THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN HAS DELIVERED US FROM DEATH AND GIVEN US LIFE

SCRUTATIO SCRIPTURAE

Scrutatio 

 for 

MAUNDY THURSDAY

Readings from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer
Lamentations 3:19-38 / Psalm 40:4-8 / Hebrews 1:5-10 / Mark 14:22-42

Readings for the Pauline/Vatican II Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Exodus 12:1-8 and 11-14 / Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16 and 17-18 / I Corinthians 11:23-26 / John 13:1-15

Readings for the Tridentine Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Introit: Galatians 6:14 and Psalm 67:1

Epistle: I Corinthians 11:20-32

Gradual: Philippians 2:8-9

 Tract: Psalm 22:1-8, 18, 21, 23, and 30-31

Gospel 

John 13:1-15

Offertory: Psalm 118:16-17

Communion Antiphon: John 13:12-13 and 15

PANGE LINGUA

STRIPPING OF THE ALTARS 

Psalm 22 

(Antiphon is verse 18)

MANDATUM

(WASHING OF THE FEET)

John 13:34, Psalm 119:1, John 13:4-5, 15, Psalm 48:1,  John 13:12-13, 15, Psalm 85:1, John 13:6-8, John 13:14, Psalm 49:1, John 13:35, I Corinthians 13:13 and I John 2:3-4.

From the Easter Homily written by Melito, Bishop of Sardis in Anatolia in the 2nd Century A.D. :

THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN HAS DELIVERED US FROM DEATH AND GIVEN US LIFE

There was much proclaimed by the prophets about the mystery of the Passover: that mystery is Christ, and to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

For the sake of suffering humanity he came down from heaven to earth, clothed himself in that humanity in the Virgin’s womb, and was born a man. Having then a body capable of suffering, he took the pain of fallen man upon himself; he triumphed over the diseases of soul and body that were its cause, and by his Spirit, which was incapable of dying, he dealt man’s destroyer, death, a fatal blow.

He was led forth like a lamb; he was slaughtered like a sheep. He ransomed us from our servitude to the world, freed us from our slavery to the devil, as he had freed Israel from the hand of Pharaoh. He sealed our souls with his own Spirit, and the members of our body with his own blood.

He is the One who covered death with shame and cast the devil into mourning as Moses cast Pharaoh into mourning. He is the One who smote sin and robbed iniquity of offspring, as Moses robbed the Egyptians of their offspring. He is the One who brought us out of slavery into freedom, out of darkness into light, out of death into life, out of tyranny into an eternal kingdom; who made us a new priesthood, a people chosen to be his own for ever. He is the Passover that is our salvation.

It is he who endured every kind of suffering in all those who foreshadowed him. In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, in Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold, in Moses exposed to die. He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, persecuted in David, dishonored in the prophets.

It is he who was made man of the Virgin, he who was hung on the tree; it was he who was buried in the earth, raised from the dead, and taken up to the heights of heaven. He is the mute lamb, the slain lamb, the lamb born of Mary, the fair ewe. He was seized from the flock, dragged off to be slaughtered, sacrificed in the evening, and buried at night. On the tree no bone of his was broken; in the earth his body knew no decay. He is the One who rose from the dead, and who raised man from the depths of the tomb.

Adoro te devote, latens Deitas,
Quæ sub his figuris vere latitas;
Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit,
Quia te contemplans totum deficit.
Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur,
Sed auditu solo tuto creditur.
Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius;
Nil hoc verbo veritátis verius.
In cruce latebat sola Deitas,
At hic latet simul et Humanitas,
Ambo tamen credens atque confitens,
Peto quod petivit latro pœnitens.
Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor:
Deum tamen meum te confiteor.
Fac me tibi semper magis credere,
In te spem habere, te diligere.
O memoriale mortis Domini!
Panis vivus, vitam præstans homini!
Præsta meæ menti de te vívere,
Et te illi semper dulce sapere.
Pie Pelicane, Jesu Domine,
Me immundum munda tuo sanguine:
Cujus una stilla salvum facere
Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere.
Jesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio,
Oro, fiat illud quod tam sitio:
Ut te revelata cernens facie,
Visu sim beátus tuæ gloriæ. Amen

I devoutly adore you, O hidden God,
Truly hidden beneath these appearances.
My whole heart submits to you,
And in contemplating you,
It surrenders itself completely.
Sight, touch, taste are all deceived
In their judgment of you,
But hearing suffices firmly to believe.
I believe all that the Son of God has spoken;
There is nothing truer than this word of truth.
On the cross only the divinity was hidden,
But here the humanity is also hidden.
I believe and confess both,
And ask for what the repentant thief asked.
I do not see the wounds as Thomas did,
But I confess that you are my God.
Make me believe more and more in you,
Hope in you, and love you.
O memorial of our Lord's death!
Living bread that gives life to man,
Grant my soul to live on you,
And always to savor your sweetness.
Lord Jesus, Good Pelican,
wash me clean with your blood,
One drop of which can free
the entire world of all its sins.
Jesus, whom now I see hidden,
I ask you to fulfill what I so desire:
That on seeing you face to face,
I may be happy in seeing your glory. Amen