Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

All Souls Day 473
The divine Saviour has said: "Take up My yoke and learn of Me. ..
and you shall find rest for your souls." But we all know how easily
human weakness betrays us. Man's life upon this earth is a warfare, and
not a few fall in the battle. Under the trials, disappointments, and the
enticements of this life, in bodily pain and distress of soul which often
sadden and embitter the final moments of life, man's heart becomes
vacillating and unstable. Hence we pray for those who have preceded
us: Lord, grant unto them eternal rest, take them into Thy kingdom of
eternal, immutable peace, draw them to Thy heart!
"And let perpetual light shine upon them!" Perhaps in the storms
of life the supernatural light was often threatened with extinction. The
departed may have for a time pursued illusory objects, or may have determined
to be a light unto themselves and not always lived as children
of light. In Thy goodness, O Lord, forgive them their folly. Now, when
all other lights have been darkened, when the world with its attractions
and seductions has disappeared, the only thing they long for, the only
thing they desire is Thy eternal light. Thou art that immense Sun, toward
which their entire being gravitates, the Sun that never sets, lumen
indeficiens; every being that approaches Thee Thou dost enrich with a
blissful eternity.
This, also, is the mute prayer of the many candles which, according
to ancient custom, are lighted during the Mass for the Dead. Formerly
candles were not only used to illumine the subterranean burial places,
but were also a symbolic prayer for light.
Our most powerful intercessor, however, is Christ in the Sacrifice
of the Mass. He is the Sun of justice; in His sea of light He can cleanse
all the defects that mar the human soul, and with His infinite merits
supply its needs and deficiency of love and make reparation for it.
Filled with confidence in the reparatory power of the holy Sacrifice,
the psalm-verse begins joyfully: Te decet laus—"A hymn, O God, becometh
Thee." How often have eternal rest and eternal light been asked
of God, and how often has He granted the prayer! How many have attained
Him, singing in a blissful spirit as they entered into heaven: Te
decet lausl
"The psalm is a harvest song. At one time all Israel made a pilgrimage
to God in Jerusalem and offered Him the first fruits of the harvest
according as they had vowed. So we also, in order to sing a fitting
hymn to God in Sion for His many blessings, bring to the Lord in the
deceased member of our community the gift of a ripened spiritual harvest
(votum), that thus, being united in the closest manner to Christ's
sacrifice, he may find eternal rest and eternal light. The world of this
psalm portrays such a consoling picture of the soul that has departed in