All Entire We Confess to Be

May the Heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament,
be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment,
in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time. Amen.

One of the hidden treasures of the Tridentine Mass are the "sequences." The sequence is the chanted hymn that is recited before the proclamation of the Gospel during the Mass. It is a rare occurs, happening only on five occasions, since the 1962 editions: ​

• ​Victimae Paschali Laudes for Easter 
• Veni Sancte Spiritus for Pentecost 
• Lauda Sion Salvatorem for Corpus Christi 
• Dies Irae for All Souls and in Masses for the Dead
• Stabat Mater for Our Lady of Sorrows

One of the many reasons sequences are considered treasures is because they contain within them concise, yet profound truths of the Catholic Faith.  They are perfect not only for catechesis, but also in times of doubt, when we may question, "What does Holy Mother Church teach regarding the Holy Eucharist? Can Christ really be that present to us?" With resounding joy, the Church answers, "Yes! He can and He is!"

We invite you, on this feast of Corpus Christi, to relish each stanza of Lauda Sion Salvatorem (quoted below) the sequence for today's great liturgy. May you contemplate each line as they proclaim the foundation of our Faith, which so many martyrs have laid down their lives: Jesus Christ is truly present - Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity - in the Most Blessed Sacrament. 

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Lauda Sion Salvatorem

​Sion, lift up thy voice and sing:
Praise thy Savior and thy King,
Praise with hymns thy shepherd true.

All thou canst, do thou endeavour:
Yet thy praise can equal never
Such as merits thy great King.

See today before us laid
The living and life-giving Bread,
Theme for praise and joy profound.

The same which at the sacred board
Was, by our incarnate Lord,
Giv'n to His Apostles round.

Let the praise be loud and high:
Sweet and tranquil be the joy
Felt today in every breast.

On this festival divine
Which records the origin
Of the glorious Eucharist.

On this table of the King,
Our new Paschal offering
Brings to end the olden rite.

Here, for empty shadows fled,
Is reality instead,
Here, instead of darkness, light.

His own act, at supper seated
Christ ordain'd to be repeated
In His memory divine;

Wherefore now, with adoration,
We, the host of our salvation,
Consecrate from bread and wine.

Hear, what holy Church maintaineth,
That the bread its substance changeth
Into Flesh, the wine to Blood.

Doth it pass thy comprehending?
Faith, the law of sight transcending
Leaps to things not understood.

​Here beneath these signs are hidden
Priceless things, to sense forbidden,
Signs, not things, are all we see.

Flesh from bread, and Blood from wine,
Yet is Christ in either sign,
All entire, confessed to be.

They, who of Him here partake,
Sever not, nor rend, nor break:
But, entire, their Lord receive.

Whether one or thousands eat:
All receive the self-same meat:
Nor the less for others leave.

Both the wicked and the good
Eat of this celestial Food:
But with ends how opposite!

Here 't is life: and there 't is death:
The same, yet issuing to each
In a difference infinite.

Nor a single doubt retain,
When they break the Host in twain,
But that in each part remains
What was in the whole before.
​
Since the simple sign alone
Suffers change in state or form:
The signified remaining one
And the same for evermore.