A Holy Week Meditation

From a hymn of the Greek Church on the Passion of our Lord

The life-giving wound of thy side, O Jesus!

like the fountain that sprang from Eden,

waters the spiritual garden of thy Church.

Thence, divinding itself into the four Gospels,

as into so many master-streams,

it freshens the world, gladdens creation,

and teaches all nations to bow down in faith,

and venerate thy kingdom.

Thou wast crucified for me,

that thou mightest be to me

as a fountain pouring out forgiveness upon me.

Thou wast wounded in thy side,

that thou mightest open to me the sources of life.

Thou wast nailed to the cross,

that I, confessing the greatness of thy power

in the depth of they Passion,

might sing to thee, O Christ,

thou giver of life:

Glory be to thy cross and Passion, O Savior!

Thou, O Christ, didst, on thy cross,

tear the hand-writing that was against us.

Thou wast numbered among the dead,

and there didst bind down the tyrant,

and, by Thy Resurrection,

didst set us all free from the chains of death.

It is thy Resurrection that has given us light, O God,

thou lover of mankind!

To thee do we sing:

Remember us, also,

O Savior, in thy kingdom!

To thee, most merciful Lord,

we bring thy Mother,

that she may intercede for us,

she that conceived thee and was a Virgin,

she that gave thee birth and was a spotless Virgin.

May her prayers obtain from thee

the unceasing pardon of sin

to all that cry out to thee:

Remember us, also, O Lord,

in thy kingdom.

From The Liturgical Year,
Passiontide and Holy Week

by Abbot Guéranger OSB

(Translated from the French

by Dom Laurence Shepherd OSB,

The Newman Press,

Westminster, Maryland, 1949)