#Hymn for Vespers of the Easter Octave

[justana0kguy]

2023 APRIL 14 Easter Friday

"[...] From the death of sin set free, Souls reborn, dear Lord, in thee. Hymns of glory, songs of praise, Father, unto thee we raise; Risen Lord, all praise to thee, Ever with the Spirit be. Amen. Alleluia."

~ Latin Liturgy, Hymn for Vespers of the Easter Octave: Ad coenam agni providi (trans. Robert Bridges)

[lawrenceop]

HOMILY for 1st Sun after Octave of Easter (Dominican rite)

1 Peter 2:21-25; John 10:11-16

“He walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him” (Jn 10:4a). In the ancient basilicas of Rome, one sees depicted in many of the apses a mosaic of sheep following Christ. But he’s not depicted as a man with a shepherd’s crook. Rather, he’s depicted as a Lamb - the sheep are led out by a Lamb, and they follow him. For the good shepherd is the Lamb that is slain; he lays down his life for his sheep. And he leads his flock out, not merely to green pastures, but to a banquet. As the Eastertide Office hymn for Vespers goes, we’re going to the Lamb’s high feast. And those who follow him are “bright with white garments”, that is to say, we’re robed in wool as befits sheep. Indeed, our garments for the wedding feast are fashioned from the immaculate wool of the Lamb. They’re white as the sacred Host for he has washed us clean with his blood, and his grace has made us like him; the sheep become like the Lamb, clothed in the brightness of his divinity, as it were.

The shepherd is a lamb. And so, we his flock, have to become lambs too, that is, we need to become like Christ. So, sinners who are like headstrong stubborn rams or silly sheep blindly led astray must become like the Lamb. Hence Jesus says we must become like little kids to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Thus sheep must become lambs. What are lambs like? They’re gentle and humble. So Christ, the Lamb of God, says: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart” (Mt 11:29). Furthermore, the lamb is pure. For agna in Greek means “pure” which sounds like agnus in Latin, meaning “lamb”. So the Lamb of God is sinless, and we are called to follow him in purity, that is with single-hearted devotion and chaste sacrifice. For “blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt 5:8). Finally, the lamb is a symbol of sacrifice and offering. So we are called to the oblation of charity, giving of ourselves to other in love. Lambs give their wool that others may be warm and protected; they give their flesh that others may be fed and have life. So, too, the Lamb of God feeds us with his own flesh and warms  our cold and stony hearts with his love so that we in turn can lay down our lives for others. We Christians are all in fact called to become, in some way, sacrificial lambs!

For this is the necessary consequence of Holy Communion, that the One we receive should change us to become like him in charity, in love. But this is an interior change, a spiritual transformation, not a physical one. Therefore St Thomas Aquinas rightly reminds us that prior even to receiving the Eucharist sacramentally in the act of Holy Communion, we must first desire and yearn for Christ spiritually, that is to say, we must long to be like him and united to him in charity. For “all are bound to eat it at least spiritually, because this is to be incorporated in Christ”. We are called, therefore, to contemplate in these days the Paschal Lamb, the One who was slain for us, and who yet lives and reigns. Do we still yearn for him? Do we desire to be slain and yet alive with him? Do we wish to follow him?  

“The sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice… I know my own and my own know me”  says the Lord. (Jn 10:4b, 14b). How does Christ call out to us, and how do we know him? Does he holler and shout? In Ostia Antica, near the Christian basilica, there is a depiction of a shepherd playing a lyre. So the shepherd’s voice is accompanied by music. For, as St Augustine says, “It belongs to the Lover to sing”. Hence Christ our shepherd sings to us, calling out to us in a love song. So we are drawn out from the cacophony and noise of sin and this world’s enchantments by the harmonious beauty of what the book of the Apocalypse calls the “new song”, the song of the redeemed, of those who have offered their lives in martyrdom and are thus robed in white garments, washed in the blood of the Lamb (cf Apoc. 14:3). For Christ leads us forth not by force, or by reins of fear, but through beauty: it is the beauty of a life given in sacrifice, a costly love. Unlike the hirelings who flee before the threats and temptations of this world, the good shepherd risks his life, and is willing to lay it down for the sake of his flock. Christ suffered for us, as St Peter says, so that we may follow him, indeed, so that we may be drawn to him, attracted by his love. For Christ’s sacrificial love, his example of pure love, is not only good, it is beautiful.

Hence, in the Greek of St John, Christ is called the kalos poimen - commonly translated as the good shepherd but it could just as well mean the beautiful or attractive shepherd. For Christ’s beauty calls out to us, he attracts us to himself, calling us with a beauteous love song, and we are drawn to the splendour of his excellence. We are drawn by a love so bright that it shines in the darkness, so that, as Jesus said, when he is lifted up from the earth on the Cross he shall draw all to himself. When the white Host is lifted up in the Mass, too, he shall draw all to himself, if we but pause and contemplate the mystery of pure Love being offered up for us.

“Come to me, all you labour and are over-burdened, and I will give you rest” says the Lord. We may be distant from our locked churches, separated by a digital screen. But he is still so close to us, spiritually, through grace, through the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. For, as St Augustine said, God is more intimate to me than I am to myself. And so, the good Shepherd comes in search of his sheep, his little lambs, and he calls out to them: “Come, follow me”.

How many of us in this world are not anxious, uncertain, over-burdened with worry and fear? It is to them that the Lord calls out; the Lamb calls out to the sheep. The Lamb who is slain and yet lives forever, calls out to those who live in the shadow of death. The Victorious Shepherd who has conquered every fear and overcome humanity’s greatest enemies, namely, the wolves of sin and Death itself calls out to us who are taunted and dragged down by them. So it is that we sinners are called today, right now, to follow him, to go to him, to open your hearts to him in prayer. “I know my own” says the Lord. So, he calls us each by our name. So, if today you should hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Let us go to him, not because of any coercion or fear but let us go for we desire rest for their souls. Let us go to him in prayer, and so rest after the oppressive burden of sin; let us open our hearts in prayer, and so rest from the worries and fears that assail us now. So, let us call out, like bleating lambs, and say the prayer that means ‘Lord be my salvation’. “My own know me”, says the good Shepherd. Thus, simply pray and call upon the name that reveals the beauty of God’s undying love. Let the sheep who belong to him call out: Come, Jesus, come!