sola fides sufficit
It's been awhile since I attended Holy Thursday Mass, the Mass of the Lord's Supper. The older server came in swinging the censor in grand centrifugal arcs. I knew about the blessing of the holy oils at the Chrism Mass with the Archbishop and all the priests of the Archdiocese, but it was moving to see these same oils enter in procession at the beginning of things. Whenever someone is baptized or anointed for illness, the authority of the bishop is present. I'm only recently coming to appreciate the pivotal role of the bishops in the sacraments.
As the only parish Mass of the day, it was a great coming together also. The pastor, the associate pastor, and our visiting seminarian were there. The deaf community was there and the Mass was signed. The Mass was celebrated in English and Spanish, with bilingual hymns. And the pastor also referred to the Asian community.
And at the transition of the Eucharist to the place of repose while we chanted the Pange Lingua, I read the Latin which I haven't sung in some time, seeing the words "sola fides sufficet." Looking at the English translation on the page facing the Latin, I noticed that it carefully avoided the phrase "faith alone." So, I checked Google, and here's what I found:
«Can we really say the daily Matins prayer "Soli Deo gloria" or sing the hymn of St. Thomas "Sola fides sufficit" with the same uninhibited innocence now that the Reformers have inscribed these holy words of the liturgy on their battle standards? Have not both sides been hurt?»(Balthasar, Theology of Karl Barth, p 19).
So, the Mass of the Lord's Supper was a great sign of unity with the bishops in communion with the pope, with the various communities of the parish, and even awakens the desire for unity among Christians. Such a sign vindicates the cry of Soloviev, which Fr. Carrón repeated in a recent interview: «What is dearest to us is in Christianity is Christ Himself. He Himself and everything that comes from Him, since we know that the wholeness of the divinity corporally resides in Him.»
Here's the full hymn and below it, Gerard Manley Hopkins's translation (found here), which does dare to say faith alone.
1. Pange lingua gloriosi
Corporis mysterium,
Sanguinisque pretiosi,
Quem in mundi pretium
Fructus ventris generosi,
Rex effudit gentium.
2. Nobis datus, nobis natus
Ex intacta Virgine
Et in mundo conversatus,
Sparso verbi semine,
Sui moras incolatus
Miro clausit ordine.
3. In supremae nocte coenae
Recumbens cum fratribus,
Observata lege plene
Cibis in legalibus,
Cibum turbae duodenae
Se dat suis manibus
4. Verbum caro, panem verum
Verbo carnem efficit:
Fitque sanguis Christi merum,
Et si sensus deficit,
Ad firmandum cor sincerum
Sola fides sufficit.
5. Tantum ergo Sacramentum
Veneremur cernui:
Et antiquum documentum
Novo cedat ritui:
Praestet fides supplementum
Sensuum defectui.
6. Genitori, Genitoque
Laus et iubilatio,
Salus, honor, virtus quoque
Sit et benedictio:
Procedenti ab utroque
Compar sit laudatio.
Amen.And in English:
Of the glorious Body telling,
O my tongue, its mysteries sing,
And the Blood, all price excelling,
Which the world's eternal King,
In a noble womb once dwelling
Shed for the world's ransoming.
Given for us, descending,
Of a Virgin to proceed,
Man with man in converse blending,
Scattered he the Gospel seed,
Till his sojourn drew to ending,
Which he closed in wondrous deed.
At the last great Supper lying
Circled by his brethren's band,
Meekly with the law complying,
First he finished its command
Then, immortal Food supplying,
Gave himself with his own hand.
Word made Flesh, by word he maketh
Very bread his Flesh to be;
Man in wine Christ's Blood partaketh:
And if senses fail to see,
Faith alone the true heart waketh
To behold the mystery.
Therefore we, before him bending,
This great Sacrament revere;
Types and shadows have their ending,
For the newer rite is here;
Faith, our outward sense befriending,
Makes the inward vision clear.
Glory let us give, and blessing
To the Father and the Son;
Honour, might, and praise addressing,
While eternal ages run;
Ever too his love confessing,
Who, from both, with both is one. Amen.
5 comments:
What a feast of posting, Fred! I will come back to savor it soon -- but now I have to make my tiramisu for Easter at Marie's. God is so good.
Now whenever I eat with a friend, I think about that pound of salt you spoke about. And this posting is also quite "salty"!
Our unity, in the Church, is that "weakness" we must put our trust in. Every heresy contains part of the truth -- and how hard it is to hold the whole Truth in our hearts and minds! Sometimes I think we're all heretics for at least part of each day...
Yes, even writen in Latin and flowing from the pen of St. Thomas Aquinas, those words sola fides have a jarringly Protestant ring, don't they. I remember hearing the theologian Douglas Bushman tell a story once about how he used to walk into class on the first day of every semester at a distinguished Catholic university and ask his students whether they had “a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” The students would sit for a second, confused and suspicious, wondering whether they had accidentally wandered into a Pentecostal revival meeting. Then slowly, one by one, as they thought about what the words actually meant and not the cultural associations they had, the students would start raising their hands.
We are all, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, prisoners of language to some extent. Who knows how many theological differences might be resolved – or at least de-toxified – if we started listening to what people actually say rather than assuming that we already know what they mean?
Unrelated, but did you see this joke on Amy Welborn's blog:?
Trappist: You have two cows. You do not appreciate their mooing, yet require their milk to craft high quality fudge. You assign them to a novice.
Jesuit: You have two cows, but everyone from Louis XIV to Pastor John at 1st Community Baptist believe you control the cattle industry. Admittedly, you founded many farms in the bovine tradition, but struggle with what bovinity means in the 21st century.
Opus Dei: You have two donkeys, and tend to them very carefully. You never admit that you engage in this work, but are delighted to meet other covert donkey owners.
Communion and Liberation: You have two cows, and bring them to huge annual gatherings. You speak to them only in the present tense.
thanks Woodward, Suzanne! TS: funny joke!
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