A Note on the Liturgy as Passion
At the beginning of the Mass, the priest stops at the foot of the altar to recite the Judica me Deus - taken from Psalm 43 (or 42, if you use the Douay Rheims).
This Psalm was used as the Introit of the Mass last Sunday (Passion Sunday), and thus, it was displaced and not recited at the foot of the altar.
In his work on The Liturgical Year, Dom Prosper Gueranger says that this Psalm normally is spoken as the priest's own prayer (and by extension, the prayer of the people), but that on this particular Sunday it becomes a prayer on the lips of Christ. It is Passion Sunday, and thus the keynote is sounded by the Introit precisely by placing these words in Our Lord's mouth:
We hear certain overtones here that evoke the plotting of the Jews to kill Jesus ("the nation that is not holy"), and of Judas' betrayal of Jesus ("the unjust and deceitful man").
Indeed, as the Psalm progresses it becomes more and more apparent just how much of the Passion is embedded in these stanzas. Viewed through the lens of Calvary, a kind of reversal of meaning takes place with the words, "I will go in to the altar of God." In its original context, it refers to the one who worships God, and goes up to Jerusalem to offer Him a sacrifice; in the context of the Passion, as a prayer on the lips of Christ, it refers to His voluntary offering of Himself - He, the priest and victim - on the "altar of God."
Gueranger is right to point out this fact; but if he is correct, and these words can be understood on Passion Sunday to be the words of Our Lord (in a mystical way), then certainly they can take on this same meaning at any other Mass. The fact that the priest recites them at the foot of the altar does not diminish the meaning, nor does it detract from his status as an alter Christus - he, the priest, acts in the person of Christ. When he speaks the words, "this is my body," he speaks as Christ - why should the same not hold true at the foot of the altar, albeit in a more limited way?
With this in mind, it is more than a little interesting to find in this Psalm at the Foot of the Altar certain echoes, not merely of the Passion in general, but of the Garden of Gethsemane in specific.
The Gospel accounts of the agony in the Garden contain this element: Our Lord, before going to His Passion, was in His soul "sorrowful even unto death," "in agony," and "troubled."
These words harken back to the Judica me Deus, in which the priest confesses:
Can we see the priest, as he makes his prayers at the foot of the altar, confessing his sorrow and distress of soul while he contemplates going up to the altar of God, as a type of Christ in the Garden?
I believe we can, and I believe this rich imagery is very useful at the beginning of the Mass to help set us in the right frame of mind: this is the Holy Sacrifice, the re-enactment of Calvary. Why shouldn't the prelude and preparation to this re-enactment begin with an action that is reminiscent of Christ's prelude and preparation for Calvary, namely His agony in the Garden?
It might be stretching things a bit to say that the altar servers are a picture of the select few disciples which Jesus brought with Him into the Garden, for there the disciples slept, and here the altar servers actually pray with the priest. But by and large the image is reasonable, and perhaps we would do well to hear the words of Our Lord in the Garden as being spoken to us, here and now, at the beginning of Mass: "Watch and pray, that you fall not into temptation."
This Psalm was used as the Introit of the Mass last Sunday (Passion Sunday), and thus, it was displaced and not recited at the foot of the altar.
In his work on The Liturgical Year, Dom Prosper Gueranger says that this Psalm normally is spoken as the priest's own prayer (and by extension, the prayer of the people), but that on this particular Sunday it becomes a prayer on the lips of Christ. It is Passion Sunday, and thus the keynote is sounded by the Introit precisely by placing these words in Our Lord's mouth:
Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy: deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man.
We hear certain overtones here that evoke the plotting of the Jews to kill Jesus ("the nation that is not holy"), and of Judas' betrayal of Jesus ("the unjust and deceitful man").
Indeed, as the Psalm progresses it becomes more and more apparent just how much of the Passion is embedded in these stanzas. Viewed through the lens of Calvary, a kind of reversal of meaning takes place with the words, "I will go in to the altar of God." In its original context, it refers to the one who worships God, and goes up to Jerusalem to offer Him a sacrifice; in the context of the Passion, as a prayer on the lips of Christ, it refers to His voluntary offering of Himself - He, the priest and victim - on the "altar of God."
Gueranger is right to point out this fact; but if he is correct, and these words can be understood on Passion Sunday to be the words of Our Lord (in a mystical way), then certainly they can take on this same meaning at any other Mass. The fact that the priest recites them at the foot of the altar does not diminish the meaning, nor does it detract from his status as an alter Christus - he, the priest, acts in the person of Christ. When he speaks the words, "this is my body," he speaks as Christ - why should the same not hold true at the foot of the altar, albeit in a more limited way?
With this in mind, it is more than a little interesting to find in this Psalm at the Foot of the Altar certain echoes, not merely of the Passion in general, but of the Garden of Gethsemane in specific.
Then he saith to them: My soul is sorrowful [perilupos] even unto death. (Matt. 26:38)
And he saith to them: My soul is sorrowful [perilupos] even unto death. Stay you here and watch. (Mk. 14:34)
And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. (Lk. 22:43)
Now is my soul troubled [tetaraktai]. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause I came unto this hour. (John 12:27)
The Gospel accounts of the agony in the Garden contain this element: Our Lord, before going to His Passion, was in His soul "sorrowful even unto death," "in agony," and "troubled."
These words harken back to the Judica me Deus, in which the priest confesses:
For thou art God my strength: why hast thou cast me off? and why do I go sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me? ... why art thou sad [perilupos], O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet [suntarasseis] me? (vss. 2, 5)
Can we see the priest, as he makes his prayers at the foot of the altar, confessing his sorrow and distress of soul while he contemplates going up to the altar of God, as a type of Christ in the Garden?
I believe we can, and I believe this rich imagery is very useful at the beginning of the Mass to help set us in the right frame of mind: this is the Holy Sacrifice, the re-enactment of Calvary. Why shouldn't the prelude and preparation to this re-enactment begin with an action that is reminiscent of Christ's prelude and preparation for Calvary, namely His agony in the Garden?
It might be stretching things a bit to say that the altar servers are a picture of the select few disciples which Jesus brought with Him into the Garden, for there the disciples slept, and here the altar servers actually pray with the priest. But by and large the image is reasonable, and perhaps we would do well to hear the words of Our Lord in the Garden as being spoken to us, here and now, at the beginning of Mass: "Watch and pray, that you fall not into temptation."
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