Corpus Christi
The Divine Office and the Liturgy for the feast of Corpus Christi were written by St. Thomas Aquinas, and what he produced is one of the few proofs that one can be a great theologian and also a great poet. The feast, and eucharistic devotion in general, gave rise to some of the most beautiful hymns in our musical treasury. Think of those of Aquinas: Pange, lingua, gloriosi corporis mysterium, whose final stanzas will be familiar as the Tantum ergo sacramentum; Sacris solemniis juncta sint gaudia, whose final stanzas are the Panis angelicus; Verbum supernum prodiens, whose final stanzas are the O salutaris hostia; Lauda Sion salvatorem, a bit too didactic for many; and Adoro te devote, now fairly securely attributed to St. Thomas.
Then there are the Ave verum corpus; the O esca viatorum, and the O sacrum convivium, all of them put to lovely music.
Today we began our liturgy with Alleluia, Sing to Jesus. The offertory hymn was I am the Bread of Life (which I think has been ruined by the importation of politically correct language; it’s bad enough that Jesus’ words have been changed to “I will raise you up,” but they’ve also changed “No one can come to me unless the Father beckon,” when it should be “draw him”–but I digress). Our communion hymn was Gift of Finest Wheat.
We ended the liturgy with Father, we thank Thee, which is a very close translation of a hymn found in the Didache, one of the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament; one scholar thought it could have been written as early as the year 50; there is a consensus that it could not be much later than 100, which would mean, given the conservatism of liturgy, that the hymn quoted could be even earlier. It is a wonderful expression of eucharistic faith, and in the second verse especially, of the close link between Eucharist and Church, summed up in the axiom that Henri de Lubac helped make popular: “The Church makes the Eucharist; the Eucharist makes the Church.”
Fr. Komonchack’s post brought me back to the magnificent translation of Thomas’s poem by Hopkins (the last line of the first stanza is Hopkins at his best):
Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at Thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.
Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived:
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God’s Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth Himself speaks truly or there’s nothing true.
On the cross Thy godhead made no sign to men,
Here Thy very manhood steals from human ken:
Both are my confession, both are my belief,
And I pray the prayer of the dying thief.
I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,
But can plainly call thee Lord and God as he;
Let me to a deeper faith daily nearer move,
Daily make me harder hope and dearer love.
O thou our reminder of Christ crucified,
Living Bread, the life of us for whom he died,
Lend this life to me then: feed and feast my mind,
There be thou the sweetness man was meant to find.
Bring the tender tale true of the Pelican;
Bathe me, Jesu Lord, in what Thy bosom ran
Blood whereof a single drop has power to win
All the world forgiveness of its world of sin.
Jesu, whom I look at shrouded here below,
I beseech thee send me what I thirst for so,
Some day to gaze on thee face to face in light
And be blest for ever with Thy glory’s sight. Amen.
Father, We Thank Thee is one of my favorite hymns
Whoops. One of my favorite hymns to sing, especially verse 2. It’s an intercession for the Church that rings very true to my ears.
Fr. Komonchak, I would think that the text is very early, but that it was not originally a hymn but a Eucharistic prayer.
Today we had an older priest who was quite thundering, for lack of a better word. As he began I looked at my wife and wondered what will follow. A nice surprise. One knew and sensed he believed everything he was doing. He followed the liturgy but would ad lib ever so slightly but effectively. “Jesus is here with us” and “powerfully acting here” and the like. Followed by a prepared sermon. How could one not feel the presence of God? A journey and exodus that had it all.
This was proclamation. This was celebration
We almost didn’t sing Adoro Te Devote (my oversight), and wouldn’t have, except that the pastor set it as the opening hymn for Vespers. I sang the short form of Lauda Sion 4 x today. Would’ve been 5 but I forgot to learn it in Spanish.
We had the annual Corpus Christi procession; this year the altar of repose was outside the brand new adoration chapel. For some reason we sang Tantum Ergo twice (my bad again). It was nice–sunny, youthful with all the young families. A longish litany in honor of the Eucharist, and benediction. I was singing Pange Lingua into the lapel mike, kneeling, and the principal’s three year old came up to say hi. He and I were the same height at the time.