Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

Fourth Sunday in Lent 137
home; there she is harbored safely and securely; thence she draws a
marvelous fecundity. Such was the yearning of the catechumens: to be
privileged to draw nigh to the altar. And the penitents, who had to remain
outside the church during Lent, how will they envy the good fortune
of those who come out with the Saviour in their heart! The third
phrase refers to the kingdom of glory, to the house of God, where we
shall sing praises for a blessed eternity. How luminous the nielody here
is! There we shall sing Alleluia in unending Paschal joy. There we shall
forever sing our joyous thanksgiving for the boon God has bestowed
upon us; for now evellet of the Introit has become full reality. There we
shall sing an everlasting Redemisti nos-—Thou hast redeemed us with
Thy blood; our soul has escaped like a bird from the snares of the fowler:
the snare is torn and we are freed. For this happiness the Mysteries of
the altar are to prepare us. Holy Communion gives us the strength
requisite to attain eternal glory. Our praying and singing in the house
of God is a preparation for that more sublime song of eternity. May
God's merciful love one day bring us all together in that celestial choir!
FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT
Even more than on the second Sunday of Advent (q.v.), the station
"at the church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem," in which the solemn
services were conducted at Rome, has determined the selection of the
liturgical texts of today's Mass. All the chants contain allusions to Sion
or Jerusalem. Only the Offertory in its present form is an exception.
INTROIT (Is. 66: 10, 11)
1. Laetare Jerusalem: et convert- 1. Rejoice, 0 Jerusalem, and
turn facite omnes qui diligitis earn: come together all you that love her:
2. gaudete cum laetitia, qui in iris- 2. rejoice wijh joy, you that have
titia fuistis: 3. ut exsultetis, et sa- been in sorrow: 3. that you may exult,
tiemini ab uberibus consolationis and be filled from the breasts of your
vestrae. Ps. Laetatus sum in his consolation. Ps. / rejoiced at the
quae dicta sunt mihi: * in domum things that were said to me: * We
Domini ibimus. shall go into the house of the Lord.
The liturgy of this Sunday's Mass is the spring of the Easter liturgy,
the anticipation of Easter joy. The same melodies which close the ardently
longed-for Alleluia on Holy Saturday (g c a b a a g), today, like
true overtures, begin the Mass (f b\> g a g f). The joy of motherhood,
which the Churah will experience at the baptism of so many new child-