Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost 341
ner circle of the sacrificial action in which Christ renews the sacrifice of
the cross upon the altar, then we may not entirely forget the sufferings
which the delicate and tender body of Christ and the soul of "the most
beautiful of the children of men" had to undergo upon the cross. We shall
again draw new strength and courage from holy Mass in order to bear
all our sufferings and trials with perfect resignation to God's will.
COMMUNION (Ps. 118: 81, 84, 86)
1. In salutari tuo anima mea, et 1. My soul is in thy salvation
in verbum tuum speravi: 2. quando and in thy word have I hoped: 2.
fades de persequentibus me judi- when wilt thou execute judgment on
ciumi 3. iniqui persecuti sunt me, them that persecute mei 3. the
adjuva me, Domine Deus meus. wicked have perscuted me: help me,
O Lord my God.
The phrase has a quiet melody. It is not so expressive of longing
and yearning as of childlike confidence which places all things in the
hands of God. One would hardly suspect, from the mood of this phrase,
that a storm, such as the second and third phrases speak of, can still
disturb the soul. The inception on the dominant a over quando and the
tarrying on this note are like an urgent knocking at the door of mercy.
How often has this quando, "when"—"when, O Lord, will our deliverance
come?"—risen in fervent pleading to heaven! We have here an
instance in which an extremely common form, the recitation on a single
note, becomes the means of powerful expression, for all the other words
of this text touch the dominant only transiently, while over quando it
receives particular stress. Thus the second phrase and the still more
climactic third phrase sound like the cry of a hunted soul which finds
shelter only with its Lord and God.
In the third phrase, first half, we find the formula of psalmody
proper to the Introit-verses of the first mode. And it is precisely here
that the piece reaches its climax.
It seems that the similar closes of the phrases over speravi, judicium,
and meus are to breathe calm into the turbulent soul. The quilisma
over (judi)-ci-(um) is very striking.
We are making this a Communion song; for now the "salvation of
God" is come to us, and we may place all our trust in the incarnate Word
of God now dwelling within us. No matter how long the time of probation
and trial, how numerous or unjust our aggressors may be, the Lord
will come on His great day to judge them all.