Second Week after Easter
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
℣. In resurrectione tua, Christe, alleluia.
℟. Cœli et terra laetentur, alleluia.
℣. In thy resurrection, O Christ, alleluia.
℟. Let heaven and earth rejoice, alleluia.
WE are not to suppose that because the sacred Humanity of our Risen Jesus is resplendent with glory and majesty, it is therefore less accessible to mortals. His kindness and condescension are the same as before; nay, he seems to have become more affectionate than ever, and more desirous to be with the children of men. Surely we have not forgotten what happened during the joyous octave of the Pascli! His affectionate greeting to the holy Women, when on their way to the sepulchre; his appearing to Magdalen under the form of a gardener; his conversation with the two disciples of Emmaus, and the means he took to make them recognize him; his showing himself, on the Sunday evening, to the Ten, greeting them with his Peace be to you, allowing them to touch him, and even condescending to eat with them; his amiably bidding Thomas, on the eighth day, convince himself of the reality of the Resurrection by feeling the Wounds; his meeting his disciples at the Lake of Genesareth, blessing their fishing, and providing them with a repast on the bank—all this is proof of the tender love and intimacy wherewith our Saviour treated his creatures during the forty days after his Resurrection.
As to his visits to his blessed Mother, we shall have another occasion for speaking of them; to-day we will consider him in the midst of his disciples. So frequently is he with them, that St Luke calls it an appearing to them for forty days.[1] The apostolic college is reduced to eleven; for the place of the traitor Judas is not to be filled up till after our Lord’s Ascension, immediately before the descent of the Holy Ghost. How beautiful in their simplicity are these future messengers of the Good Tidings to mankind![2] A short while ago they were weak and hesitating in their faith; they forgot all they had seen and heard; they fled from their Master in the hour of trial. As he had foretold it to them, they were scandalized at his humiliations and death. The news of his Resurrection made little impression upon them; they even disbelieved it. And yet they found him so affectionate, so gentle in his reproaches, that they soon resumed the confidence and intimacy they had had with him during his mortal life. Peter, who had been the most unfaithful, as well as the most presumptuous, of all, has now regained his position of the most honoured of the Apostles, and, in a few days hence, is to receive a special proof of Jesus’ having forgotten his past disloyalty. He and his fellow Apostles can think of nothing now but Jesus. When he is with them they feast on the beauty and glory of his appearance. His words are dearer to them than ever, for they understand them better, now that they have been enlightened by the mysteries of the Passion and Resurrection. They eagerly listen to all that he says, and he says more than formerly, because he is so soon to leave them. They know that the day will soon come when they will no longer be able to hear his voice; they, therefore, treasure up his words as though they were his last will, and how could they better fit themselves for the mission he has entrusted to them? It is true they do not, as yet, fully enter into all the mysteries they are to preach to the world—they could not even remember so many sublime things—but Jesus tells them that he will soon send upon them the Holy Ghost, who will not only give them courage, but will also bless them with spiritual understanding, and will enable them to remember all that he, Jesus, has taught them.[3]
Nor must we forget the holy women, those faithful companions of Jesus, who followed him up to Calvary, and were the first to be rewarded with the joys of the Resurrection. Their divine Master could not overlook them now: he praises their devotedness, he encourages them; he takes every opportunity of repaying them. Heretofore, as the Gospel tells us,[4] they provided him with food; now that he needs no earthly nourishment he feasts them with his dear presence; they see him, they hear his words; the very thought that he is soon to be taken from them makes these happy days doubly precious to them. They are the venerable mothers of the Christian people; they are our illustrious ancestors in the Faith; and on the day of the descent of the Holy Ghost, we shall find them with the Apostles in the Cenacle receiving the Tongues of Fire. Woman is to be represented on that glorious occasion, when the Church is to be made manifest before the world; the women of Calvary and the sepulchre are chosen for this office, and right well do they deserve to share in the bright joys of Pentecost.
Let us recite the following sequence in honour of our dear Jesus, who passes these forty days with his Apostles and the holy women. It was composed by Adam of St Victor:
Sequence
Ecce dies celebris!
Lux succedit tenebris,
Morti resurrectio;
Lætis cedant tristia,
Cum sit major gloria
Quam prima confusio;
Umbram fugat veritas,
Vetustatem novitas,
Luctum consolatio.
Pascha novum colite;
Quod praeit in capite,
Membra sperent singula.
Pascha novum Christus est,
Qui pro nobis passus est,
Agnus, sine macula.
Hosti qui nos circuit
Prædam Christus eruit.
Quod Samson praecinuit.
Dum leonem lacerat.
David, fortis viribus,
A leonis unguibus
Et ab ursi faucibus
Gregem patris liberat.
Quod in morte plures stravit
Samson, Christum figuravit,
Cujus mors victoria.
Samson dictus Sol eorum:
Christus lux est electorum Quos illustrat gratia.
Jam de crucis sacro vecte,
Botrus fluit in dilectae penetrai Ecclesiae.
Jam, calcato torculari,
Musto gaudent debriari
Gentium primitiae.
Saccus scissus et pertusus.
In regales transit usus:
Saccus fit soccus gratiæ,
Caro victrix miseriae.
Quia regem peremerunt,
Dei regnum perdiderunt;
Sed non deletur penitus
Cain, in signum positus.
Reprobatus et abjectus,
Lapis iste nunc electus,
In trophæum stat erectus et in caput anguli.
Culpam delens, non naturam,
Novam creat creaturam,
Tenens in se ligaturam
Utriusque populi.
Capiti gloria,
Membrisque concordia!
Amen.
Lo, the great day is come!
Light follows darkness,
and resurrection death.
Sorrow gives place to joy,
for our glory is greater than
was our former shame.
Truth dispels the shadow;
the new what was old;
and consolation mourning.
Celebrate the new Pasch!
Let the members hope to have
what now their Head enjoys.
Our new Pasch is Christ
—the spotless Lamb
that was slain for us.
Christ has taken the prey
from the enemy that surrounded us.
It is the victory prefigured by Samson,
when he tore the lion to pieces;
and by the powerful David,
when he rescued his father’s flock
from the lion’s grasp
and the bear's jaw.
When Samson killed his enemies by his own death,
he was a type of Christ, whose death was a victory.
Samson signifies their Sun:
so is Christ the Light of his elect,
for he makes his grace shine upon them.
Under the holy beam of the Cross,
the vine-stream flows into the store-house of the beloved Church.
The wine-press is trodden,
and the first-fruits of the Gentiles
drink their fill and are glad.
The garment that was rent and torn
is made a robe for kings:
that garment is the Flesh that triumphed over suffering,
and became an ornament of grace.
The Jews forfeited God’s kingdom,
because they put the King to death;
they are not utterly destroyed,
for, like Cain, they are set as a sign.
The Stone that they rejected and despised
is now the chosen one,
set up as a trophy, and made the chief corner-stone.
Taking away sin, but not our nature,
he creates us new creatures;
he unites in himself the two peoples (Jew and Gentile).
Be glory
to our head!
and to the members peace!
Amen.
[1] Acts i 3.
[2] Isa. lii 7.
[3] St John xiv 26.
[4] St Matt. xxvii 55.
From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
℣. In resurrectione tua, Christe, alleluia.
℟. Cœli et terra laetentur, alleluia.
℣. In thy resurrection, O Christ, alleluia.
℟. Let heaven and earth rejoice, alleluia.
THIS being Saturday, let us once more think of Mary, and of the joy she feels at the Resurrection of her Son. She had been his companion in his sufferings; there was not one that she had not endured, and suffered as far as a mere creature could suffer: so, too, there is not a single glory or gladness of the Resurrection in which she is not now
made to participate. It was meet that she, to whom God had granted the grace and merit of sharing in the work of the Redemption, should take her part in the prerogatives which belong to her Jesus, now that he is risen. Her soul is raised to a higher state of perfection; grace loads her with new favours; her actions and sentiments become more than ever heavenly.
She was the first to receive a visit from Jesus after his Resurrection—the first, consequently, to receive from him his own new life. Can we be astonished at her receiving it when we remember that every Christian, who, being purified by his having compassionated with Jesus in his Passion, unites himself afterwards with holy Church, in the sublime mystery of the Pasch, becomes a sharer in the life of his risen Lord? This transformation, which in us is weak, and often, alas! of short duration, was perfect in Mary, for her high vocation and her incomparable fidelity deserved that it should be so; of her, then, far more truly than of us, it may be said that she was indeed risen in her Jesus. The thought of these forty days, during which Mary still possesses her divine Son on this earth, reminds us of those other forty of Bethlehem, when we paid our affectionate homage to the young Virgin-Mother who fed her divine Babe at her breast; we heard the angels singing their Gloria, we saw the shepherds and the Magi; all was exquisite sweetness. What mainly impressed us then was the humility of our Emmanuel; we recognized him as the Lamb that had come to take away the sins of the world; there was nothing that betokened the Mighty God. What changes have happened since that dear time! What sorrows have pierced Mary's heart before her reaching this blissful season of Paschal joy! The sword foretold by Simeon is now, indeed, sheathed, yea, broken for ever, but oh! how sharp and cruel have been its thrusts! Well may Mary now say with the Psalmist: According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, thy comforts, O Lord, have given joy to my soul![1] The Lamb, the gentle little Lamb, has become the Lion of the tribe of Juda; and Mary, the Mother of the Babe of Bethlehem, is equally the Mother of the glorious Conqueror.
With what delight does he not show the glories of his victories to his Mother! His work is done, and now he is the beautiful crowned King of Ages; yes, this is he whom she held for nine months within her womb, whom she fed at her breast, and who, for all eternity, will honour her as his Mother. He honours her during these last forty days on earth with every possible mark of affection; he satisfies her maternal love by frequently visiting her. How admirable must not these interviews be between such a Son and Mother! How delightedly must not Mary look upon her Jesus now? the same dear one, it is true, but oh! so changed from what he was a few days ago! That face, so familiar to Mary, beams with a light which is new even to her. The Wounds that remain in his hands, feet, and side, dart forth a brightness which effaces every recollection of sadness. But how shall we speak of the joy wherewith Jesus gazes upon Mary, his Immaculate Mother—his companion in the work of man’s salvation—the creature who is more perfect and more worthy of love than all other creatures put together? Who could describe the conversations of such a Son with such a Mother, during these days preceding his Ascension, when another long separation is to follow? Eternity will tell us what they were; but, even now, if we love the Son and the Mother, we can imagine some little of what passed between them. Jesus would offer to Mary some compensation for the prolongation of her stay on earth, which is required of her by her ministry as Mother of men; more privileged than was heretofore Martha’s sister, she hears his every word, and feeds on its sweetness in an ecstasy of love. O happy hours, to be followed by long years of absence, flow slowly by! Give this blessed Mother time to satiate her love with the sight and caresses of this dearest and most beautiful of the sons of men! O Mary! by these hours of joy which repaid thee for those long bitter ones of thy Jesus’ Passion, pray to him for us, that he permit us to feel and relish his presence in our hearts during this our exile, wherein we are absent from him.[2] Thus shall we persevere in our devoted service until the arrival of that blissful moment when we are to be united with him in heaven, never again to be separated from him.
Let us offer to the blessed Mother this beautiful sequence, wherewith the Churches of Germany used formerly to celebrate her Seven Joys, of which the Resurrection was one of the grandest.
Sequence
Virgo templum Trinitatis,
Deus summæ bonitatis et misericordiæ,
Qui tuae humilitatis
Et dulcorem suavitatis vidit et fragrantiæ.
De te nasci nuntiatur,
Cum per angelum mandatur tibi salus gratiæ;
Modum quæris, demonstratur,
Dum consentis, incarnatur confestim rex gloriæ.
Per hoc gaudium precamur,
Ut hunc regem mereamur habere propitium,
Et ab eo protegamur,
Protecti recipiamur in terra viventium.
De secundo gratularis,
Quod tu solem stella paris, velut luna radium;
Pariendo non gravaris,
Virgo manes, non mutaris propter puerperium.
Sicut flos propter odorem
Suum non perdit decorem, cum odor emittitur;
Sic nec propter creatorem
Virginitatis candorem tu perdis, cum nascitur.
O Maria, Mater pia,
Esto nobis recta via apud tuum fiilium,
Atque pro tua gratia
Repelle nostra vitia per secundum gaudium.
De tertio gratulari
Stella monet, quam morari vides super filio
Cum a magis adorari
Ipsum cernis et ditari munere tam vario.
Stella monet unitatem
Tresque reges trinitatem in dicto sacrificio;
Aurum mentis puritatem,
Myrrha carnis castitatem, thus est adoratio.
O Maria, stella mundi,
A peccatis simus mundi per te, Virgo Maria,
Et virtutibus fœcundi,
Læti tecum et jocundi, lætemur in patria.
Quartum, Virgo, tibi datur,
Cum a morte suscitatur Christus die tertia.
Per hoc fides roboratur,
Spes redit et mors fugatur per te, plena gratia;
Hostis victus captivatur amissa potentia;
Homo captus liberatur,
Et ab humo sublevatur
Sursum ad coelestia.
Ergo mater creatoris,
Funde preces cunctis horis, ut per istud gaudium,
Post cursum hujus laboris,
Beatis jungamur choris supernorum civium.
Quintum, Virgo, recepisti,
Ascendentem dum vidisti filium in gloria.
Tunc aperte cognovisti
Quod tu mater exstitisti, cujus eras filia.
In ascensu demonstratur
Via, per quam ascendatur ad cœli palatia;
Ergo surgat et sequatur
Istam viam, qui moratur in mundi miseria.
Per hoc gaudium rogamus,
Ne subjici valeamus dæmonis imperio;
Sed ad coelos ascendamus,
Ubi semper gaudeamus, tecum et cum filio.
Sextum gaudium ostendit,
De supernis qui descendit in linguis Paraclitus,
Dum confirmat et defendit,
Replet, mundat et accendit Apostolos penitus,
Ignis in linguis est datus,
Ut per ignem sit sanatus homo linguis perditus,
Et per ignem emendatus
Qui fuerat maculatus per peccatum primitus.
Per hoc gaudium beatum,
Ora, Virgo, tuum natum, ut in hoc exilio
Nostrum deleat reatum,
Ne sit in nobis peccatum in magno judicio.
Ad septimum invitavit,
Cum de mundo te vocavit Christus ad coelestia,
Super thronos exaltavit,
Exaltatam honoravit speciali gratia.
Sic honor tibi præstatur,
Qui nemini reservatur in coelesti curia;
Nec virtutibus ditatur,
Nisi cui per te datur virtutum custodia.
Virgo, mater pietatis,
Sentiamus bonitatis tuæ beneficia;
Et nos serves a peccatis,
Et perducas cum beatis ad aeterna gaudia.
O Maria tota munda,
A peccatis nos emunda per haec septem gaudia;
Et fœcunda nos fœcunda,
Et duc tecum ad jocunda Paradisi gaudia.
Amen.
O Virgin! Temple of the Trinity!
the God of all goodness and mercy,
being pleased with the loveliness of thy humility,
meekness, and purity, is announced as having to be born of thee.
The message is brought thee
by the angel who hails thee full of grace.
Thou askest how? and thou art told.
Thou consentest: and the King of glory instantly becomes incarnate in thy womb.
We beseech thee by this Joy,
that we may deserve to receive mercy from this King,
be protected by him, and, thus protected,
be admitted into the land of the living.
Thy second Joy is that thou,
the Star, givest birth to the Sun, as the Moon emits its ray.
This birth injures thee not;
thou remainest a Virgin as before.
As a flower loses not its beauty
by sending forth its fragrance;
so neither losest thou the bloom of thy Virginity
by giving birth to thy Creator.
O Mary, kind Mother!
be to us the way that leads to thy Son;
and, by thy second Joy,
graciously intercede for us, that we be converted from our sins.
A star tells thee of thy third Joy.
Thou seest a star resting over thy Child,
the Magi adoring him,
and offering their varied gifts.
The star expresses Unity;
three Kings, Trinity;
the gold signifies purity of soul;
the myrrh, chastity of body; the incense, adoration.
O Mary, Star of the Sea!
pray for us, that we may be cleansed from our sins,
enriched with virtue, and united with thee
in the happiness and bliss of the heavenly Country.
The fourth Joy, O holy Virgin! was given thee,
when Jesus rose from the tomb, on the third day.
By this Mystery, faith is strengthened, hope restored, and death put to flight;
and thou, O full of grace, hadst thy share in effecting these wonders.
The enemy is conquered: he is imprisoned, and loses his power.
Man, who had been made captive, is set free,
and raised from earth
to heaven above.
Do thou, therefore, O Mother of our Creator!
pray hourly for us, that, by this Joy,
we may be associated with the choirs of the heavenly citizens,
after this life’s labours are over.
Thou didst receive thy fifth Joy, O Mary!
when thou wast present at thy Son’s Ascension into heaven.
Then didst thou clearly know
that he whose Mother thou wast was thy Creator.
His Ascension shows us
the path whereby we are to ascend to heaven.
Let us then, who dwell in this miserable world,
arise, and follow this path.
We beseech thee, by this Joy,
to pray that we may never be made subject to Satan’s power;
but that we ascend to heaven,
where, with thee and thy Son, we may rejoice for all eternity.
The sixth Joy
was when the Holy Ghost descended, in the form of fiery tongues, from heaven,
strengthening, defending,
filling, cleansing, and inflaming the Apostles.
The fire was given in tongues,
that man, who owed his perdition to a tongue,
might be saved by such fire; and that he who, at the beginning,
had been defiled by sin, might by fire be purified.
We pray thee, O Virgin! by this holy Joy,
intercede for us to thy Son,
that he pardon us our sins, now in this our exile,
lest there be found guilt upon us at the great judgement.
Jesus invited thee to the seventh Joy,
when he called thee out of this world to heaven,
placed thee on thy throne,
and honoured thee with special favours.
Thus is honour given to thee,
such as none of the blessed in heaven enjoy;
nor can any mortal attain to the perfection of virtue,
unless by thine intercession he receive the safeguard of virtue.
O Virgin Mother of Mercy!
give us to feel the proofs of thy loving intercession,
which will preserve us from sin,
and lead us to eternal joys, in the company of the Blessed.
O Virgin most pure! we beseech thee, by these thy Seven Joys,
pray that we may be purified from our sins;
and, being made fruitful in good works,
lead us, O fruitful Mother, to the blissful joys of heaven.
Amen.
[1] Ps. xciii 19.
[2] 2 Cor. v 6.