Some of the left-over activities from the from all accounts, successful, World Youth Day held here in the vicinity of our lady, St Mary's Cathedral, have been mana from heaven as far as I'm concerned.
Today, I was blessed to be a part of 'Holy Hour', where, in the company of some wonderful Dominican monks, we shared an hour's worth of kneeling on the cold stone floor of the crypt in song, in devotion, and in meditation.
I asked a close, dear, friend tonight whether he saw me as someone who he could easily see wearing the habit of an Australian Catholic Nun.
He laughed and said, 'There's far too much of a mystic in you for me to ever imagine you happy under the House Rule of an Abbey.'
I honestly don't know whether to be chuffed, or dismayed. For how much I enjoyed tonight, I fear my answer, for today, is dismay, tinged with loneliness.
Enough solemnity. This was the Benediction service that brought me such peace:
The Blessed Sacrament is enshrined in the Monstrance.
Hymn: O Salutaris (O Saving Victim, the last two verses from the Eucharistic Hymn Verbum Supernum by St Thomas Aquinas)
O Salutaris Hostia
Quae coeli pandis ostium
Bella premunt hostilia
Da robur fer auxilium
Uni trinoque Domino
Sit sempi terna gloria
Qui vitam sine termino
Nobis donet in patria.
Amen.
The Priest incenses the Blessed Sacrament
Gospel: John 1:42:
"Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, 'You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Kephas.'"
Hymn: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
and with fear and trembling stand;
ponder nothing earthly-minded,
for with blessing on his hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
our full homage to demand.
King of kings, yet born of Mary,
as of old on earth he stood,
Lord of lords, a human vesture,
in the body and the blood;
he will give to all the faithful
his own self for heavenly food.
Rank on rank the host of heaven
spreads it's vanguard on the way,
as the Light of light descendeth
from the realms of endless day,
that the powers of hell may vanish
as the darkness clears away.
At his feet the six-winged seraph,
cherubim with sleepless eye,
veil their faces to the presence,
as with ceaseless voice they cry;
Alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia, Lord, Most High.
The Priest incenses the Blessed Sacrament
Hymn: Tantum Ergo
Tantum ergo Sacramentum
Veneremur cernui
Et antiquum documentum
novo cedat ritui
Praestet fides supplementum
Sensum defecti
Genitori, Genitoque
Laus et jubliatio
Salus, honor, virtus quoque
Sit et benedictio
Procedenti ab utroque
Compar sit laudatio.
Adoremus:
Adoremus in aeternum Sanctissimum Sacramentum.
Laudate Dominum Omnes Gentes Laudate Eum Omnes Populi Quoniam confirmata est super nos misercordia eius Et veritas Domini manet in aeternum. Gloria Patri Et Filio et Spiritui Sancto Sieut erat in Principio et Nune et Semper et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Salve Regina
- Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae,
- vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
- ad te clamamus
- exsules filii Hevae,
- ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
- in hac lacrimarum valle.
- Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos
- misericordes oculos ad nos converte;
- et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
- nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
- O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve;
to thee do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us;
and after this our exile,
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
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