Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Easter Sunday with the FSSP in Reading

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Fr Matthew Goddard FSSP celebrated Mass in St William of York, Reading, on Easter Sunday. This is the first time we have the Eastertide chant for the sprinkling of the Faithful before Mass on a Sunday, 'Vidi Aquam' instead of 'Asperges me'.


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'I saw water flowing from the right side of the Temple, alleluia: and to all that water came were saved, and they shall say: alleluia, alleluia.'
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This refers to Ezekial's vision of the Temple (47.1):

And he brought me again to the gate of the house, and behold waters issued out from under the threshold of the house toward the east: for the forefront, of the house looked toward the east: but the waters came down to the right side of the temple to the south part of the altar.
Ezekial goes on to talk about how the stream grows into a mighty river, makes the Dead Sea pure and drinkable, and has healing properties.

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The liturgy applies this to the Passion of Our Lord, and the water, representing Baptism, flowing from his right side on the Cross. This is the kind of embedded Scriptural reference that those who suggest the EF doesn't have enough of the Bible in it tend to forget. The whole of the ancient Mass is saturated with Scripture.

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Those who only attend Sung EF Masses on special occasions such as feasts and pilgrimages never experience the 'Asperges' ceremony, which is one of the very visually dramatic and touching rites of the Church's liturgical tradition. It is, in fact, an option in the 1970 Missal, but only at the expense of the 'Penitential Rite', and it is very rarely used.

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