Jan 29 Thu
What is the Sanctus of the Mass?
The Sanctus is an Acclamation of the Triune God.
Isaiah testified, I saw the Lord Yahweh seated on a high throne; his train filled the sanctuary, and above him stood seraphs... And they cried out one to another in this way, “Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh Sabaoth. His glory fills the whole earth.”
The Eucharistic Prayer that began with the Preface is now interrupted to allow us to intervene with the Sanctus. We sing with the entire creation that mysterious passage in Isaiah, wherein the prophet tells us of his vision of God. The seraphim were gathered around the throne, extolling the thrice Holy Lord of all creation, when God revealed his mission to the prophet. We add to this acclamation the psalms and hosannas that resounded in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
This hymn contains three praises and two petitions:
• We admire the holiness, power, and supreme dominion of God when we say, “Holy, Holy, Holy God of power and might.”
• We praise his glory which shines forth in all creatures, when we say, “Heaven and earth are full of your glory.”
• Then, we exalt Christ by saying, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” While saying this, we invite him to come to our souls with the same affection and devotion with which his Blessed Mother received him at the annunciation.
• The two petitions are: “Hosanna in the highest”; we say it twice, asking for our salvation and everything that leads to it. The first petition is addressed to God, and the second to Christ.
This hymn is placed at the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer so that we realize we are involved in a very important business. We are before the throne of His Divine Majesty, entering the Holy of Holies. If until now it was convenient for us to be pure and devout, after this, we should be inflamed with a more ardent love.
Among the Greeks, the hymn is called the Trisagion: “Holy God, Holy Almighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.”
Now, let us consider him who triumphed. After the hosannas were silent, Jesus shed tears over Jerusalem. He wept over the lot of people who were to reject the cross and repudiate their vocation. His disciples did not understand, either, the nature of his unending rule. A few branches torn from palms still lay in the streets and were not yet withered when the King was raised up, nailed to the murderers’ cross. “Scandal and madness,” some say; for us, the mystery of the cross is “the power and wisdom of God.”
Is it not true that as soon as you cease to be afraid of the cross, of what people call the cross, when you set your will to accept the will of God, then you find happiness, and all your worries, all your sufferings, physical or moral, pass away?
Truly, the cross of Jesus is gentle and lovable. There, sorrows cease to count; there is only the joy of knowing that He has called us to be co-redeemers with him.