In omnibus requiem quæsivi

Previous to the revision of the Mass and Office of the Assumption consequent upon the definition of that event as a dogma by Pope Pius XII in 1950, the Epistle of the Feast was as follows, to which I subjoin the commentary of Dom Prosper Guéranger:

Lesson from the Book of Wisdom.

Ecclesiasticus xxiv, 11b-13 & 15-20

In all things I sought rest, and I shall abide in the inheritance of the Lord. Then the creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and he that made me, rested in my tabernacle. And he said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect. And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem: and I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints. I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on mount Sion: I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho: as a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the water in the streets, was I exalted. I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aromatical balm: I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh.

The rest that Mary sought is the better part [cf. St Luke x, 42], the repose of the soul in the presence of the King of Peace; and when a soul is thus full of peace, she forms the choicest part of her Lord’s inheritance. No creature has attained so nearly as our Lady to the eternal, unchangeable, peace of the ever-tranquil Trinity; hence no other has merited to become, in the same degree, the resting-place of God.

A soul occupied by active works cannot attain the perfection or the fruitfulness of one in whom our Lord takes His rest, because she is at rest in Him; for this is the nuptial rest. As the Psalm says: ‘When the Lord shall give sleep to His beloved, then shall their fruit be seen.’

Let us, then, who became Mary’s children on the day the Lord first rested in her tabernacle, understand these magnificent expressions of divine Wisdom; for they reveal to us the glory of her triumph. The branch that sprang from the stock of Jesse bears the divine Flower on which rests the fulness of the Holy Ghost; but it has taken root also in the elect, into whose branches it passes the heavenly sap which transforms them and divinizes their fruit. These fruits of Jacob and of Israel – i.e., the works of the ordinary Christian life or of the life of perfection – belong therefore to our Blessed Mother. Rightly, then, does Mary enter to-day upon her unending rest in the eternal Sion – the true holy city and glorified people – the Lord’s inheritance. Her power will be established in Jerusalem, and the saints will for ever acknowledge that they owe to her the fulness of their perfection. ...

The Angelic Doctor says: ‘The trees to which the Blessed Virgin is compared in this Epistle may be taken to represent the different orders of the blessed. This passage therefore means that Mary has been exalted above the angels, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, and all the saints, because she possesses all their merits united in her single person.’

— Abbot Guéranger, The Liturgical Year, Volume XIII, p.372f.

St Bibiana, Virgin and Martyr

A virgin martyr graces this Advent day: St Bibiana, who suffered for her Catholic Faith in Christ during the reign of impious Julian the Apostate.  As her Breviary legend relates, she was noble by birth, but nobler by far for her Faith.  First her father, then her mother, then her sister, and last of all she herself died confessing Christianity - she, last of all, having triumphed over loss of parents and sibling, sequestration of wealth and property, lack of food, threats and blandishments of persecutors, lewd temptations against her purity, and finally the horror of being scourged with leaden whips unto death: all for love of Him Who deigned to shed His Blood and die for her.  

To be whipped to death!  To the world, unspeakable terror; to the faithful, the means whereby she won her inestimable reward: Pretiosa in conspectu Domini mors sanctorum ejus.

And as for Julian: that foolish man perished utterly, unsuccoured by all his fruitless pomps, crying "Thou hast conquered, Galilean" - Mors peccatorum pessima.

May we die even as she did, rather than as he did.

Miracle! her body, reduced to one bloody wound - yet in a manner triumphant, empurpled in a wedding garment fit for a chaste Virgin espoused to the King of kings - lay a prey for feral dogs, but from all bestial rending was preserved, and at length given holy burial by a good priest near her sainted mother and sister; all of whose relics were later rediscovered during the reign of Urban VIII in the church built over them and reinterred under its high altar: in the church of to-day's saint, the Church of St Bibiana on the Esquiline, named by Pope St Simplicius in her honour.  (Her head is kept in a reliquary at St Mary Major.)

Her collect is poetic, playing upon the word conjugere, to yoke or join together (in marriage: one word for spouse is conjux), and unusual, in that it lacks the usual præsta quæsumus or concede propitius:

Deus, omnium largitor bonorum, qui in famula tua Bibiana cum virginitatis flore martyrii palmam conjunxisti: mentes nostras ejus intercessione tibi caritate conjunge; ut, amotis periculis, præmia consequamur æterna.

(God, of all goods the Giver, Who in Thy handmaid Bibiana to the flower of virginity didst yoke together martyrdom's palm: wed our minds at her intercession to Thee in love; that, perils removed, we may obtain rewards eternal.  Through...)

Dom Guéranger provides the following élévation to St Bibiana:

Holy Bibiana, most wise virgin! thou hast gone through the long unbroken watch of this life; and when, suddenly, the Spouse came, thy lamp was bright and richly fed with oil.  Now thou art dwelling in the abode of the eternal marriage-feast, where the Beloved feeds among the lilies.  Remember us who are still living in the expectation of that same divine Spouse, Whose eternal embrace is secured to thee for ever.  We are awaiting the birth of the Saviour of the world, which is to be the end of sin and the beginning of justice; we are awaiting the coming of this Saviour into our souls, that He may give them life and union with Himself by love; we are awaiting our Judge, the Judge of the living and the dead.  Most wise virgin! intercede for us, by thy fervent prayers, with this our Saviour, our Spouse, and our Judge; pray that each of these three visits may work and perfect in us that divine union, for which we have all been created.  Pray also, O faithful virgin, for the Church on earth, which gave thee to the Church in heaven, and which so devoutly watches over thy precious remains.  Obtain for her that strict fidelity, which will ever render her worthy of Him, Who is her Spouse as He is thine.  Though He has enriched her with the most magnificent gifts, and given her confidence by His promises which cannot fail, yet does He wish her to ask, and us to ask for her, the graces which will lead her to the glorious destiny which awaits her.

Ora pro nobis, beata Bibiana: 

Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

St Martha - II

Perusing Guéranger, I came upon what I must reproduce here: his apt and arresting application of Holy Writ to the praiseworthy acts of St Martha, the Hostess of the Lord:

Our Lord said, Into whatever city or town you shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide. (St Matt. x, 11)

But behold! [Our Lord] entered into a certain town, and a certain woman named Martha received Him into her house. (St Luke x, 38)

Therefore, He Who is Truth adjudged her worthy. Many, extending hospitality to strangers, have entertained angels unawares; but she was graced to give shelter to the Lord Himself. And whoso receives Him, receives also the Father Who sent Him: Martha, surely graced by the Holy Ghost, was hospitable to the whole Trinity. The peace of Christ came to rest on that blessed house in Bethany.

What her reward?

He that ministers to Me shall follow Me, and where I am, there shall also My minister be, and My Father will honour him.

For they that have ministered well shall purchase to themselves a good degree, and much confidence in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. (I Tim. iii, 13)

God is not unjust, that He should forget your work and the love which you have shown in His name, you who have ministered and do minister to the saints [let alone to the Saint of Saints]. (I Tim. iii, 13)

Yet more - As many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God. (St John i, 12)

She now as it were sits at table with the Lord, He serving her, by giving her to drink of the abundance of the delights of the Beatific Vision, and the joyful company of all the saints in heaven.

Blessed is that servant whom when his Lord shall come, He shall find so doing. Amen, I say to you, He shall place him over all His goods. (I Tim. iii, 13)

From heaven her eternal home, she, as all the saints, is at perfect rest, and yet, in a manner purified from all earthly care, is ever sollicitous for us, interceding for man's salvation.

The epitaph upon her reputed burial place in Tarascon: Sollicita non turbatur - "Ever zealous, she is no longer troubled".

Juventutem

I am very much committed to attending the next WYD, to be held in Madrid from the 15th to the 21st of August in 2011. Of course, my plan is to again join the Juventutem pilgrim group, and have spoken with Fr Rowe about setting up a W.A. Juventutem chapter.

In any case, the daily prayer recommended to all Juventutem members is the well-known Psalm 42, with antiphon Introibo, as said at the start of the Traditional Mass, and reproduced here:

Introibo ad altare Dei.
Ad Deum qui lætificat juventutem meam.

Judica me, Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta: ab homine iniquo, et doloso erue me.
Quia tu es, Deus, fortitudo mea: quare me reppulisti, et quare tristis incedo, dum affligit me inimicus?
Emitte lucem tuam, et veritatem tuam: ipsa me deduxerunt, et adduxerunt in montem sanctum tuum, et in tabernacula tua.
Et introibo ad altare Dei: ad Deum qui lætificat juventutem meam.
Confitebor tibi in cithara, Deus, Deus meus: quare tristis es, anima mea, et quare conturbas me?
Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc confitebor illi: salutare vultus mei, et Deus meus.
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper: et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Introibo ad altare Dei.
Ad Deum qui lætificat juventutem meam.

Now of course the interesting detail is that the Vulgate, or rather the Gallican Psalter (being Jerome's revision of the older Roman Psalter), follows the Septuagint (πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τὸν εὐφραίνοντα τὴν νεότητά μου) in speaking of the psalmist approaching "to God Who giveth joy to my youth"; whereas all other versions follow the Masoretic Text in speaking of God Who is one's joy of jubilation. Apparently - says the late lamented John Paul II - the Greek translators had recourse to Aramaic when rendering the phrase, and this explains the happy difference. St Augustine comments thus, alluding to how Scripture represents the old sinful Adam in us as transformed by Christ into the new man of grace:

Juventus novitatem significat: tamquam diceret: Ad Deum qui lætificat novitatem meam. Lætificat novitatem meam, qui contristavit vetustatem meam. Incedo enim modo tristis in vetustate, tunc autem stabo gaudens in novitate.

(Youth signifies newness: it is as if it were said: To God Who giveth joy to my newness. He giveth joy to my newness, Who hath made sad my oldness. For I go about sorrowful in oldness, but will stand rejoicing in newness.)

Dom Guéranger gives an apposite paraphrase of this psalm in his commentary on the Mass (as recapitalized):

I unite myself, O my God, with Thy holy Church, who thrills with joy at the approach of Jesus Christ Thy Son, Who is the true Altar.
Like her, I beseech Thee to defend me against the malice of the enemies of my salvation.
It is in Thee that I have put my hope, yet do I feel sad and troubled at being in the midst of the snares which are set for me.
Send me, then, Him Who is Light and Truth; it is He Who will open the way to Thy holy mount, to Thy heavenly tabernacle.
He is the Mediator, and the living Altar; I will draw nigh to Him, and be filled with joy.
When He shall have come, I will sing in my gladness. Be not sad, O my soul! why wouldst thou be longer troubled?
Hope in Him, Who will soon show Himself unto thee, as thy Saviour, and thy God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
I am to go to the altar of God, and feel the presence of Him who desires to give me a new life!

The sacred liturgy also uses portions of this psalm:

Introit of Passion Sunday (Ps 42:1-2a, 3) [NB The Introit is from the Roman Psalter, while the Psalm Verse from the Gallican Psalter.]

Judica me Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta: ab homine iniquo et doloso eripe me: quia tu es Deus meus, et fortitudo mea.
Emitte lucem tuam, et veritatem tuam: ipsa me deduxerunt, et adduxerunt in montem sanctum tuum, et in tabernacula tua.
Judica…

Communion of Sexagesima Sunday (Ps 42:4ab)

Introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui lætificat juventutem meam.



7th Antiphon of Corpus Christi Matins (cf. Ps 42:4ab)

Introibo ad altare Dei, sumam Christum, qui renovat juventutem meam. *

Tuesday Lauds I, Antiphon 2 (Ps 42:5d)

Salutare vultus mei, Deus meus.

Tuesday Lauds II, Antiphon 2 (Ps 42:1a)

Discerne, Deus, causam meam de gente non sancta.

(*Note the fine allusion in the Corpus Christi antiphon to another Psalm as well - Ps 102:5 qui... renovabitur... juventus tua.)

Finally, from those dreadful Protestants, comes this metrical version (C.M. - 8.6.8.6) contained in the Scottish Psalter of 1650:

Judge me, O God, and plead my cause
against th’ ungodly nation;
From the unjust and crafty man,
O be thou my salvation.

For thou the God art of my strength;
why thrusts thou me thee fro’?
For th’ enemy’s oppression
why do I mourning go?

O send thy light forth and thy truth;
let them be guides to me,
And bring me to thine holy hill,
ev’n where thy dwellings be.

Then will I to God’s altar go,
to God my chiefest joy:
Yea, God, my God, thy name to praise
my harp I will employ.

Why art thou then cast down, my soul?
what should discourage thee?
And why with vexing thoughts art thou
disquieted in me?

Still trust in God; for him to praise
good cause I yet shall have:
He of my count’nance is the health,
my God that doth me save.