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The Apostolate for the Faith
Christ’s Passover, 2006
The people of Israel were groaning under the bondage of their Egyptian masters when the Lord their God heard their pitiful cry, and chose Moses to be the instrument of His mighty hand and outstretched arm in order to deliver His people and lead them to the promised land. This happened at the Passover when the Israelites, family by family, were instructed to sacrifice the Paschal Lamb and sprinkle the door-posts and lintels with the blood of the sacrifice. Israel was ever haunted by the memory of this exodus through the desert, when “the Lord was their shepherd and the light to their feet.” This was a foreshadowing of a new and more splendid Passover with the gathering of God’s people for the coming of the Messiah.
Christ, Who is our “Pasch”, is the true Lamb, the Lamb of God, who was sacrificed on the altar of the Cross. This was His “passage” to His Father by His free plan of love, the Good Shepherd giving His life for His sheep so that they might “have life and have it more abundantly”, and that, in one sheepfold gathered together under the divine Shepherd. It was a victorious passage, through death, the passage of Him who possessed the power of laying down His life and taking it up again.
And we are the “new people of God”; adopted children of God, marked with the Blood of the new Paschal Lamb by Baptism, through which we share in His death, and are spared the divine justice which “passes-over” our sins, expiated by Him who for love of us paid the ransom by taking our sins and iniquities upon Himself in His sacrifice on the Cross. This is the merciful “Passover” of Jesus Christ He himself is “The Way” for us, through Whom we make our passage from death to Life, from darkness to Light, from sin to Grace. And so, at every Mass during the Octave of Easter the Church chants the Sequence, Victimae Paschali Laudes. In our Catholic hymnals, poetically translated by Miss Leeson:
Christ the Lord is risen today:
Christians, haste your vows to pay;
Offer ye your praises meet
At the Paschal Victim’s feet;
For the sheep the Lamb has bled,
Sinless in the sinner’s stead.
Christ the Lord is risen on high!
Now He lives, no more to die.
Say, O wond’ring Mary, say,
What thou sawest on the way,
“I beheld where Christ had lain,
Empty tomb and Angels twain;
I beheld the glory bright
Of the rising Lord of light:
Christ my hope is risen again;
Now He lives, and lives to reign.
Christ the Victim undefil’d,
Man to God hath reconcil’d;
When in strange and awful strife
Met together death and life;
Christians, on this happy day
Hast with joy your vows to pay.
Christ the Lord is risen on high:
Now He lives, no more to die
Christ, who once for sinners bled,
Now the first-born from the dead,
Thron’d in endless might and power,
Lives and reigns for evermore.
Hail, eternal hope on high!
Hail, thou King of victory!
Hail, thou Prince of life ador’d!
Help and save us, gracious Lord.
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The Holy Oils
The blessing of the Holy Oils is one of the most ancient and most beautiful ceremonies. Through the Eternal Word Television Network, we were able to witness these ceremonies in St Peter’s Basilica, Rome. The Mass of the Sacred Chrism is an ancient Mass that has recently been restored to a place of honour and is usually sung in Cathedrals on Holy Thursday morning. The Holy Oils are three in number, the Oil of the Sick, the Oil of Catechumens and Sacred Chrism. That anointing with oil was used even in the Old Testament we know from the opening words of the Mass of Chrism (Exodus 30.25) “Thou shalt make the holy oil of unction, and thou shalt say to the children of Israel; this oil of unction shall be holy to Me throughout your generations.” And in the Epistle of St James we find “Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man; and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.” Again, in St Mark’s gospel, we are told of the Apostles, “And going forth they preached that men should do penance. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.”
There is no doubt then, that from apostolic times the anointing with oil was used so that the Lord would, “mercifully cleanse away the old man in us so that new life and salvation may grow in us.” The blessing of Chrism is most instructive: “We humbly implore Thy mercy that Thou wouldst bestow the grace of Thy Spirit and the fullness of consecration on this ointment, drawn from a growing plant. May it be seasoned for us.”
Lord, with joyous faith; make it a lasting Chrism for the anointing of the priesthood; make it worthy to be used in impressing the sign of Thy heavenly standard; that whoever after being born again by Thy holy Baptism, shall be anointed with this ointment may obtain the fullness of Thy blessing in body and soul, and ever be enriched by the blessed faith given to them.” And now we call upon the Holy Spirit, as Pentecost approaches:
“Thou who art called the Paraclete, Best gift of God above,
The living spring, the living fire, Sweet unction and true love.
O guide our minds with Thy blest Light, with love our hearts inflame;
And with Thy strength, which ne’er decays, Confirm our mortal frame.”
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Stabat Mater Dolorosa
A hymn that speaks of our Lady at the foot of the Cross; the Mother of Sorrows. There, her sorrows reached their summit; fulfilling holy Simeon’s prophecy: “And thine own soul a sword shall pierce.” And the Church puts on her lips the words of scripture: “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by, behold and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow.”
Then came the reward of this “handmaid of the Lord”; her adorable Son, risen from the dead, filled her immaculate soul with joys beyond imagining. This we celebrate with the glorious conclusion to the Easter Vigil, when the new fire was blessed; and the Paschal Candle symbolising “Christ our Light; Christ yesterday and today. The Beginning and the End, Alpha and Omega. His are the times and ages. To Him be glory and dominion through all ages of eternity. Amen. By His holy an glorious wounds may He guard and preserve us, Christ the Lord. Amen.” The ceremony concluding with that glorious cry of joy:
Queen of heaven rejoice, Alleluia!
For He whom thou didst merit to bear, Alleluia!
Has risen as He said, Alleluia!
Pray for us to God, Alleluia!
Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia!
For the Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!
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