Monday, April 30, 2012

Above all, adoration

   

"The liturgy is, above all, adoration. The Church
is the work of God, God's action; it is recognition
of what God does for men. And the
adoration that the liturgy expresses, especially
the Eucharist, is the acknowledgment of God,
that everything comes from Him, that
everything that belongs to us must find Him."  


Cardinal Antonio Cañizares



Pope Pius V standardized the Holy Mass
by promulgating the 1570 edition of the Roman Missal.


Pope St. Pius V
Italy  ~ 1504-1572
Dominican*, Church Reformer
"Pope of the Rosary"
*His decision to keep wearing his Dominican habit
led to the custom of the pope wearing a white cassock.
Feast Day - April 30



On his deathbed:  "O Lord, increase my sufferings
and increase my patience." ~ St Pius V


St Pius V, ora pro nobis!

   
More on St Pius V:


 
Probably the act for which Pius V will be longest remembered is his leadership at the time of the Battle of Lepanto.

In 1565, the Knights of Saint John defended Malta against a tremendous
attack by the Turkish fleet and lost nearly every fighting man in the
fortress. It was the pope who sent encouragement and money with which to
rebuild their battered city. The pope called for a crusade among the
Christian nations and appointed a leader who would be acceptable to all. He
ordered the Forty Hours Devotion to be held in Rome, and he encouraged all
to say the Rosary.

When the Christian fleet sailed out to meet the enemy, every man on board

had received the sacraments, and all were saying the Rosary.
The fleet was
small, and numerically it was no match for the Turkish fleet, which so far
had never met defeat. They met in the Bay of Lepanto on Sunday morning,
October 7, 1565. After a day of bitter fighting, and, on the part of the
Christians, miraculous help, the Turkish fleet-what was left of it-fled in
disgrace, broken and defeated, its power crushed forever.

Before the victorious fleet returned to Rome, the pope had knowledge of the
victory through miraculous means. He proclaimed a period of thanksgiving; he placed the invocation, "Mary, Help of Christians" in the Litany of Loreto
and established the feast of Our Lady of Victory (later Our Lady of the Rosary) in commemoration of the victory.
 
St Pius V inserted the Adoro Te Devote among the prayers of preparation and thanksgiving for the Mass into the Missal reformed by him in 1570.  (Prior to that, the text had remained unknown for two centuries since St Thomas Aquinas penned it.) From that date, the hymn was used in the universal Church as one of  the most loved Eucharistic prayers of the clergy and the Christian people.  Spend some time today meditating on its beauty and truth and express your gratitude for its preservation.  ***(This hymn is the inspiration of the TITLE of this blog - see verse two).

GODHEAD HERE IN HIDING /ADORO TE DEVOTE
Words: St Thomas Aquinas, Translation: Gerard Manley Hopkins S.J.



Adoro te devote, latens Deitas,
Quæ sub his figuris vere latitas;
Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit,
Quia te contemplans totum deficit.
Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur,
Sed auditu solo tuto creditur.
Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius;
Nil hoc verbo veritátis verius.
In cruce latebat sola Deitas,
At hic latet simul et Humanitas,
Ambo tamen credens atque confitens,
Peto quod petivit latro pœnitens.
Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor:
Deum tamen meum te confiteor.
Fac me tibi semper magis credere,
In te spem habere, te diligere. 
O memoriale mortis Domini!
Panis vivus, vitam præstans homini!
Præsta meæ menti de te vívere,
Et te illi semper dulce sapere.
Pie Pelicane, Jesu Domine,
Me immundum munda tuo sanguine:
Cujus una stilla salvum facere
Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere.
Jesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio,
Oro, fiat illud quod tam sitio:
Ut te revelata cernens facie,
Visu sim beátus tuæ gloriæ.
Amen

 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.

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