The hymns for this
feast, usually dated to eighteenth century, are 'evidently the work of the same
author', His name is not known. From Henry, Eucharistica, p. 235, the following
appreciation: 'Their play of fancy and of imagination, their rhetorical finish,
their condensed phraseology, give clear intimations of a skill which has
profited by the models constructed by St Ambrose. They abound, too, in Biblical
allusions, every stanza recalling some type, or figure, or prophecy, or
fulfilment.' However true this may be in other respects, it is scarcely true in
the reference to St Ambrose. A hymn is something to be sung, and a good hymn
is, among other things, easily singable. St Ambrose's hymns satisfy these
requirements, while these do not; and by that criterion they are not good
hymns.
1. mortale: man’s, human; 2.
Cf. Romans 5:12-21;
Blessed creator of the world, O Christ, redeemer
of all, light from the light of the Father, and true God from God. Your love compelled you to take a mortal body
that you as the new Adam might restore what the old Adam took away. That love, O generous maker of the earth and
the seas and stars, caused you to have
mercy on our first parents’ errors and
to break our chains. May the flow of the power of that glorious love not cease to
flow; may the nations drink form that from that fountain the grace of remission
of sins. For this you suffered the sharp lance and for this the wounding that
it might cleanse us from our sins by the flow of water and blood. To you, O
Jesus, be glory, who poured from your heart grace, with the Father and
strengthening Spirit, in eternal ages. Amen.
1. temple more holy than the
one of old, vetusto sc. templo.
2. The Heart is called a
temple as signifying here the humanity of our Lord in whom dwelt the fulness of
the Godhead; cf. Col. 2, 9. A temple essentially is a place where God dwells.
3. The Heart is called a veil
with reference to the opening of our Lord's side. The torn veil in the Temple
exposed to view the mysterious and sacred objects of Jewish worship. The
opening of our Lord's side disclosed to men the mysteries of the new Law.
4. Te refers to our Lord
through the word Cor, which is the subject of the address of the first eight
lines.
5. ictu patenti; with an open
wound, perhaps patenti=patefacienti, i.e. with a wound which disclosed. Thus
man would be given visible proof and a visible symbol of His invisible love;
St John is the only one to describe the opening of
our Lord's side and is also alone in recording that after the resurrection our
Lord showed His side as well as His hands and feet; cf. Luke 24, 40 and John
20, 20 and 27. It is John also who especially connects caritas and amor with
our Lord (cf. lines 9, 11 and 13 Of this hymn), and is the special advocate of love
of our Lord. Thus, devotion to the Sacred Heart may in a special way be traced
back to the beloved disciple.
6. hoc. . . symbolo, i.e. the
Heart.
7. The victim, passus, on the
cross, cruenta, and at the last supper, mystica. Utrumque refers to cruenta and
mystica. The identity of Priest and Victim is stated in line 16; cf. also 149,
13—20.
8. The hymn owes much in
thought and expression to St Bonaventure; cf. Vulneratum est ut per vulnus visibile,
vulnus amoris invisibile videamus. . . .
Quis illud cor tam vulneratum non diligat? quis tam amans (sc. cor) non
redamet? . . . Nos igitur adhuc in carne manentes, quantum possumus, amantem
redamemus.
Your heart contains the law, not the of law of
slavery, but the law of grace, of pardon and of mercy. Your hear is the undefiled sanctuary of the
new covenant, a holier temple than the old one, a veil more profitable than the
one that was torn. Love desired that you be wounded with a blow that opens you,
invisible love that we might worship your wounds. Under this symbol of love,
Christ suffered cruelly and mystically, as a priest he offered a twofold
sacrifice. Who would not respond in love of one who loves this way? Who
redeemed would not love and in love cleave always to Christ? O Jesus, to you be glory, who from your heart
poured out grace, with the Father and strengthening Spirit, in eternal ages.
Amen.
O Jesus,
author of mercy, the hope of complete joy and source of sweet grace and the
true delight of the heart. O Jesus, hope of the penitent, how loving to those
who ask you in prayer, how good to those who seek you; but what do they find?
Your love, O Jesus, pleasing refreshment of the soul, he fills without
weariness, satisfying our hunger with
desire. O most loving Jesus, hope of those who aspire for you, holy tears seek
you, cry to you from deep inside the soul. Abide with us, O Lord, in the
morning with the new light, drive away the darkness of night, filling the world
with your sweetness. O Jesus, highest
kindness, wondrous joy of the heart, limitless goodness, your love urges us on.
O Jesus, flower of the virgin Mother, love of our sweetness, praise to you
without end in the kingdom blessed. Amen.
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