Dom Gueranger: Explanation of the Prayers and Ceremonies of Holy Mass

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LAVABO, Ps. XXXV.

Whilst the Choir and people are being honoured with incense, the Priest washes his hands. This ceremony is marked, at this particular moment, because the Priest has just been using the Thurible, which always soils the hands, because of the smoke. But at the same time, this washing of the hands embodies a mystery: it expresses the necessity there is for the Priest to purify himself yet more and more, as he advances in the Holy Sacrifice. Just as Our Lord washed the feet of His Apostles before instituting the Holy Eucharist and giving them Holy Communion, so too, should the Priest purify himself. In the Ambrosian Liturgy, this rite of washing the hands takes place during the Canon, before the Consecration; the signification is ever the same, namely, the duty of self-purification incumbent on the Priest; nevertheless, the moment chosen for this rite by the Roman Church, ever discreet in all her decisions, is preferable to that adopted by the Ambrosian Liturgy.

To accompany this action, which signifies what the purity of the Priest should be, holy Church has selected the Psalm xxv., which is marked in the Monastic Office in the First Nocturn of Sunday’s Matins: Judica me, Domine, quoniam ego in innocentia mea ingressus sum. In this Psalm, it is Our Lord Himself who speaks; it is easy to perceive that the Priest could never apply such words to himself. Holy Church appoints but the half of this Psalm to be said, commencing with the words: Lavabo inter innocentes manus meas et circumdabo altare tuum, Domine, ... I will wash my hands, O Lord, and make myself like to those who are in the state of innocence, so as to be worthy to approach Thine Altar, to hear Thy sacred Canticles and to recount Thy marvellous Works.

Every word is wonderfully adapted to the present occasion. Further on, we come across this other remarkable expression of the Prophet: Domine, dilexi decorem domus tuae et locum habitationis gloriae tuae: Lord, I have loved the beauty of Thy House, the Place where Thy Glory dwelleth. David here speaks of that Tabernacle under the shade of which he dwelt so happy, although the Temple was not yet in existence, for it was not built till Solomon’s time. The Psalm is continued to the end, so as to allow the Priest ample time for washing and wiping his hands. This other verse of the same Psalm: Ego autem in innocentia mea ingressus sum: I have walked in mine innocence, proves to us, once again, that this Psalm is altogether Messianic; the Priest, therefore, says it in the Name of Christ, with whom he is but one and the same, during the action of the Great Sacrifice. In Masses of the Dead, and at Passiontide (when the Mass is ferial), the Gloria Patri is omitted at the end of this Psalm. This omission of the Gloria in this place is always coupled with the omission of Psalm Judica at the beginning of the Mass.


SUSCIPE, SANCTA TRINITAS.

The Priest having ended the Psalm, returns to the middle of the Altar, and there, with his hands joined and his head slightly inclined, he says: Suscipe Sancta Trinitas, hanc oblationem quam tibi offerimus ob memoriam Passionis, Resurrectionis et Ascensionis Jesu Christi Domini nostri ... Things of high import here stand before us. An Oblation is spoken of: Suscipe hanc oblationem: Receive this Oblation. The Priest says these words of the Bread and Wine just offered by him; nevertheless, he has really in view neither this Bread nor this Wine. These things are, indeed, sanctified and blessed, and hence they deserve to be treated with respect; but the Oblation here presented to the Divine Majesty, could never be confined to an order of Sacrifice purely material, as was that of the Jews; it is evident, therefore, that the Priest is here stretching forward in thought to a something far higher: he is presenting the Offering of the Great Sacrifice which is soon to be accomplished. - And, O holy Trinity, we offer this Oblation to Thee, in memory of the Passion, of the Resurrection, and of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, our Lord. So, we must here note these three things in Our Lord, without which He would not be complete.

First of all, He suffered, but He could not be satisfied with suffering alone, so He died also, and these two coupled, constitute what we call His Passion; but this is not all, the Lord rose again. Death, the punishment of sin, is, as it were, the devil’s triumph over man, and therefore it would have been a true defeat suffered by Christ, had He died without afterwards Rising again. But further still, He hath gone up into Heaven, by His glorious and triumphant Ascension. Our Lord could not possibly have remained on earth; until He open Heaven, and Himself enter therein, in His Human Nature, Heaven must needs remain closed to man; on this very account, therefore, our salvation is not wholly effected, unless Our Lord ascend to Heaven, after having suffered for us, notwithstanding His being truly the Risen-One, being, as St. Paul expresses it, “the First-Born from amongst the dead!” So, then, let us well drink in this great Truth, namely, that Our Lord Suffered, that He Arose, but that man’s salvation is not wholly accomplished, if he still abide as an exile on our earth; to the Passion and Resurrection, must needs be added the Ascension. Such, then, should be our Faith, because such is the Economy of our Salvation, in which are contained these Three Things: the Passion, the Resurrection, the Ascension. So well does Holy Church understand that these Three are needed to complete Christ, and that therein is our whole Faith comprised, that she makes a point of insisting on our expressing the same in a marked manner, here at this moment of the Offering of the Sacrifice.

Et in honorem beatae Mariae semper Virginis. Not a single Mass is offered, but it brings glory to our Blessed Lady, who is, in Herself, a whole World apart. Therefore is it that we first of all recall the Memory of Our Lord, then of the Blessed Virgin, and finally of the Angels and Saints. The Angels are greater than we, that is to say, they are superior to us, by reason of their spiritual nature; but Our Blessed Lady, although a mere human creature, is raised far above them all, because, as before said, she forms a world apart, she is the very Master Piece of God Himself; hence Holy Church fails not to honour her as such in the Holy Sacrifice, wherein she never forgets this sublime Queen and the place apart due to her alone.

Et beati Joannis Baptistae. Holy Church holds St. John the Baptist in great veneration in the Confiteor, we have seen, she always mentions him, and here again she is delighted to give fresh honour to the Precursor of Our Lord. Et sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli; it is right to pay our tribute of glory also to these two great Apostles who laboured together in founding the Holy Roman Church.

Et istorum. This expression has more than once raised a difficulty: it has been asked, many a time, who are hereby intended? Some would have it, that the saint of the day was here referred to; but in such a case, we ought to use the word istius, and not istorum; and then, again, Masses of the Dead would present another difficulty in the way of such a solution; so it is evident that the Church’s meaning must be other than such a supposition. It is plain that she here intends to allude to those saints who are There, that is to say, whose relics are incorporated in the Altar itself. For this very reason, when an Altar is being consecrated, Relics of several saints must be placed therein; those of one saint only would not suffice and would not justify the Church’s expression here: et istorum. Yea, says she, in honour of these Saints who here serve as the resting place of the mystery which is established upon them, of these Saints on whose bodies the Great Sacrifice is to be accomplished: - what could be more fitting than to make special mention apart of these Saints

Et omnium sanctorum ... Finally, Holy Church mentions all the saints, in general, because all have part in the Holy Mass. Ut illis proficiat ad honorem, nobis autem ad Salutem ... Observe here two things coupled in the Holy Sacrifice: on the one hand, it gives glory to God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to the Saints; on the other, it is profitable to us; the Church, therefore, makes us here beg of God to deign to accept it so, that it may attain this double end proposed. As to the words which terminate this Prayer, they give us a form of invoking the saints whom holy Church specially commemorates on that particular day: Et illi pro nobis intercedere digneris in coelis quibus memoriam agimus in terris. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum; note how the name of Christ is always added.

This Prayer, like the first, has only been fixed for universal use, since the the of Saint Pius V. Its Latin is less fine than that of the Canon, which originates from the earliest Christian ages, as does also the Prayer for the Benediction of the Water, which we have given above.


To be continued ...