A la Couperin: Domine Fili ... miserere nobis.

I notice that there are one or two differences in the translation in the Greek which have confused me today. Oh that I had the learning of genuine scholars such as Fr Hunwicke! I've put in an addendum to last week's offering.

Domine Fili unigenite Jesu Christe, Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris, qui tollis peccata mundi miserere nobis, qui tollis peccata mundi suscipe deprecationem nostram, qui sedes ad dexteram Patris miserere nobis.

O Lord, the only begotten Son Jesu Christ; O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father, have mercy upon us.

Κύριε ὁ Θεός, ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ Υἱός τοῦ Πατρός, ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς, ὁ αἴρων τὰς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ κόσμου. Πρόσδεξαι τὴν δέησιν ἡμῶν, ὁ καθήμενος ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Πατρός, καὶ ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς.

The Greek is almost the same, though the phrase "O Lord, the only begotten Son Jesu Christ", together with the Holy Spirit, is associated with those formulæ for our worship that we discovered last time and thus is not included in what amounts to the Agnus Dei.

The word that struck me today is the word Πρόσδεξαι. The δεξαι on its own means "receive", so the sense of the whole word is stronger "receive to Thyself" or perhaps more naturally "take to heart".

One of the things that seems to cause the Atheists offence is what they perceive to be grovelling in the Presence of God. They would look upon this passage in the Gloria and its repetition as the Agnus Dei and then quote Monty Python at us:

O Lord, please don't burn us,
Don't grill us or toast your flock,
Don't put us on a barbecue,
Or simmer us in stock,
Don't braise us or bake or boil us,
Or stir-fry us in a wok.
Oh please don't lightly poach us,
Or baste us with hot fat,
Don't fricassee or roast us,
Or boil us in a vat,
And please don't stick thy servants, Lord,
In a Rotissomat.

The beauty of Monty Python's parody is that of course it makes us think about what we are doing and what we are saying. Lack of humility goes both ways, we can think too much of ourselves and we can think too little of ourselves. Both attitudes deny the Creative power of God. In thinking too much of ourselves, we try to usurp God's authority over us, His Creation, to the extent that we deny ourselves to be His Creation. In thinking too little of ourselves, we deny the fact that we are temples of God's Holy Spirit and therefore have some dignity before God. Thus we frighten ourselves into Quietism and complete passivity.

We have, then, this threefold petition to God, twice for mercy and, in the Gloria, the request that God takes our petitions to heart. In the Agnus Dei, the third petition is for Peace. These are not the petitions of grovellers who seek to deny themselves the dignity of humanity, but a recognition that we need mercy, freedom from sin, the assistance of God to live and the peace to cope with a chaotic world.

In referring to the Lamb of God, in Whose sacrifice we partake, we refer to that most intimate of relationships -more intimate than any relationship between humans - namely, receiving Our Lord in the Sacrament. We take God into ourselves - "and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple". We may make ourselves unworthy by our manifold sins and wickedness, but this is a prayer of those who possess worth as the Creation of God to fulfil their potential as temples of God. We pray that God would take our petitions to heart and that we should take Him to heart too in the Sacrament.

While this may be a prayer of submission, it is not a prayer of grovelling. We Christians can be bold to approach the Throne. We may do so only with fear and trembling, but the Presence of God does not cause us to lapse into a completely passive being. We pray God to have mercy on us, to hear our prayers and give us peace, so that all our faithful actions may be perfected in Him and that we may find rest with Him in Eternity. He does actually promise us that, you know.