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Views from the Choir Loft

The Offertory Antiphons of the Easter Octave

Fr. David Friel · April 19, 2020

HE EASTER octave features numerous out-of-the-ordinary liturgical features, such as a proper Communicantes, a proper Hanc igitur, and the sequence Victimae paschali laudes. What has struck me most during this past week, however, is the beauty of each day’s offertory antiphon (in the Extraordinary Form). Collectively, they convey a beautiful mystery.

The texts for each day are as follows (English translations mine):

Easter Sunday: The earth trembled and was still, when God rose up in judgment, alleluia. (Ps 75:9-10)

Easter Monday: An angel of the Lord descended from heaven and said to the women, “He whom you seek has risen, as He said,” alleluia. (Matt 28:2, 5, and 6)

Easter Tuesday: The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High gave His voice, and there appeared fountains of waters, alleluia. (Ps 17:14 and 16)

Easter Wednesday: The Lord opened gates of heaven and showered manna upon them, that they might eat; the bread of heaven He gave them. Man ate the bread of Angels, alleluia. (Ps 77:23-25)

Easter Thursday: On the day of your solemn feast, says the Lord, I shall lead you into a land flowing with milk and honey, alleluia. (Ex 13:5)

Easter Friday: This day will be for you a memorial, alleluia; and you will celebrate this day as a solemn feast to the Lord among your progeny, as an everlasting ordinance, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. (Ex 12:14)

Easter Saturday: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; we have blessed you from the house of the Lord; the Lord is God, and he has illumined us, alleluia, alleluia. (Ps 117:26-27)

Low Sunday: An angel of the Lord descended from heaven and said to the women, “He whom you seek has risen, as He said,” alleluia. (Matt 28:2, 5, and 6)

What catches my attention most about these texts is a shared theme. The common thread is this: the mention of something either going up from earth to heaven or coming down from heaven to earth.

Ascending: God rises up in judgment (Sunday), He leads His people to the heavenly Canaan (Thursday), and the praises of the people rise up from the house of the Lord (Saturday).

Descending: The Lord thunders from heaven (Tuesday) and showers the earth with manna (Wednesday) and streams of water (Tuesday), while Christ comes in the name of the Lord (Saturday) and illumines His people with heavenly light (Saturday).

Combination: Easter Monday and Low Sunday both feature an identical offertorium text, in which we encounter both an angel descending from heaven and the Lord rising from the dead.

It is unusual to find such a sustained theme among the offertory antiphons of any particular week or season of the liturgical year.

There is an antiphon during the concluding vespers of the Christmas octave on January 1 that uses the phrase O admirabile commercium (“O marvelous exchange”) to describe the humble incarnation of Christ and the consequent raising of human nature to partake in the divine.

Commercium could be a good summary of what I am trying to observe concerning the Easter octave offertory antiphons. I tend to associate the idea more with the Christmas octave than with the Easter octave. I also tend to associate it more with the secret (“prayer over the offerings”) than with the offertorium.

Perhaps the Easter octave offertories are inviting us to associate the theme of commercium equally with Easter.

Reflecting on this still further, it may be possible to identify a similar theme in the Glorious Mysteries of the holy rosary.

1. Resurrection: the Lord is raised up from the dead
2. Ascension: Christ ascends from earth to heaven
3. Descent of the Holy Ghost: the third Person of the Trinity descends upon the gathered disciples
4. Assumption: the Blessed Mother is assumed into heaven, body and soul
5. Coronation: a crown is set down upon the head of Mary, our Queen and Mother

This theme extends even beyond the Easter octave and into the Paschal season, Ascensiontide, and the great day of Pentecost. Perhaps it would be best, therefore, to say that this theme pervades much of the liturgical year.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

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Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: April 19, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and teaches liturgy at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Introit • Candlemas (2 February)
    “Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here's a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.) We still need to improve, but we're definitely on the right track!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3). I'm not a fan of chant in octaves, but we had such limited time to rehearse, it seemed the best choice. After all, everyone should have an opportunity to learn “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium,” which summarizes Candlemas.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Tempo?? • 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘞𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦
    Once, after Mass, my pastor said he really loved the hymn we did. I said: “Father, that's Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—you never heard it before?” He replied: “But the way you did it was terrific. For once, it didn't sound like a funeral dirge!” Last Sunday, our volunteer choir sang that hymn. I think the tempo was just about right … but what do you think?
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Yet, with all its advantages, the new Missal was published as if it were a work put together by professors, not a phase in a continual growth process. Such a thing never happened before. It is absolutely contrary to the laws of liturgical growth, and it has resulted in the nonsensical notion that Trent and Pius V had “produced” a Missal four hundred years ago.

— Josef Cardinal Ratzinger (1986)

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