contemplation. This shall be, when the Creator shall come, in human form, into the world he is now forming. As our prayer of thanksgiving for this fifth day of the creation, let us use the following beautiful one, taken from the Mozarabic breviary:
Capitula
Deus qui in operatione quinti diei reptilia animarum vivarum, homines scilicet renovatos per sacramentum Baptismatis, condidisti: et volatilia cœli, animas videlicet sanctorum ad superna volantes, manifesta virtutum luce formasti; præbe animabus nostris invictum de tua resurrectione solatium: ut per te renovati resurgamus ad gloriam, per quem regenerati sumus ad vitam.
O God, who, on the fifth day, didst create the fishes of the sea, the figure of them that are regenerated by the sacrament of Baptism; and the birds of the air, the figure of the souls of holy men soaring to heav· enly things by their dazzling virtues: grant that we may receive from thy Resurrection a consolation which may make us invincible: that thus we, who have been regenerated by thee to life, may, being renewed by thee, rise again to glory.
As the Liturgy of to-day speaks to us of Mary Magdalen, we will insert here two of the many sequences composed in her honour during the Middle Ages, and sung by our forefathers during the Easter Octave. They are exquisite in their simplicity, and express a tender devotion towards this favoured penitent, whose name is inseparable from the mystery of the Resurrection, and who was so dear to our blessed Lord that he chose her to be the first to announce to the Apostles and mankind the tidings of his victory over death.
First Sequence
Surgit Christus cum trophæo.
Jam ex agno factus leo
Solemni victoria.
Mortem vicit sua morte,
Reseravit seram portæ
Suae mortis gratia.
Hic est agnus qui pendebat,
Et in cruce redimebat
Totum gregem ovium.
Cui cum nullus condolebat,
Magdalenam consumebat
Doloris incendium.
Dic Maria quid vidisti
Contemplando crucem Christi?
Vidi Jesum spoliari,
Et in cruce sublevari
Peccatorum manibus.
Dic Maria quid vidisti
Contemplando crucem Christi?
Spinis caput coronatum,
Vultum sputis maculatum,
Et plenum livoribus.
Dic Maria quid vidisti
Contemplando crucem Christi?
Clavos manus perforare,
Hastam latus vulnerare,
Vivi fontis exitum.
Dic Maria quid vidisti
Contemplando crucem Christi?
Quod se Patri commendavit,
Et quod caput inclinavit,
Et emisit spiritum.
Dic Maria quid fecisti,
Postquam Jesum amisisti?
Matrem flentem sociavi,
Cum qua domum remeavi,
Et in terram me prostravi,
Et utrumque deploravi.
Dic Maria quid fecisti,
Postquam Jesum amisisti?
Post unguenta comparavi,
Et sepulchrum visitavi,
Planctus meos duplicavi.
Dic Maria quid fecisti,
Postquam Jesum amisisti?
Angelus hæc dixit clare:
O Maria noli flere;
Jam surrexit Christus vere.
Dic Maria quid fecisti,
Postquam Jesum amisisti?
Certe multis argumentis,
Vidi signa resurgentis
Filii omnipotentis.
Dic nobis Maria
Quid vidisti in via?
Sepulchrum Christi viventis
Et gloriam vidi resurgentis.
Angelicos testes,
Sudarium et vestes.
Surrexit Christus spes mea,
Præcedet suos in Galilæam.
Credendum est magis soli Mariæ veraci,
Quam Judæorum turbæ fallaci.
Scimus Christum surrexisse
A mortuis vere;
Tu nobis, victor rex, miserere.
Amen.
Christ, now changed from a lamb to a lion,
rises with his trophy,
the glorious conqueror.
By his death, he conquered death:
by his death,
he opened heaven’s gate.
This is the lamb that hung
upon the Cross,
and redeemed the whole flock.
There was none found to condole with him,
save Magdalen,
who pined with burning grief.
Tell us, O Mary! what sawest thou,
when looking at the Cross of Christ?
I saw my Jesus stripped,
and raised on the Cross,
by the hands of sinners.
Tell us, Mary, what sawest thou,
when looking at the Cross of Christ?
His head crowned with thorns,
his face disfigured
with spittle and blows.
Tell us, Mary, what sawest thou,
when looking at the Cross?
His hands pierced,
his side wounded by a spear,
and a fount of living water gushing from the wound.
Tell us, Mary, what sawest thou,
when looking at the Cross?
He commended himself to his Father;
he bowed down his head;
he gave up the ghost.
Tell us, Mary, what didst thou,
after losing Jesus?
I kept close to his weeping Mother,
and returned with her to the house:
I prostrated myself on the ground,
and compassionated both Son and Mother.
Tell us, Mary, what didst thou,
after losing Jesus?
After preparing my ointments,
and visiting the tomb,
I redoubled my tears.
Tell us, Mary, what didst thou,
after losing Jesus?
An angel thus spoke to me:
‘Weep not, Mary!
For Christ hath truly risen.’
Tell us, Mary, what didst thou,
after losing Jesus?
I saw many proofs
and signs of the Resurrection
of the Son of God.
Tell us, Mary,
what sawest thou on the way?
I saw the sepulchre of the living Christ;
I saw the glory of him that had risen.
I saw the angels that were the witnesses;
I saw the winding-sheet and the cloths.
Christ, my hope, hath risen!
He shall go before you into Galilee.
It behoves us to believe the single testimony of the truthful Mary,
rather than the whole wicked host of the Jews.
We know that Christ hath
truly risen from the dead.
Do thou, O Conqueror and King! have mercy upon us.
Amen.
Second Sequence
Mane prima Sabbati
Surgens Filius Dei,
Nostra spes et gloria.
Victo rege sceleris,
Rediit ab inferis,
Cum summa victoria.
Resurgentis itaque
Maria Magdalene
Facta est prænuntia.
Ferens Christi fratribus
Ejus morte tristibus,
Exspectata gaudia.
O beati oculi,
Quibus regem sæculi,
Morte jam deposita,
Primum est intuita!
Hæc est illa femina,
Cujus cuncta crimina
Ad Christi vestigia
Ejus lavit gratia.
Quæ dum plorat et mens orat,
Facto clamat quod cor amat,
Jesum super omnia.
Non ignorat quem adorat,
Quod precatur jam deletur,
Quod mens timet conscia.
O Maria, mater pia,
Stella maris appellaris,
Operum per merita.
Matri Christi coæquata,
Dum fuisti sic vocata,
Sed honore subdita.
Illa mundi imperatrix,
Ista beata peccatrix:
Lætitiæ primordia
Fuderunt in Ecclesia.
Illa enim fuit porta,
Per quam salus est exorta:
Hæc resurgentis nuntia
Mundum replet lætitia.
O Maria Magdalena,
Audi vota laude plena,
Apud Christum chorum istum
Clementer concilia.
Ut fons summæ pietatis
Qui te lavit a peccatis,
Servos suos atque tuos
Mundet data venia.
Amen dicant omnia!
Early on the Sunday morning
the Son of God, our hope and glory,
rose from the dead.
He conquered the prince of wickedness,
and returned from limbo
with all the glory of his victory upon him.
The first herald
of his Resurrection
was Mary Magdalen.
She bore the glad tidings to the disciples,
who were sad
for the death of Jesus.
Blessed the eyes
that first beheld
the King of Ages,
after he had laid death aside!
This is she,
who threw herself at Jesus' feet,
and had all her sins
washed away by his grace.
She weeps and prays;
her life proclaims what her heart most loves
—Jesus above all else.
She knows him before whom she kneels.
What she prays for is at once granted
—the forgiveness of the sins that weighed her down with fear.
O Mary! thou loving mother!
Thou hast deserved thy name of star of the sea,
because of thy holy deeds.
Thou sharest the name
with the Mother of Christ,
though thy honours are not as hers.
She is the Queen of the world;
Magdalen is the favoured sinner:
they gave to the Church
her earliest joy.
The blessed Mother was the gate
through which salvation came into the world;
Magdalen was the messenger of the Resurrection,
and filled the world with joy at its tidings.
Hear, O Magdalen,
our prayer and praise;
pray to Jesus for the choir that thus sings to thee,
and draw down his mercy upon us,
That the Fount of infinite goodness,
who cleansed thee from thy sins,
may purify us by his pardon,
for we are his and thy servants.
Let all creatures say, Amen!
[1] Apoc. i 17, 18.
[2] Rom. vi 23.
[3] Gen. iii 19.
[4] Job xix 25-27.
[5] 1 St Pet. iii 22.
[6] Rom. vi 19.
[7] 1 Thess. iv 12.
[8] 1 Cor. xv 14, 17.
[9] In Lucam, cap. xxiv.
[10] De Spiritu Sancto, cap. xii.
[11] St Luke xxiv 5.
[12] Called La sainte Baume, near Marseilles.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
Including:
Hæc dies quam fecit Dominus: exsultemus et lætemur in ea.
This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein.
THE Hebrew word Pasch signifies passage, and we explained yesterday how this great day first became sacred by reason of the Lord's Passover. But there is another meaning which attaches to the word, as we learn from the early Fathers and the Jewish rabbins. The Pasch is, moreover, the passage of the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land. These three great facts really happened on one and the same night: the banquet of the lamb, the death of the firstborn of the Egyptians, and the departure from Egypt. Let us, to-day, consider how this third figure is a further development of our Easter mystery.
The day of Israel's setting forth from Egypt for his predestined country of the Promised Land is the most important in his whole history; but both the departure itself, and the circumstances that attended it, were types of future realities to be fulfilled in the Christian Pasch. The people of God were delivered from an idolatrous and tyrannical country: in our Pasch, they who are now our neophytes have courageously emancipated themselves from the slavish sway of Satan, and have solemnly renounced the pomps and works of this haughty Pharaoh.
On their road to the Promised Land, the Israelites had to pass through a sea of water; their doing so was a necessity, both for their protection against Pharaoh's army which was pursuing them, and for their entrance into the land of milk and honey. Our neophytes, too, after renouncing the tyrant who had enslaved them, had to go through that same saving element of water, in order to escape their fierce enemies; it carried them safe into the land of their hopes, and stood as a rampart to defend them against invasion.
By the goodness of God, that water, which is an obstacle to man's pursuing his way, was turned into an ally for Israel's march; the laws it had from nature were suspended, and it became the saviour of God's people. In like manner, the sacred font—which, as the Church told us on the feast of the Epiphany, is made an instrument of divine grace—has become the refuge and fortress of our happy neophytes; their passing through its waters has put them out of reach of the tyrant's grasp.
Having reached the opposite shore, the Israelites see Pharaoh and his army, their shields and their chariots, buried in the sea. When our neophytes looked at the holy font, from which they had risen to the life of grace, they rejoiced to see the tomb where their sins, enemies worse than Pharaoh and his minions, lay buried for ever.
Then did the Israelites march cheerfully on towards the land that God had promised to give them. During the journey, they will have God as their teacher and lawgiver; they will have their thirst quenched by fountains springing up from a rock in the desert; they will be fed on manna sent each day from heaven. Our neophytes, too, will run on unfettered to the heavenly country, their Promised Land. They will go through the desert of this world, uninjured by its miseries and dangers, for the divine lawgiver will teach them, not amidst thunder and lightning, as he did when he gave his law to the Israelites, but with persuasive words of gentlest love, spoken with that sweet manner which set on fire the hearts of the two disciples of Emmaus. Springs of water shall refresh them at every turn, yea, of that living water which Jesus, a few weeks back, told the Samaritan woman should be given to them that adore him in spirit and in truth. And, lastly, a heavenly Manna shall be their food, strengthening and delighting them—a Manna far better than that of old, for it will give them immortality.
So that our Pasch means all this: it is a passing through water to the Land of Promise, but with a reality and truth which the Israelites had only under the veil of types, sublime indeed and divine, but mere types. Let then our Passover from the death of original sin to the life of grace, by holy Baptism, be a great feast-day with us. This may not be the anniversary of our Baptism: it matters not; let us fervently celebrate our exodus from the Egypt of the world into the Christian Church; let us, with glad and grateful hearts, renew our baptismal vows, which made our God so liberal in his gifts to us; let us renounce Satan, and all his works, and all his pomps.
The Apostle of the Gentiles tells us of another mystery of the waters of Baptism; it gives completion to all we have been saying, and equally forms part of our Pasch. He teaches us that we were hidden beneath this water, as was Christ in his tomb; and that we then died, and were buried, together with him.[1] It was the death of our life of sin: that we might live to God, we had to die to sin. When we think of the holy font where we were regenerated, let us call it the tomb, wherein we buried the Old Man, who was to have no resurrection. Baptism by immersion—which was the ancient mode of administering the Sacrament, and is still used in some countries—was expressive of this spiritual burial: the neophyte was made to disappear beneath the water: he was dead to his former life, as our buried Jesus was to his mortal life. But, as our Redeemer did not remain in the tomb, but rose again to a new life, so likewise, says the Apostle,[2] they who are baptized, rise again with him when they come from the font; they bear on them the pledges of immortality and glory, and are the true and living members of that Head, who dieth now no more. Here again is our Pasch, our passage from death to life.
At Rome, the Station is in the basilica of St Laurence outside the Walls. It is looked upon as the most important of the many churches built by Rome in honour of her favourite martyr, whose body lies under the high altar, Hither were the neophytes led to-day, that they might learn, from the example of so brave and generous a soldier of Christ, how courageous they should be in confessing their faith, and how faithful in living up to their baptismal vows. For several centuries, the reception of Baptism was a preparation for martyrdom; but at all times it is an enlisting in the service of Christ, which we cannot leave without incurring the guilt and penalty of traitors.
MASS
The Introit is composed of those words, which the Son of God will speak to his elect, at the last Judgement, when calling them into his kingdom. The Church applies them to the neophytes, and thus raises up their thoughts to that eternal happiness, the remembrance of which supported the martyrs in their sufferings.
Introit
Venite benedicti Patris mei; percipite regnum, alleluia: quod vobis paratum est ab origine mundi. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Ps. Cantate Domino canticum novum: cantate Domino omnis terra.
℣. Gloria Patri.
Venite.
Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom, alleluia: which hath been prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Ps. Sing to the Lord a new song: sing to the Lord all the earth.
℣. Glory, etc.
Come, etc.
In the Collect, the Church reminds her children that the feasts of the holy Liturgy are a means of our coming to the eternal feasts of heaven. It is with this truth and hope before us that we have drawn up our Liturgical Year. We must, therefore, so celebrate our Easter of time as to deserve to be admitted into the joys of the eternal Easter.
Collect
Deus qui nos resurrectionis Dominicæ annua solemnitate lætificas: concede propitius, ut per temporalia festa quæ agimus, pervenire ad gaudia æterna mereamur. Per eumdem.
O God, who by the yearly solemnity of the Resurrection of our Lord fillest us with joy; mercifully grant that by these temporal festivals which we celebrate, we may at last come to the possession of those joys that are eternal. Through the same, etc.
To this the Church, during this week, adds one or other of the following Collects:
Against the persecutors of the Church
Ecclesiæ tuæ, quæsumus Domine, preces placatus admitte: ut, destructis adversitatibus et erroribus universis, secura tibi serviat libertate. Per Dominum.
Mercifully hear, we beseech thee, O Lord, the prayers of thy Church: that, all oppositions and errors being removed, she may serve thee with a secure liberty. Through etc.
For the Pope
Deus, omnium fidelium Pastor et rector, famulum tuum N. quem Pastorem Ecclesiæ tuæ præesse voluisti, propitius respice: da ei, quæsumus, verbo et exemplo, quibus præest, proficere; ut ad vitam, una cum grege sibi credito, perveniat sempiternam. Per Dominum.
O God, the Pastor and Ruler of all the faithful, look down in thy mercy on thy servant N., whom thou hast appointed Pastor over thy Church: and grant, we beseech thee, that both by word and example, he may edify all those that are under his charge; and with the flock entrusted to him, arrive at length at eternal happiness. Through, etc.
Epistle
Lectio Actuum Apostolorum.
Cap. iii.
In diebus illis: Aperiens Petrus os suum, dixit: Viri Israelitæ, et qui timetis Deum, audite: Deus Abraham, et Deus Isaac, et Deus Jacob, Deus patrum nostrorum glorificavit Filium suum Jesum, quem vos quidem tradidistis, et negastis ante faciem Pilati, judicante illo dimitti. Vos autem sanctum et justum negastis, et petistis virum homicidam donari vobis: auotorem vero vitæ interfecistis, quem Deus suscitavit a mortuis, cujus nos testes sumus. Et nunc fratres, scio quia per ignorantiam fecistis, sicut et principes vestri. Deus autem, quæ prænuntiavit per os omnium prophetarum, pati Christum suum, sic rmplevit. Pœnitemini igitur, et convertimini, ut deleantur peccata vestra.
Lesson from the Acts of the Apostles.
Ch. iii.
In those days: Peter opening his mouth, said: You men of Israel, and you who fear God, give ear. The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus, whom you indeed delivered up and denied before the face of Pilate, when he judged he should be released. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you. But the Author of life you killed, whom God hath raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And now, brethren, I know that you did it through ignorance, as did also your rulers. But those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.
To-day, again, we have the prince of the Apostles proclaiming in Jerusalem the Resurrection of the ManGod. On this occasion, he was accompanied by St John, and had just worked his first miracle, of curing the lame man, near one of the gates of the temple. The people had crowded round the two Apostles, and St Peter preached to them; it was the second time he had spoken in public. His first sermon brought three thousand to receive Baptism; the one of to-day, five thousand. Truly did the Apostle exercise on these two occasions his office of fisher of men, which our Lord gave him when he first called him to be his disciple. Let us admire the charity wherewith St Peter bids the Jews acknowledge Jesus as their Messias. These are the very men who have denied him; and yet the Apostle, by partially excusing their crime on the score of ignorance, encourages them to hope for pardon. They clamoured for the death of Jesus in the days of his voluntary weakness and humiliation; let them, now that he is glorified, acknowledge him as their Messias and King, and their sin shall be forgiven. In a word, let them humble themselves and they shall be saved. Thus did God call unto himself those who were of a good will, and an upright heart; thus does he also in these our days. There were some in Jerusalem who corresponded to the call; but the far greater number refused to follow it. It is the same now. Let us earnestly beseech our Lord that the nets of his fishermen may be filled, and the Paschal banquet be crowded with guests.
Gradual
Hæc dies quam fecit Dominus: exsultemus, et lætemur in ea.
℣. Dextera Domini fecit virtutem, dextera Domini exaltavit me. Alleluia, alleluia.
℣. Surrexit Dominus vere, et apparuit Petro.
This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein.
℣. The right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength: the right hand of the Lord hath exalted me. Alleluia, alleluia.
℣. The Lord hath truly risen, and hath appeared to Peter.
The Sequence, Victimœ Paschali, p. 145.
Gospel
Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem.
Cap. xxi.
In illo tempore: Manifestavit se iterum Jesus discipulis ad mare Tiberiadis. Manifestavit autem sic. Erant simul Simon Petrus, et Thomas, qui dicitur Didymus, et Nathanael, qui erat a Cana Galilææ, et filii Zebedæi, et alii ex discipulis ejus duo. Dicit eis Simon Petrus: Vado piscari. Dicunt ei: Venimus et nos tecum. Et exierunt, et ascenderunt in navim: et illa nocte nihil prendiderunt. Mane autem facto, stetit Jesus in littore: non tamen cognoverunt discipuli quia Jesus est. Dixit ergo eis Jesus: Pueri, numquid pulmentarium habetis? Responderunt ei: Non. Dicit eis: Mittite in dexteram navigii rete, et invenietis. Miserunt ergo: et jam non valebant illud trahere præ multitudine piscium. Dixit ergo discipulus ille, quem diligebat Jesus, Petro: Dominus est. Simon Petrus cum audisset quia Dominus est, tunica succinxit se (erat enim nudus) et misit se in mare. Alii autem discipuli navigio venerunt (non enim longe erant a terra, sed quasi cubitis ducentis): trahentes rete piscium. Ut ergo descenderunt in terram, viderunt prunas positas, et piscem superpositum, et panem. Dicit eis Jesus: Afferte de piscibus quos prendidistis nunc. Ascendit Simon Petrus: et traxit rete in terram, plenum magnis piscibus centum quinquaginta tribus. Et cum tanti essent, non est scissum rete. Dicit eis Jesus: Venite, prandete. Et nemo audebat discumbentium interrogare eum: Tu quis es? scientes quia Dominus est. Et venit Jesus, et accipit panem, et dat eis, et piscem similiter. Hoc jam tertio manifestatus est discipulis suis cum resurrexisset a mortuis.
Sequel of the holy Gospel according to John.
Ch. xxi.
At that time: Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. And he showed himself after this manner. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas, who is called Didymus, and Nathaniel, who was of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter saith to them; I go a fishing. They say to him: We also come with thee. And they went forth, and entered into the ship; and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was come, Jesus stood on the shore: yet the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus therefore said to them: Children, have you any meat? They answered him: No. He saith to them: Cast the net on the right side of the ship; and you shall find. They cast therefore: and now they are not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved said to Peter: It is the Lord. Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, girt his coat about him (for he was naked) and cast himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the ship (for they were not far from the land, but as it were two hundred cubits) dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they came to land, they saw hot coals lying, and a fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith to them: Bring hither of the fishes which you have now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty-three. And although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus saith to them: Come, and dine. And none of them who were at meat durst ask him: Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. And Jesus cometh and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish in like manner. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to his disciples, after he was risen from the dead.
Jesus had shown himself to all his Apostles on the Sunday evening; he repeated his visit to them eight days after, as we shall see further on. The Gospel for to-day tells us of a third apparition, wherewith seven of the eleven were favoured. It took place on the shore of Lake Genesareth, which, on account of its size, was called the Sea of Tiberias. The seven are delighted beyond measure at seeing their divine Master; he treats them with affectionate familiarity, and provides them with a repast. John is the first to recognize Jesus; nor can we be surprised: his purity gives keen perception to the eye of his soul, as it is written: ‘Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.’[3] Peter throws himself from the ship, that he may the more quickly reach his Lord. His natural impetuosity shows itself here as on so many other occasions; but in this impetuosity we see that he loved Jesus more than his fellowdisciples did. But let us attentively consider the other mysteries of our Gospel.
The seven disciples are fishing: it is the Church working out her apostolate. Peter is the master-fisherman; it belongs to him to decide when and where the nets are to be thrown. The other six Apostles unite with him in the work, and Jesus is with them all, looking upon their labour, and directing it, for whatever is procured by it is all for him. The fish are the faithful, for, as we have already had occasion to remark, the Christian was often called by this name in the early ages. It was the font, it was water, that gave him his Christian life. Yesterday, we were considering how the Israelites owed their safety to the waters of the Red Sea; and our Gospel for to-day speaks of a Passover, a passing from Genesareth’s waters to a banquet prepared by Jesus. There is a mystery, too, in the number of the fishes that are taken; but what it is that is signified by these hundred and fifty-three we shall perhaps never know, until the day of Judgement reveals the secret. They probably denote some divisions or portions of the human race, that are to be gradually led, by the apostolate of the Church, to the Gospel of Christ: but, once more, till God’s time comes, the book must remain sealed.
Having reached the shore, the Apostles surround their beloved Master, and lo! he has prepared them a repast: bread, and a fish lying on hot coals. This fish is not one of those they themselves have caught; they are to partake of it now that they have come from the water. The early Christians thus interpret the mystery: the fish represents Christ, who was made to suffer the cruel torments of the Passion, and whose love of us was the fire that consumed him; and he became the divine food of them that are regenerated by water. We have elsewhere remarked, that in the primitive Church, the Greek word for fish (Ichthus) was venerated as a sacred symbol, inasmuch as the letters of this word formed the initials of the titles of our Redeemer.[4]
But Jesus would unite, in the same repast, both the divine Fish, which is himself, and those other fishes, which represent all mankind, and have been drawn out of the water in Peter’s net. The Paschal feast has the power to effect, by love, an intimate and substantial union between the Food and the guests, between the Lamb of God and the other lambs who are his brethren, between the divine Fish and those others that he has associated with himself by the closest ties of fellowship. They, like him, have been offered in sacrifice; they follow him in suffering and in glory. Witness the great deacon Laurence, around whose tomb the faithful are now assembled. He was made like to his divine Master when he was burnt to death on his red-hot gridiron; he is now sharing with him in an eternal Pasch, the glories of Jesus' victory, and the joys of his infinite happiness.
The Offertory is formed from the words of the Psalm, which commemorate the manna that heaven gave to the Israelites, after they had passed through the Red Sea. But the new Manna is as far superior to the old, which nourished only the body, as our baptismal font, which washes away our sins, is grander than the mighty waves, which swallowed up Pharaoh and his army.
Offertory
Portas cœli aperuit Dominus: et pluit illis manna, ut ederent: panem cœli dedit eis: panem angelorum manducavit homo, alleluia.
The Lord opened the gates of heaven, and rained down manna for them to eat: he gave them the bread of heaven: man hath eaten the bread of angels, alleluia.
In the Secret, the Church speaks in glowing terms of the heavenly Bread that feeds us and is the Victim of our Paschal Sacrifice.
Secret
Sacrificia, Domine, paschalibus gaudiis immolamus: quibus Ecclesia tua mirabiliter et pascitur et nutritur. Per Dominum.
We offer thee, O Lord, with joy, these Paschal sacrifices, wherewith thy Church is wonderfully fed and nourished. Through, etc.
To this, the Church, during this week, adds one or other of the following Secrets:
Against the persecutors of the Church
Protege nos, Domine, tuis mysteriis servientes: ut divinis rebus inhærentes, et corpore tibi famulemur et mente. Per Dominum.
Protect us, O Lord, while we assist at thy sacred mysteries: that being employed in acts of religion, we may serve thee both in body and mind. Through, etc.
For the Pope
Oblatis, quæsumus, Domine, placare muneribus: et famulum tuum N. quem Pastorem Ecclesiæ tuæ præesse voluisti, assidua protectione guberna. Per Dominum.
Be appeased, O Lord, with the offering we have made: and cease not to protect thy servant N., whom thou hast been pleased to appoint Pastor over thy Church. Through, etc.
Our Lord says: ‘This is the Bread which cometh down from heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die.’[5] In the Communion Anthem we have the Apostle telling us that Christ, rising from the dead, dieth now no more. These two texts tell us the effect produced in our souls by the holy Eucharist: we eat an immortal Food, and it communicates to us its own undying life.
Communion
Christus resurgens ex mortuis, jam non moritur, alleluia: mors illi ultra non dominabitur. Alleluia, alleluia.
Christ rising from the dead, dieth now no more, alleluia: death shall no more have dominion over him. Alleluia, alleluia.
In the Postcommunion, the Church prays for us, that we may receive the effects of the divine Food of which we have just partaken; she prays that it may purify us, and substitute the new principle (which is in our risen Jesus) for the old one that was in us.
Postcommunion
Ab omni nos, quæsumus Domine, vetustate purgatos, Sacramenti tui veneranda perceptio in novam transferat creaturam. Qui vivis.
Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, that being cleansed from the old leaven, the reception of thy venerable Sacrament may transform us into a new creature. Who livest, etc.
To this the Church, during this week, adds one or other of the following Postcommunions:
Against the persecutors of the Church
Quæsumus, Domine Deus noster: ut quos divina tribuis participatione gaudere, humanis non sinas subjacere periculis. Per Dominum.
We beseech thee, O almighty God, not to leave exposed to the dangers of human life those whom thou hast permitted to partake of these divine mysteries. Through, etc.
For the Pope
Hæc nos, quæsumus, Domine, divini Sacramenti perceptio protegat: et famulum tuum N. quem Pastorem Ecclesiæ tuæ præesse voluisti, una cum commisso sibi grege salvet semper et muniat. Per Dominum.
May the participation of this divine Sacrament protect us, we beseech thee, O Lord, and always procure safety and defence to thy servant N., whom thou hast appointed Pastor over thy Church, together with the flock committed to his charge. Through, etc.
BLESSING OF THE AGnUS DEI
The Wednesday of Easter week is the day set apart, at Rome, for the blessing of the Agnus Dei. This ceremony is performed by the Pope, the first and every seventh year of his pontificate. The Agnus Dei are discs of wax, on which are stamped, on one side the image of the Lamb of God, and on the other that of some saint. The custom of blessing them at Eastertide is very ancient. We find traces of it in the Liturgy even so far back as the seventh century. When, in the year 1544, they opened at Rome the tomb of the Empress Mary (wife of Honorius, and daughter of Stilicho), who died before the middle of the fifth century, there was found in it an Agnus Dei, resembling those now blessed by the Pope.
It is therefore incorrect to state, as some authors have done, that the Agnus Dei originated at the time when the administration of Baptism at Easter fell into disuse, and that they were meant as symbols commemorative of the ancient rite. There is very little doubt that at Rome each neophyte used to receive an Agnus Dei from the Pope on Holy Saturday. We may, then, rightly conclude—and the conclusion is confirmed by the fact just mentioned regarding the tomb of the Empress Mary—that the solemn administration of Baptism and the blessing of the Agnus Dei were contemporaneous, at least for a certain period.
The Agnus Dei are made from the Paschal candle of the previous year; of course, a great quantity of other wax is added to it. Formerly, it was the custom to pour in some drops of the holy chrism. In the Middle Ages the wax was prepared and stamped by the subdeacons and acolytes of the Pope's palace; the Cistercian monks of the monastery of St Bernard, in Rome, have now that honour.
The ceremony takes place in one of the rooms of the pontifical palace. A large vase of holy water is prepared; and the Pope, standing near it, recites the following prayer:
O Lord God, almighty Father, Creator of the elements, preserver of mankind, author of grace and eternal salvation, who badest the rivers that flowed from Paradise to water the whole earth! O thou, whose only-begotten Son walked dry-shod on the waters, and in the same was baptized, who also gave forth from his most sacred side water mingled with Blood, and commanded his disciples to baptize all nations; be merciful unto us, and pour forth thy blessing upon us who celebrate all these wonders; that thus the creatures which we are about to plunge into this water may be blessed and sanctified by thee, and that the honour and veneration which shall be shown to them may draw down upon us, thy servants, the forgiveness of sins, pardon and grace, and finally life eternal together with thy saints and elect.
After this, the Pontiff pours balm and holy chrism into the water, beseeching God to sanctify it for the purpose to which it is now to be used. He then turns towards the baskets, which hold the waxen tablets, and recites this prayer:
O God, the author of all sanctification, whose goodness is ever with us; thou who, when Abraham, the father of our faith, was preparing to slay his son Isaac in obedience to thy commands, didst will him to consummate his sacrifice by offering up the ram that was entangled in the briers: thou who didst prescribe, through thy servant Moses, the yearly sacrifice of the spotless lambs; deign, we pray thee, to bless and sanctify, by the invocation of thy holy Name, these forms of wax, which bear the impress of the most innocent Lamb; that by their contact and presence, the faithful may be incited to pray, storms and tempests be driven away, and the wicked spirits put to flight by the virtue of the holy Cross hereon marked, before which every knee bends, and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ, having conquered death on the gibbet of the Cross, now reigneth in the glory of God the Father. He it is who, when led to death as a sheep to slaughter, offered unto thee his Father the sacrifice of his own Body, that he might bring back the lost sheep that had been led astray by the devil's fraud, and carry it on his shoulders to the fold of heaven.
O almighty and eternal God, the institutor of the ceremonies and sacrifices of the law, who didst deign to turn away thine anger from sinful man as often as he offered victims of propitiation unto thee; who didst graciously accept the sacrifices made by Abel, Melchisedech, Abraham, Moses and Aaron which sacrifices were indeed but figures, yet by thy blessing were made holy and profitable to them that humbly offered them; grant, we beseech thee, that as the innocent Lamb, Jesus Christ thy Son, when immolated at thy will on the altar of the Cross, delivered our first parent from the power of the devil, so may these spotless lambs, which we present to thy divine Majesty for a blessing, be endued with power unto good. Deign to bless them, to sanctify them, to consecrate them, to give them the power to protect those who devoutly carry them against the malice of demons, against tempests, pestilence, sickness, fire, and enemies; and make them efficacious in protecting the mother and her child in the dangers of travail. Through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord.
After these prayers, the Pope girds himself with a cloth, and sits near the vessel of holy water. The ministers bring him the Agnus Dei, which he plunges into the water, in imitation of the Baptism of the neophytes. The prelates who are present take them from the water, and place them upon tables covered with white linen. Then the Pontiff rises, and says the following prayer:
O Holy Spirit! who makest the waters fruitful, and usest them as the instrument of thy greatest mysteries; who didst take away their bitterness, and give them sweetness; and, sanctifying them by thy breathing, dost employ them for washing away all sins, by the invocation of the Holy Trinity; vouchsafe to bless, sanctify, and consecrate these lambs that have been cast into the holy water, and have imbibed of the balm and holy chrism. May they receive power from thee against the efforts of the devil’s malice; may they who wear them abide in safety; may they have nought to fear from danger; may the wickedness of men have no power to hurt them; and do thou mercifully be their strength and consolation.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God! who art the innocent Lamb, the Priest and the Victim; whom the prophets called the vine and the corner-stone; who didst redeem us by thy Blood, and with that same didst sign our hearts and foreheads, that the enemy, when passing our dwellings, might not wreak his anger upon us; who art the spotless Lamb offered in ceaseless sacrifice; who art the Paschal Lamb, become, under the sacramental species, the remedy and salvation of our souls; who guidest us across the sea of this present life to the resurrection and glory of eternity: deign, we beseech thee, to bless, sanctify, and consecrate these spotless lambs, which in thy honour we have formed out of virgin wax, and have impregnated with holy water, and sacred balm and chrism, intending hereby to commemorate thy being divinely conceived by the operation of the Holy Ghost. Protect those that wear them from fire, and lightning, and tempests, and every adversity; grant them to be a safeguard to mothers in the pains of childbirth, as thou didst assist thine own when she gave thee birth. And as thou heretofore didst save Susanna from her false accusers, and the blessed martyr and virgin Thecla from torture, and Peter from his prison chains; so now vouchsafe to deliver us from the dangers of this world, and give us to merit life eternal with thee.
The Agnus Dei are then respectfully taken, and kept for the solemn distribution to be made on the following Saturday. It is not difficult to see how this ceremony bears on the Pasch; the Paschal Lamb is frequently mentioned, and the plunging of these sacred images into the water is an evident allusion to the administration of Baptism, which, for so many centuries, was a prominent feature of the Easter Octave. The prayers, which we have somewhat abridged in our translation, are not of a very ancient date; still, the rite which accompanies them refers implicitly to Baptism. As we have already remarked, the custom of blessing the Agnus Dei was observed several centuries before the abolition of the solemn administration of Baptism at Easter; and is an additional proof of the fervent devotion wherewith the Church has ever honoured the mystery of the Lamb at Eastertide.
On account of their sublime symbolism, their being blessed by the Sovereign Pontiff, and the solemnity of their rite, the Agnus Dei are considered as one of the most venerated objects of Catholic piety. They are sent from the holy city to every part of the world. The faith of those who respectfully keep them in their houses, or wear them, has frequently been rewarded by miracles. During the pontificate of St Pius V. the Tiber overflowed its banks, and threatened destruction of several quarters of the city: an Agnus Dei was thrown into the river, and the water immediately receded. This miracle, which was witnessed by several thousands of the inhabitants, was brought forward in the process of the beatification of this great Pontiff.
On this the fourth day were created the sun, the glorious type of the Incarnate Word; the moon, the symbol of Mary's loveliness,[6] and of the Church, which reflects the light of the Sun of justice; and the stars, which, by their number and beauty, are an image of the bright countless host of God's elect. Let us glorify the Son of God, the author of all these wondrous works of nature and grace; and with hearts full of gratitude towards him who has thus cheered us with all this magnificent light, let us unite in the prayer offered to him to-day by the Gothic Church of Spain.
Capitula
Ecce, Domine, vesperum quarti diei hujus officiosis luminaribus frequentamus, in quo luminaria in firmamento cœli constituens, quasi in solidamento legis infigens, quatuor videlicet Evangelistarum una te voce canentium corda illustrare dignatus es: quo te in quatuor mundi partes et mortem pro nobis gustasse, et a mortuis resurrexisse, unitis vocibus nuntiarent: te ergo petimus, teque rogamus, ut in hujus vitæ obscuritate, ita resurrectionis tuæ in nobis præfulgeat gratia, ut resurrecturi mereamur pertingere ad coronam.
Behold, O Lord, we celebrate, with lights brightly burning, the evening Office of this fourth day, whereon, by setting lights in the firmament of heaven, thou didst deign to give us a figure of the four Gospels, which are established on the foundation of the law, and whose concordant testimony of thee is a light to our hearts. They all unite in telling, through the four parts of the world, that thou didst suffer death for our sake, and didst rise again from the dead. We therefore pray and beseech thee, that we may so shine with the grace of thy Resurrection in the darkness of this life, as to deserve a crown when the day of our resurrection comes.
We take from the Missal of the same Church the following beautiful allocution, in which are celebrated the mysteries of the miraculous draught of fish, mentioned in to-day's Gospel:
Missa
Procellosum mare fluctuantis sæculi transeuntes, lignum crucis fiducialiter ascendamus, et secundis Sancti Spiritus flatibus vela fidei committamus. Super littus namque Christus assistens gloriosam sine macula Ecclesiam figuravit, quando magnis piscibus indisruptum rete complevit. Nec a parte dextera jussit deviare navigium, quod tunc solorum bonorum portendebat indicium. Subsequamur igitur, sacramenti admirabilis veritatem diligentes ac tenentes principaliter unitatem. Nullusad schismata nefanda prosiliat, vel dominica retia nec dum littori præsentantur abrumpat. Ut connumerati inter mysticos pisces, cibus esse Domini qui nos ex profundo est dignatus eruere mereamur, et specialiter membra ejus effecti, sacrificiis salutaribus expiemur.
Having to pass over the stormy sea of the world, let us confidently mount upon the wood of the Cross, and spread the sails of our faith to the favourable breathings of the Holy Ghost. Christ stood upon the shore, and gave us a vision of his glorious and unwrinkled Church, when he filled the net with great fishes, and yet was it not broken. He bade them not to leave the right side, because under this figure he would signify the good alone. Let us, therefore, follow and love the truth of this admirable mystery, and keep fast hold to unity. Let no man pass over to wicked schism, nor break the nets of the Lord as they are being drawn to the shore. That thus being numbered among the mystic fish of Christ, we may deserve to become his food, for it was he that mercifully delivered us from the abyss: and whereas we are, in so special a manner, his members, let us purify ourselves by the Sacrifice of salvation.
Of all the sequences composed by Adam of St Victor, the following is the richest in its allusions to the types of the Old Testament, which refer to Christ’s victory over death. The chant to which it was sung was taken afterwards as the basis of that of the magnificent Lauda Sion.
Sequence
Zyma vetus expurgetur,
Ut sincere celebretur
Nova resurrectio:
Hæc est dies nostræ spei,
Hujus mira vis diei
Legis testimonio.
Hæc Ægyptum spoliavit
Et Hebræos liberavit
De fornace ferrea:
His in arcto constitutis,
Opus erat servitutis,
Lutum, later, palea.
Jam divinæ laus virtutis,
Jam triumphi, jam salutis
Vox erumpat libera.
Hæc est dies quam fecit Dominus,
Dies nostri doloris terminus,
Dies salutifera.
Lex est umbra futurorum,
Christus, finis promissorum,
Qui consummat omnia.
Christi sanguis igneam
Hebetavit romphæam,
Amota custodia.
Puer nostri forma risus,
Pro quo vervex est occisus,
Vitæ signat gaudium.
Joseph exit de cisterna:
Christus redit ad superna,
Post mortis supplicium.
Hic dracones Pharaonis
Draco vorat, a draconis
Immunis malitia.
Quos ignitus vulnerat,
Hos serpentis liberat
Ænei præsentia.
Anguem forat in maxilla
Christi hamus et armilla:
In cavernam reguli
Manum mittit ablactatus;
Et sic fugit exturbatus
Vetus hostis sæculi.
Irrisores Elisæi,
Dum conscendit domum Dei,
Zelum calvi sentiunt:
David arreptitius,
Hircus emissarius
Et passer effugiunt.
In maxilla mille sternit,
Et de tribu sua spernit
Samson matrimonium;
Samson Gazæ seras pandit
Et asportans portas scandit
Montis supercilium.
Sic de Juda Leo fortis
Tractis portis diræ mortis,
Die surgit tertia;
Rugiente voce Patris,
Ad supernæ sinum matris
Tot revexit spolia.
Cetus Jonam fugitivum,
Veri Jonæ signativum,
Post tres dies reddit vivum
De ventris angustia.
Botrus Cypri reflorescit,
Dilatatur et excrescit;
Synagogæ flos marcescit,
Et floret Ecclesia.
Mors et vita conflixere,
Resurrexit Christus vere,
Et cum Christo surrexere
Multi testes gloriæ.
Mane novum, mane lætum
Vespertinum tergat fletum;
Quia vita vicit lethum:
Tempus est lætitiæ.
Jesu victor, Jesu vita,
Jesu vitæ via trita,
Cujus morte mors sopita,
Ad paschalem nos invita
Mensam cum fiducia.
Vive panis, vivax unda,
Vera vitis et fœcunda,
Tu nos pasce, tu nos munda,
Ut a morte nos secunda
Tua salvet gratia.
Amen.
Let the old leaven be purged out,
that we may celebrate, with sincerity,
the new Resurrection.
This is the day of our hope:
the day of wondrous power,
as the ancient Testament foretells.
It despoiled the Egyptians,
and delivered
from the iron furnace the Israelites,
Who were treated with hardship,
and made to work as slaves
in clay, and brick, and picking straw.
Now let us praise the power of God:
now let us give free scope
to our song of triumph and salvation.
This is the day which the Lord hath made:
the day that puts an end to our mourning:
the day of our salvation.
The law was the shadow of things to come;
the end of all its promises is Christ,
for he consummates all things.
His Blood turned the edge of the flaming sword,
and removed the guard
(that forbade our entrance into Paradise).
Isaac, whose name signifies laughter,
and in whose stead the ram was slain,
was a figure of the joyful mystery that gives us life.
Joseph taken from the well
is Christ rising from the grave,
after being put to death.
He is the serpent
that devours Pharaoh's serpents;
but he has none of the serpent’s wickedness.
Under the type of the brazen serpent,
he heals them that are bitten
by the fiery serpent.
The hook he threw out
to the serpent was taken,
and it tore the monster’s jaw.
Thus the weaned child could safely thrust his hand
into the den of the basilisk,
and the old enemy of mankind was put to flight.
They that insulted Eliseus,
when he ascended to the house of the Lord,
were made to feel the anger of him they named the bald:
David escaped from his enemy:
the scapegoat and the sparrow
were set free.
Samson slays thousands with a dry bone,
and scorns to take to himself a wife
from his own tribe;
he throws open the gates of Gaza,
and carries them
to the mountain top.
So the mighty Lion of Juda
breaks down the gates of cruel death,
and rises on the third day;
his Father’s voice awakens him,
and he carries his many spoils
to the bosom of the mother above.
Jonas, the fugitive prophet,
and the figure of the true Jonas,
came forth alive
from the whale’s belly after three days.
The vine of Cyprus is again in flower,
and spreads, and ripens:
the flower of the Synagogue is faded,
the Church is in her bloom.
Death and life fought each other;
Christ rose again,
and with him
many witnesses of his glory.
Let morning, new and joyous,
dry up the evening tears:
for life has conquered death,
and it is the season of joy.
O Jesus, conqueror! Jesus, our life!
Jesus, our way!
whose death killed death!
bid us come, with confidence,
to the Paschal banquet.
O living bread! O water of life!
O true and fruitful vine!,
feed us, cleanse us, save us,
by thy grace,
from the second death.
Amen.
[1] Rom. vi 4.
[2] Coloss, ii 12.
[3] St Matt. v 8.
[4] See our volume of Lent p. 318
[5] St John vi 50.
[6] Cant. vi 9.