Vex­il­la Re­gis Pro­deunt

The royal banners forward go,
The Cross shines forth in radiant glow;
Where he, the Life, did death endure,
And yet by death did life procure.

His feet and hands outstretching there,
He willed the piercing nails to bear,
For us and our redemption’s sake
A victim of himself to make.

There whilst he hung, his sacred side
By soldier’s spear was opened wide,
To cleanse us in the precious flood
Of water mingled with his blood.

Fulfilled is now what David told
In true prophetic song of old,
To all the nations, ‘Lo,’ said he,
‘Our God is reigning from the tree.’

Blest Three in One, our praise we sing
To thee from whom all graces spring:
As by the cross thou dost restore,
So rule and guide us evermore.

Carried

“They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.”

Mark 15:21
From the Gospel of Palm Sunday Year B

While listening to the Gospel reading this morning my mind began to wander a bit.

I remembered going to daily Mass during Lent 2011 at Holy Cross Catholic Church, the oldest church in Columbus. I was very early and so I just began looking around the beautiful church.

I began with the crucifixion scene over the high altar and then I moved on to the statues and stained glass windows. And then I got to the Stations of the Cross. I only made it as far as the 5th Station.

While I was familiar with the Gospel account of Simon helping Jesus to carry the cross, and I had prayed it in the Stations of the Cross many times, this was the first time I actually stopped to consider what it actually meant. Jesus tells us that we all have our own cross to bear (Matthew 10:38, 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23, 14:27). We all have our weaknesses, our sins, our addictions, our faults that we must deal with every day and sometimes they may be overwhelming. What I realized was that being overwhelmed is okay. Jesus had help carrying his cross and so there is nothing wrong in accepting help carrying ours.

Next, my wandering mind made the leap to a quote from an obscure tv show I am quite fond of. And while a long-cancelled space western doesn’t typically have much to do with the Gospel reading at Mass I thought that this one was really on target.

“When you can’t run you crawl. And when you can’t do that…you find someone to carry you.”

Firefly, The Message

The Church Militant

Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Collect, Ash Wednesday

We kick of Lent with this, the opening prayer, or Collect, for Ash Wednesday. And what an opening it is. The Church is reminding us that we are at war and “our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.” (Ephesians 6:12 NAB) and our weapon in this fight is the self-restraint that is learned by disciplining the body through fasting.

The very idea of waging a “campaign of Christian service” is very evocative of Matthew 16 where Jesus tells us that the gates of hell will not be able to stand against the Church. This doesn’t just mean that the Church will not be overcome by the powers of hell. Rather, Jesus puts hell itself on the defensive. The Church brings the battle to the forces of evil and she will be victorious.

I couldn’t help but notice the different tone this prayer has compared to previous years considering the new, corrected Mass translations. The previous “translation”, rather than having us wage a “campaign of Christian service” had us asking God to “protect us in our struggle against evil”.  It really feels different to be marching to victory rather than cowering in fear.

 

 

Lenten Practices

In past few years I have steadily increased my Lenten practices. At my peak last year and the year before I was praying at least one office from the Liturgy of the Hours daily, doing other spiritual reading, attending Mass on at least 2 weekdays, attending Stations of the Cross weekly, and I did a 24 hour fast at least once a week – but more often than not is was every Wednesday and Friday of Lent.

This year I am not nearly as prepared. I am not exactly sure of the reasons but I am just not up for all of that. But, I will be trying to pray the Liturgy of the Hours a bit more often than I have been lately – everything has to start with prayer. And then I will have to see where to go from there.

I was once very, very briefly part of a group that met once a week to pray Vespers together. There were 3 of us and we would meet and pray in front of the tabernacle. By week 2 there were 2 of us. And by week 3 it was only me. I think that part of the reason why I don’t seem to be able to pray the LOTH consistently - I pray it for a few months and then take a month or 2 off before taking it up again – is that it really is designed as community prayer and that is how it works best. It does work well as private prayer for an individual. But, that it not how it is intended – it’s not the ideal.

I’ll just have to see how far I can get this year.

Blessed Is The Wood

I first came across this one a few years ago. And it never seems to be far from my mind in Holy Week:

For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes.
Wisdom 14:7 RSVCE

Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?

More from the Farther Along Octet. These guys are well on the way to becoming my favorite musicians.

Adoramus Te, Christe

We adore Thee, O Christ, And we bless Thee, Who by Thy holy cross have redeemed the world, Who have suffered for us! Lord, Lord, have mercy upon us!

Adoramus Te, Christe, et benedicimus Tibi, quia per sanctam crucem Tuam redemisti mundum, Qui passus es pro nobis, Domine, Domine, miserere nobis!

The text (or a variant) is commonly used during the Stations of the Cross. It is derived from an Antiphon sung during communion on Good Friday in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. The tune was composed by the great Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.

The singers, the Farther Along Octet, are students at a Mennonite College. If Mennonite college students can do this then certainly we should be seeing a little more of this in Catholic parishes. This is our musical heritage.

Reflections On The Seven Last Words

Over the past several weeks Tim Glass has posted a series of reflections on the Seven Last Words of Christ:

1. “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”

2. “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

3. “Woman, behold, your son.”

4. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

5. “I thirst.”

6. “It is finished.”

7. “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”.

They are all definitely worth a read.

An 8th Century Tradition

From Paraclete Press:

Christians around the world relive the final days of Christ’s life on earth this week. Our observances of these ancient events are as varied and as personal as each of our relationships with Him, and serve to prepare our hearts for the unspeakable gift of his suffering, his death, and his glorious resurrection.

You are invited to take part in a tradition that dates back to the eighth century, with the chanting of the Passion Narrative according to Saint John on Good Friday. Take half an hour apart from the events of the day, and listen to these sacred words, chanted by monastic members of the Gloriae Dei Cantores Schola in Gregorian chant.

Hear the voices of the Narrator, Christ, and the Synagogue, in this noble narration which brings to life with a dramatic immediacy the events of the Passion, as the Gospel account unfolds. Meditate on the English translation as you listen, and allow the ancient language of the text, and the special Gregorian chant tone reserved especially for this holy season, to add a new depth and solemnity to your understanding of this familiar story.

http://www.paracletepress.com/the-passion-according- to-st-john.html

The Seven Sorrows Of Mary

In the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite even though today is Friday in Passion Week (the 5th Week of Lent) the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary are also commemorated. A commemoration means that the Collect, the Secret, and the Postcommunion of the Feast of the Seven Sorrows are said after the same prayers of the day.

Collect
O God, in whose passion, according to the prophecy of Simeon, the sword of sorrow did pierce the most sweet soul of the glorious Mary, Virgin and Mother; mercifully grant that we who call to mind with veneration her anguish and suffering, may obtain the blessed fruit of Thy passion through the glorious merits and prayers of all the Saints who have faithfully stood by the cross interceding for us: Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Secret
We offer unto Thee our prayers and oblations, O Lord Jesus Christ, and humbly beseech Thee that, even as in our prayers we recall the piercing of the most sweet soul of Thy Blessed Mother Mary, so through the merits of Thy death, and the repeated loving intercession of Thy Mother and her holy companions at the foot of the cross, we may share in the reward of the blessed: Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God world without end. Amen.

Postcommunion
O Lord Jesus Christ, may the sacrifice of which we partook while devoutly recalling the anguish of Thy virgin Mother, win for us from Thy mercy all good and healthful fruit: Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God world without end. Amen.

The Seven Sorrows themselves are:

The Prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:34-35)
The Flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-14)
The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:43-45)
The Meeting of Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross (Luke 23:27)
The Crucifixion (John 19:25-27)
The Taking Down of the Body of Jesus from the Cross (Mark 15:43-46)
Jesus laid in the Tomb (John 19:38-42)

Of the Seven Sorrows only the first one, the Prophecy of Simeon, is specifically mentioned in the prayers of the Mass today.

The Sorrows of Mary can also be seen in the Sequence Stabat Mater which is very commonly used during the Stations of the Cross:

At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to Jesus to the last.

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
all His bitter anguish bearing,
now at length the sword has passed.

O how sad and sore distressed
was that Mother, highly blest,
of the sole-begotten One.

Christ above in torment hangs,
she beneath beholds the pangs
of her dying glorious Son.

Is there one who would not weep,
whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ’s dear Mother to behold?

By the Cross with thee to stay,
there with thee to weep and pray,
is all I ask of thee to give.

For the sins of His own nation,
She saw Jesus wracked with torment,
All with scourges rent:

She beheld her tender Child,
Saw Him hang in desolation,
Till His spirit forth He sent.

Can the human heart refrain
from partaking in her pain,
in that Mother’s pain untold?

O thou Mother! fount of love!
Touch my spirit from above,
make my heart with thine accord:

Make me feel as thou hast felt;
make my soul to glow and melt
with the love of Christ my Lord.

Holy Mother! pierce me through,
in my heart each wound renew
of my Savior crucified:

Let me share with thee His pain,
who for all my sins was slain,
who for me in torments died.

Let me mingle tears with thee,
mourning Him who mourned for me,
all the days that I may live:

Let me, to my latest breath,
in my body bear the death
of that dying Son of thine.

Virgin of all virgins blest!,
Listen to my fond request:
let me share thy grief divine;

Wounded with His every wound,
steep my soul till it hath swooned,
in His very Blood away;

Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,
lest in flames I burn and die,
in His awful Judgment Day.

Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence,
by Thy Mother my defense,
by Thy Cross my victory;

When my body dies,
let my soul be granted
the glory of Paradise. Amen.