“Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo: ne in aeternum irascaris nobis” (Spare your people Lord: Be not angry Lord with your people forever) is a Bible Verse derived from Joel 2:17. According to Liber Usualis it is used for the Ash Wednesday Mass during the distribution of ashes. It can also be used as the Antiphon to any Lenten Hymn used from the Quadragesima Sunday (First Sunday in Lent) until the Saturday before Passion Sunday. This antiphon is often used together with the following hymn (Text and translation from: Catholic Chant):
| Latin | English Translat |
|---|---|
| Flectamus iram vindicem, ploremus ante Judicem; clamemus ore supplici, dicamus omnes cernui. Nostris malis offendimus Dans tempus acceptabile, Audi, benigne Conditor, |
Let us entreat His avenging wrath and weep before the Judge’s feet, and cry for mercy, one and all, in prayer together let us fall. Thy grace have we offended sore, Giving us an acceptable time, Hear, O good Seasoner, |
The Antiphon is to be repeated after each verse. These four verses seems to be put together from parts of an ancient hymn called Ex more docti mystico (English: The Fast, as Taught by Holy Lore) which is said to be written by Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604). In the Roman Breviary this hymn is used in its entirety for Matins from the first Sunday in Lent until the Saturday before Passion Sunday. The first and second verses in our hymn here are taken from the “Ex more docti mystico” (verse 5, 6); while the third verse of our hymn concurs with the second verse of O sol salutis intimis.
The Scores for this hymn:
Brother Burrito
Catholicism Pure & Simple
Gertrude
kathleen
mmvc
teresa
The Raven
Fantastico!
Wait to the end, and you will be rewarded by links to other clips by the same guy.
Who is he?
.
Well, it’s clearly a catchy little ditty Teresa, but isn’t all this, “Spare your people (please, please, please) Lord, “ and, “Let us entreat His avenging wrath and weep before the Judge’s feet and cry for mercy, one and all,” the teeniest bit dismal, or even gloomy, or even morbid, for a God who is supposed to love us all to bits, all the time?
Only asking.
Toad, speaking personally, I don’t find it at all dismal. During Lent we are focussing particularly on our sinfulness, on the inadequacy of our response to God’s love. But we need to see this in the context of the whole Liturgical Year, which is balanced with times of praise and rejoicing countering times of introspection and repentance. After all, if we were not sinners we would have no need of Christ at all!
We know that sin results in death – not because God will kill us, but because it is simply so. We know that we have sinned. We hope and trust that because of God’s love for us he will act so that we as individuals may avoid the final consequences of sin. But the one thing we must never do is take it all for granted. A liturgy that was simply rejoicing all the year round would, I feel, become a liturgy without any purpose.
When we ask God for mercy we are not, in fact pleading with Him in terror, but asking Him, despite our sinfulness, to look on us as a mother looks on her infant who has misbehaved. The language of this particular intercession may be language of an era which saw things much more in terms of punishment and reward, but the sentiments remain valid. So join us in singing Parce mihi, Domine, and sing joyfully and in confident hope, and may God grant us all the grace of joyful and continual repentance!
“We know that sin results in death .”says Fr. Johnathon. (You give excellent answers, Toad thinks.)
Well, do we? Cause and effect? We live, we sin, and we die. Therefore, sin must result in death. If we didn’t sin, we wouldn’t die?
But animals don’t sin, and yet they die. Maybe there’s another reason we die?
Mice die here because my cat and dogs kill them.
(Easter is on the way, and Chief Inspector Toad is, even now, examining the evidence in The Case Of The Missing Body. Arrests are expected shortly.)
This is very beautiful! Thank you!