Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

174 Holy Saturday
answer: Deo grdtias. This is repeated, as the second and third arms are
lit, always in a higher pitch and with increased joy.
Who will count all those who have earnestly sought after God and
after truth! How often in their stress of soul have they implored on
bended knee the light from above. And when of a sudden it flared up
in their soul, when they recognized Christ, the Risen One, and recognized
in His resurrection the most convincing proof of His divinity and
the divinity of His Church, a sincere Deo grdtias welled up from their
hearts; and the more brightly the light of Christ shone into their hearts,
the more they felt themselves enriched in the possession of the truth,
and ever again they cried: Deo grdtias.
We also join in this cry and, united in festal procession, place ourselves
among the followers of this light. It has become for us the light
of life, leading us on to eternal, unending life.
In the magnificent Exultet which follows, the deacon announces the
joy of Easter, chanting the "triumph of so great a King" and the blessedness
of redemption.
After the fourth, the eighth, and the eleventh prophecy a Tract is
sung in the brilliant eighth mode. On Good Friday the Tracts were composed
in the more serious second mode.
On the way to the baptismal chapel the Tract Sicut cervus is sung.
TRACT Sicut Cervus (Ps. 41: 2-4)
1. Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes 1. As the har panteth after the
aquarum: t ita desiderat anima mea fountains of water: f so my soul
ad te, Deus. (—) 2. Sitivit anima panteth after thee, 0 God. (—) 2.
mea ad Deum vivum: t Quando My soul hath thirsted for the living
veniam, et apparebo ante faciem Dei God: t when shall I come and apmeii
3. Fuerunt mihi lacrimae meae pear before the face of God"! 3. My
panes die et node, t dum dicitur tears have been my bread day and
mihi per singulos dies: Ubi est night, t while they said to me every
Deus tuusi day: Where is thy God"!
The yearning of the catechumens for the new life, for the life in
God, receives striking expression here. After the many days of anxious
doubt, after bewailing their estrangement from God, they were now to
appear before His face, were to become His children and receive this
personal God into their heart.
After the blessing of the baptismal fount it was customary in the
early Church to administer solemn Baptism. We might here gratefully
recall our own Baptism and all the great things it brought us, the interior
beauty it conferred upon our soul, and the rare good fortune it bestowed