~J.M.J.~
Disclaimer: I do not belong to any religious order. In fact, I should not even be called a Catholic, as I am not baptised yet. (I have signed up for the R.C.I.A after this Easter.) Nonetheless, at a recent Adoration, the Lord has instructed me to write about His Real Presence. If I have confused the my own perceptions with the Lord's wisdom by writing something contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church, I firstly seek your forgiveness, and ask that you bring it up to me in the comments so that others may not be misled. Thank you.
Hi everyone. This is my first blog and as mentioned above, the Lord, at a recent adoration, bade me write about His Real Presence. So what better way to start than by discussing a hymn which calls my tongue to speak of the glorious mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ, Pange Lingua Gloriosi, by St Thomas Aquinas.
(Full credits to Steven's Blog)
-Uses of this Hymn-
On Holy Thursday, which is in about a week's time, you would most likely chant this hymn at the Eucharistic procession. So it is kind of fitting for me to write about this now. Otherwise, this hymn can be used any time to praise the Lord Jesus, especially in the Blessed Sacrament.
The last two stanzas of this hymn are often set apart as a separate hymn known as Tantum Ergo, and often used at Benediction. Personally, I open every adoration with Tantum Ergo to venerate the Lord. I usually throw myself down at the words "veneremur cernui" (vererate with faces to the ground), and raise my torso as I begin the last stanza, where the Holy Trinity is praised, crossing myself at "Procedenti ab utroque" when all three Members of the Holy Trinity have been honoured.
-Analysis-
This hymn begins with a call to praise the Blessed Sacrament, with the words "Pange lingua gloriosi Corporis Mysterium, Sanguinisque pretiosi" serving as a fitting introduction to the prayer. The rest of the hymn is nothing but praise of the Blessed Sacrament, with occasional reminders to the devotee who is praying this hymn. The highlight of this stanza is that the King of nations gave to ransom to the world. This means that His incarnation was simply to achieve one goal: to free the world (us) from eternal death which we deserved for our damning sins.
Stanza 2 begins by emphasising that Jesus was given to, and born for us sinners. By becoming man, he shared with us all human traits, and this is truly humbling; He was to become hungry when He went without food for forty days, and felt pain when tortured during His Passion.
That aside, He sowed the seeds of His word, and closed His life with great order. He closed His life with the Institution of the Eucharist. The next stanza reveals so. On what account then, was the institution of the Sacrament an ordered way of closing His life. Firstly, He knew that He was about to suffer, die, rise from the dead and ascend, body and soul, into Heaven. Desiring to continue dwelling among us physically, He performed this wonderful rite so that even today, we may surrender our concerns to Him, with Him before our eyes. Secondly, this rite allows that those of you who may receive Communion to have His body infused with yours. This is a privilege unavailable to those who lived in His time. In some sense, it is a compensation for us who cannot see his face as some others did 2000 years ago.
Stanza 3 recalls the Institution of the Eucharist itself. The most striking part of this stanza is the last part, "Cibum turbae duodene, | Se dat suis manibus." To those of you who are baptised Catholics, recall how, at Communion, the priest (or extraordinary Communion minister) holds the Precious Body before you, proclaiming, "The Body of Christ." This paraphrases Jesus' words, "This is my body." This moment reenacts Jesus giving His body with His venerable hands to His apostles.
This leads me to a question.
Do you allow these words to sink into before you sincerely declare "Amen", or do you say it out of routine? If your answer is the latter, you have committed mortal sin. "For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgement on himself" (1 Cor. 11:27, 29) So even if you received Communion, then acknowledged His presence, you have already committed mortal sin. Therefore, be mindful of this and should you feel that you cannot give a sincere answer "Amen" to the Lord, do not commit yet another sin by lying with an "Amen". Instead, indicate that you wish to receive a spiritual communion (aka blessing) - at least you did not commit a mortal sin. After Mass, consult someone who may assist you in building up your Eucharistic faith.
Stanza 4 describes how by the words of the Word Made Flesh, bread is changed into His flesh and wine into His blood. (Verbum caro, panem verum, | Verbo carnem efficit) Poetic as these words sound, St Aquinas reminds us that Christ is the Word, so His words is the Word, which is the Truth. When He said, "This is my body", we are all to believe so. St Aquinas understood that this is a great challenge as His Real Presence is so unintuitive, and so consoles us by telling us to fall back on our faith in the Truth with the words "Et si sensus deficit, | Ad firmandum cor sincerum, | Sola fides sufficit."
Having justified that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, St Aquinas calls us to venerate Him. That aside, the "antiquum documentum" refers to Holocaust, and the "novo ritui" refers to the Eucharist, so he is saying that the Eucharist is the new rite which replaces the Holocaust. The Eucharist is perfect, because Christ, Who is sacrificed in the Eucharist is the Perfect Sacrifice. (Recall Eucharistic Prayer I: This pure victim, this holy victim, this spotless victim...) After all, no sacrifice of animals could appease the Father, so He had to send His Son to die for us on the Cross. Then, once again, the Eucharistic doctor beckons us to use our faith to supply for our limitations in sight.
Finally, like all other hymns written at that time, this hymn concludes by honouring the Trinity. Bear in mind that in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, the Son is truly present - body and soul, humanity and divinity. As the Trinity is undivided, the Father and Holy Spirit are truly present in the Blessed Sacrament too. So we should not forget to honour them.
Thanks for reading, and I hope that this attempt at explaining this hymn will help you find the Eucharistic procession on Holy Thursday more meaningful. Habemus Papam! God bless you this Lent.
Let our lives be focused on the Small White Circle - the Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Hence, to the Devil will we never turn our eyes, and towards the present One shall we draw.
