| GLORIA (Taken from Notes Made at the Conferences of Dom Prosper Guéranger)After having thus spoken, holy Church contemplates her divine Spouse throned in the highest heavens: Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris: Who sittest at the right hand of the Father. Just before, she was complacently looking at Him as the Lamb of God, who had taken on Himself the sins of the whole world; she now advances higher, and goes even to the Father's right hand, where she beholds Him who is the object of her adoration and praise. There, she reaches the very Being of God; there, she pays her homage to all Holiness, all Justice, all Plenitude, all Greatness, as she is now going to proclaim. But, first, she repeats her cry for mercy: Miserere nobis! Have mercy on us, for Thou hast redeemed us! Tu solus Sanctus; Tu solus Dominus; Tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe: Thou alone art Holy; Thou alone art Lord; Thou alone art most High, O Christ Jesus! Thus, in this Canticle, holy Church perseveres in her endeavours to reach her divine Spouse; each one of her exclamations is like an attempt to be with Him. She thinks of her own necessities; she thinks of Him; she is all enthusiasm. She no sooner mentions His name, than she must tell all His Perfections; not one must be forgotten. She dwells on His name, because He is her Spouse; she praises Him, and glorifies Him, and calls Him the alone God, the alone Lord, the alone Most High. She adds, however: Cum Sancto Spiritu, in gloria Dei Patris; together with the Holy Ghost, in the glory of God the Father. Thus, she mentions each of the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity and the praise she gives to Christ, by calling Him alone Holy, alone Lord, alone Most High, applies also to the other two Persons, since the Father and the Holy Ghost cannot be separated from the Son, and, like Him, They are alone Holy, alone Lord, alone Most High: and no one is Holy, no one is Lord, no one is Most High, except the great God himself.In this magnificent Canticle, everything is, at once, grand and simple. Holy Church is in admiration at the thought of her divine Spouse. She began with the Kyrie; then, the Hymn of the Angels followed; she took up their song, and continued it; and the same Spirit that spoke, through the Angels, to the Shepherds, taught the Church how to worthily close the Canticle. |