Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

464 Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ
are to grasp this thought: "Christ's power is invincible." This is made
the easier, since the second phrase continues in a sort of parallelism the
thought already clearly expressed in the first phrase. Hence this et
should also be sung with the joy of victory. Like the original, the melody
over mors is a song of triumph coming from the lips of the "the
Prince of life." Quod non corrumpetur repeats Alleluia with its jubilus.
The TRACT has the typical form. During the Paschal season, the
ALLELUIA is taken from the Mass for the feast of the Crown of Thorns,
celebrated on the Friday after Ash Wednesday; in the thirteenth century
it was sung to the text Qui confidunt.
OFFERTORY (Ps. 2: 8)
1. Postula a me, et dabo tibi 1. Ask of me, and I will give thee
Gentes hereditatem tuam, 2. et pos- the gentiles for thine inheritance, 2.
sessionem tuam terminos terrae. and the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy possession.
Coming from the lips of anyone else, these words would be presumptuous,
a promise which no man could fulfill. And even when occasionally
the then known world had to bow to a single sovereign,
many years did not elapse before everything again fell into ruins. God
alone has a right to speak these words, and God alone can bring their
promise to completion. He will found a kingdom which, as we may infer
from the preceding chants, will have limits neither of space nor of time.
Furthermore, Christ alone has the right to express such a desire
(Postula). For He is the Son of God by essence, and the fidelity with
which He fulfilled the work His Father gave Him to perform assures
Him of an eternal reign.
The melody is reminiscent of chants we hear at Christmastide.
Quite probably the beginning of the Offertory of the third Mass for
Christmas, with its mystic obscurity and its reserve, in contrast to the
powerful text: "Thine are the heavens, and Thine is the earth," served
as a model for the first phrase. Here we call to mind the saying of Adalbert
Stifter: "That which is truly great does not trumpet forth; it exists
and thus exerts its influence." The two Offertory texts express related
thoughts. Beginning with haereditdtem we hear the melody from the
Offertory of the Christmas Midnight Mass over the words exsultet terra:
"Let the earth be glad before the face of the Lord, because He cometh."
Thus today's Offertory makes clear to us the words of the heavenly
Father concerning Christmas joy; adding thereto with tender voice the
message of that peace for which the subsequent Secret prays in particular.
The most potent reason, however, for this universal reign of Christ