medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Offertorium – 24
Psalm 24 is a frequent source of material for our liturgical chants,
and we find it quarried again for the Third Sunday in Lent. The
antiphon to the Introit is verses 15-16 of this psalm:
Oculi mei semper ad Dominum, quia ipse evellet de laqueo pedes meos:
respice in me, et miserere mei, quoniam unicus et pauper sum ego.
The psalm-verse is the by-now-familiar verses 1-2 of the same psalm:
Ad te, Domine, levavi animam meam: Deus meus, in te confido, non
erubescam.
All this material is, in a way, reprised in the Tract. It is not
repeated directly, but one finds the same ideas, and many of the same
words, emerging from Psalm 122:1-3
Ad te levavi oculos meos, qui habitas in caelis.
(Taking up the ‘Ad te levavi’ of the psalm verse and the ‘oculi’ of the
antiphon)
Ecce sicut oculi servorum in manibus dominorum suorum.
(Again, ‘oculi’)
Et sicut oculi ancillae in manibus dominae suae: ita oculi nostri ad
Dominum Deum nostrum, donec misereatur nostri.
(Another pair of ‘oculi’; and ‘miserere’ is also taken up from the
antiphon)
Miserere nobis, Domine, miserere nobis.
(‘Miserere’ again).
Our antiphonist has evidently made some effort to preserve unity of
theme, and may have been trying to reflect the first words of the
Epistle (Ephesians 5): ‘Fratres, estote imitatores Dei.’ We can only
imitate God by keeping our eyes on him, observing how he behaves.
We skipped over the Gradual, ps. 9, verse 20 and 4, returning now to
which we find set forth the familiar idea of calling on God for
deliverance from our enemies:
Exsurge, Domine, non praevaleat homo: judicentur gentes in conspectu
tuo.
In convertendo inimicum meum retrorsum, infirmabuntur, et peribunt a
facie tua.
The Offertorium is Psalm 18, verses 9, 10, 11 and 12:
Justitiae Domini rectae, laetificantes corda, et judicia eius dulciora
super mel et favum: nam et servus tuus custodit ea.
Now this takes up the last words of the Gospel (Luke 11:14-28):
Quinimo beati, qui audiunt verbum Dei, et custodiunt illud.
We should notice that only portions of each of the four verses
mentioned have been used. It will be helpful to quote these verses in
full:
Justitiae Domini rectae, laetificantes corda:
[Praecepturm Domini lucidum, illuminans oculos.
Timor Domini sanctus, permanens in saeculum saeculi;]
Judicia [Domini vera, justificata in semetipsa.
Desiderabilia super aurem et lapidem pretiosum multum;
Et] dulciora super mel et favum.
Etenim servus tuus custodit ea.
The antiphonist has omitted all the words which I have placed in
brackets, to construct a short pithy sentence, relating to that last
sentence of the Gospel: ‘The judgements of the Lord are right,
gladdening the heart, and his rulings are sweeter than honey and the
honeycomb: therefore your servant keeps them.’
Once again the Communio seems to be on a different mailing-list
altogether, for it is psalm 83:4-5
Passer invenit sibi domum, et turtur nidum, ubi reponat pullos suos:
altaria tua, Domine virtutum, Rex meus, et Deus meus:
beati qui habitant in domo tua, in saeculum saeculi laudabunt te.
It does take up the ‘beati qui’ of the last verse of the Gospel, but in
a different sense from that expressed there, or in the Offertorium.
This is a common antiphon, occuring several times in the year (actually
we sang it last Sunday). It may be that the ‘beati qui’ was sufficient
to earn its place in this Mass.
Bill.
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