the ineffable sweetness of Christ, who is the wheat of the elect and the rock of the desert.1 ANT. The Lord hath fed us with the fat of wheat; and hath filled us with honey out of the rock. ANT. Cibavit nos Dominus ex adipe frumenti : et de petra, melle saturavit nos. PSALM 80. our Rejoice unto God, helper: sing aloud to the God of Jacob. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel : the pleasant psaltery with the harp. Blow up the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your solemnity. For it is a commandment in Israel, and a judgment to the God of Jacob. He ordained it for a testimony in Joseph, when he came out of the land of Egypt, he heard a tongue which he knew not. He removed his back from the burdens, his hands had served in baskets. Thou calledst upon me in affliction, and I delivered thee: I heard thee in the secret place of tempest: I proved thee at the waters of contradiction. Hear, O my people, and I will testify to thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me, there shall be no new god in thee: neither shalt thou adore a strange god. For I am the Lord thy God, VOL. X. 1 Zach. ix. 17; 1 Cor. x. 4. R Deus tuus, qui eduxi te de meus vocem meam : Israel non intendit mihi. Et dimisi eos secundum desideria cordis eorum, ibunt in adinventionibus suis. Si populus meus audisset me: Israel si in viis meis ambulasset: Pro nihilo forsitan inimicos eorum humiliassem: * et super tribulantes eos misissem manum meam. Inimici Domini mentiti sunt ei : et erit tempus eorum in sæcula. Et cibavit eos ex adipe frumenti : * et de petra, melle saturavit eos. ANT. Cibavit nos Dominus ex adipe frumenti et de petra, melle saturavit nos. Christ is that living God, who makes my heart and my flesh rejoice. Let us take this next Psalm, and sing the praises of the altars of the Lord of hosts, our King and our God. Those altars are a house for the sparrow, and a nest for the turtle-dove. Happy they who dwell in those lovely tabernacles! ANT. Ex altari tuo, Domine, Christum sumimus, in quem cor et caro nostra exsultant. ANT. We have taken Christ from thine altar, O Lord; in whom our heart and flesh rejoice. PSALM 83. How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest for herself, where she may lay her young ones. Thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God! Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord! they shall praise thee for ever and ever. Blessed is the man whose help is from thee: in his heart, he hath disposed to ascend by steps, in the vale of tears, in the place which he hath set. For the lawgiver shall give a blessing, they shall go from virtue to virtue: the God of gods shall be seen in Sion. O Lord, God of hosts! hear my prayer give ear, O God of Jacob! Behold, O God! our protector and look on the face of thy Christ. For better is one day, in thy courts, above thousands. I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners. For God loveth mercy and Beati, qui habitant in domo tua, Domine in sæcula sæculorum laudabunt te. Beatus vir, cujus est auxilium abs te: * ascensiones in corde suo disposuit, in valle lacrimarum, in loco quem posuit. Etenim benedictionem dabit legislator, ibunt de virtute in virtutem : * videbitur Deus deorum in Sion Domine, Deus virtutum, exaudi orationem meam : auribus percipe, Deus Jacob. Protector noster aspice, Deus : et respice in faciem Christi tui. Quia melior est dies una in atriis tuis super millia. * Elegi abjectus esse in domo Dei mei : magis quam habitare in tabernaculis peccatorum. Quia misericordiam et truth: the Lord will give grace and glory. He will not deprive of good things them that walk in innocence: O Lord of hosts! blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. ANT. We have taken Christ from thine altar, O Lord; in whom our heart and flesh rejoice. V. Bring forth bread out of the earth, alleluia. B. And may wine cheer the heart of man, alleluia. Our Father. After the Pater noster, which is said as in the first two Nocturns, the Priest says: A vinculis peccatorum nostrorum absolvat nos omnipotens et misericors Dominus. B. Amen. May the Almighty and merciful Lord deliver us from the chains of our sins. R. Amen. Here is read the first sentence of the Gospel of the Mass of this Feast; and the interpretation of it, as given by St. Augustine, is immediately added. The holy Doctor dwells particularly on the unity which our Lord intended to produce among his followers by the august Sacrament. He shows the necessity of the interior dispositions required for receiving this Sacrament with fruit; and lays special stress on this one effect, that it is to make man live for Christ, just as He lives for his Father. BENEDICTIO. Evangelica lectio sit nobis salus et protectio. B. Amen. BLESSING. May the reading of the Gospel bring us salvation and protection. B. Amen. 7TH LESSON. Lesson from the holy Gospel according to John. Ch. VI. At that time, Jesus said to the multitude of the Jews: My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed. And the rest. Homily of Saint Augustine, Seeing, that men desire this, by the food and drink they take, that they may suffer neither hunger nor thirst, this result is not gained by any other than this food and drink, which makes them immortal and incorruptible who take it; that is, the very fellowship of the saints, where there is peace, and full and perfect unity. For,-as also men of God, who preceded us, understood this subject,-it was for that purpose that our Lord Jesus Christ commended his Body and Blood in such things as are brought, from being many, into one. For the first of these is made into one, out of several grains; and the second flows into one, out of several berries. He now, at last, explains how that is effected which he is speaking: and what it is to eat his Body, and drink his Blood. B. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, * Abideth in me, and I in him. Lectio sancti Evangelii secundum Johannem. Cap. VI. In illo tempore, Dixit Jesus turbis Judæorum: Caro mea, vere est cibus : et sanguis meus, vere est potus. Et reliqua. Homilia sancti Augustini, Episcopi. Cum cibo et potu id appetant homines, ut neque esuriant, neque sitiant, hoc veraciter non præstat, nisi iste cibus et potus, qui eos, a quibus sumitur, immortales et incorruptibiles facit : id est, societas ipsa sanctorum: ubi pax erit, et unitas plena atque perfecta. Propterea quippe, sicut etiam ante nos hoc intellexerunt homines Dei, Dominus noster Jesus Christus Corpus et Sanguinem suum in eis rebus commendavit, quæ ad unum aliquid rediguntur ex multis. Namque aliud in unum ex multis granis conficitur: aliud in unum ex multis acinis confluit. Denique jam exponit quomodo id fiat, quod loquitur et quid sit manducare Corpus ejus, et Sanguinem bibere. B. Qui manducat meam carnem et bibit meum sanguinem, * In me manet, et ego in eo. |