Friday, January 11, 2019

Epiphany, 5th day after

Today we have the Sequence from the Paris Missal of 1584. 


There is sung in the highest heavens:  Glory be to the new-born King, by whom peace is restored between heaven and earth.

Rightly do we keep the Birthday of Jesus as a feast; for by His birth, the grace of the new law is born.

He, our Mediator, is given to us to be the reward of our salvation:  He takes upon Himself our nature, refusing only to be like us in our sin.

As a star loses nothing of its brightness by giving forth its ray; so neither does Mary suffer the loss of her purity by giving birth to her Son.

Who is the Stone cut from the mountain and not by the hand of man, if not our Jesus, Who was of the line of kings.

And was born from the womb of His Virgin-Mother, after she had virginally conceived?

Let the wilderness be glad, and the desert bloom;--the rod of Jesse has flowered.

As was foretold in the Law, the root has yielded its Branch, the Branch its Flower, and Virgin our Saviour.

The Root was the figure of David:  the Branch was the type of Mary, who was born of a kingly race.

The Flower is the Child that is born unto us, well likened to a flower, by reason of His wonderful sweetness.

He, whose birth is celebrated by the heavenly spirits, is laid in a manger!

The citizens of heaven are in jubilee, whilst the Shepherds are keeping watch in the still night.

Let all creatures give forth praise for that the Virgin has given birth to her Son.

The law and the psalms harmonize with the writings of the Prophets.

The Angels and the Shepherds, the Star and the Magi, all agree in proclaiming the birth.

The Eastern Kings run to the Crib of the Babe--they are the first-fruits of the Gentiles.

O Jesus, immortal Babe! born in time because thou wouldst assume our nature, snatch us, by thy power, from this life's woes.

After this our mortal life, or rather this living death, mercifully restore unto us that life which is immortal.  Amen.

No comments:

Post a Comment