Cantus ad Primam
Meditation at Prime
The soul passes the dawn in meditation and then turns to Prime, contemplating the acceptable time of the Lord's coming.
So the mind spends this dawn in meditation; but then it raises its voice and directs it toward Prime, devoutly dwelling on the acceptable time when the Lord came, veiling himself in flesh.✦ Then the whole soul melts with love, trembling as it considers the Author of all as a crying infant like us, and willing to heal the ancient sickness.
The Captive King
The soul weeps at the fountain of mercy, marveling that the King of heaven was overcome by fierce zeal and bound in swaddling clothes.
So, weeping, she cries out: O fountain of mercy, who wrapped you in the rags of grim poverty?✦1 Who advised you to give yourself away so freely—if not fierce zeal, the fire of love?2 This ardor is rightly called fierce zeal—by its dominion even the King of heaven was overcome, captured and bound tight by its holy bonds, and wrapped in a poor infant's swaddling clothes.
Yearning for the Cradle
The soul laments not being present to comfort the crying infant, imagines the child's gentle response, and envies those who could serve the Mother and Child.
O sweetest little one, child without equal—how blessed is the one who has been given to embrace you now, to kiss your feet and hands, to comfort you when you cry, and to stay always in your service!3 Oh, me! Why wasn't I allowed to soothe the little child as he cried, and to weep with him as he wept, or to warm those tender limbs, and always sit by his cradle? I think the holy little Child wouldn't shrink from these things; instead, like a little child, he would perhaps smile, share the tears of the poor little one who weeps, and readily grant pardon to the one who sins. Happy the one who, in those days, could have served that unique Mother with prayers so well that she would let him kiss her sweet little Child once a day, and play with him!
The Joy of Lowly Service
The soul desires to perform humble tasks for the Virgin and Child, and concludes that such devotion leads to a thirst for poverty and joy in hard work.
Oh, how gladly I would have prepared a bath for him! Oh, how gladly I would have carried water on my shoulders! In this I would gladly have served the Virgin always, and washed the poor little child's tiny clothes.4 A devout mind so moved thirsts for poverty—for spare food and lowly clothes. For her, hard work turns into joy; she calls the world's charm worthless.
Read the original Latin
Sic mens hoc diluculum transit meditando; Sed ad primam transferens vocem exaltando, Tempus acceptabile pie ruminando, In quo venit Dominus carne se velando.
Tunc liquescit anima tota per amorem, Pavida considerans omnium Auctorem Vagientem puerum, iuxta nostrum morem, Et curare veterem velle se languorem.
Plorans ergo clamitat: O fons pietatis, Quis te pannis induit dirae paupertatis? Tibi quis consuluit sic te dare gratis, Nisi zelus vehemens, ardor charitatis?
Digne zelus vehemens est hic ardor dictus, Cuius et dominio Rex coelorum victus, Cuius sanctis vinculis captus et constrictus, Pauperis infantuli pannis est amictus.
O praedulcis parvule, puer sine pari; Felix, cui datum est te nunc amplexari, Pedes, manus lambere, flentem consolari, Tuis in obsequiis iugiter morari!
Heu me! cur non licuit mihi demulcere Vagientem parvulum, et cum flente flere, Illos artus teneros sive confovere, Eiusque cunabulis semper assidere?
Puto, pius parvulus haec non abhorreret; Immo, more parvuli, forsan arrideret, Et flenti pauperculo fletu condoleret, Et peccanti facile venia faveret.
Felix, qui tunc temporis Matri singulari Potuisset precibus ita famulari, Ut in die sineret semel osculari Suum dulcem parvulum, eique iocari!
O quam libens balneum ei praeparassem! O quam libens humeris aquam apportassem! In hoc libens Virgini semper ministrassem, Pauperisque parvuli pannulos lavassem.
Sic affecta pia mens sitit paupertatem, Cibi parsimoniam, vestis vilitatem: Labor ei vertitur in iucunditatem; Vilem esse saeculi dicit venustatem.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Isa.49.8 — Thus says the LORD: In a time of favor I answered you, and on a day of salvation I helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to restore the land, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages;
- ↩Luke.2.7;2Cor.8.9 — And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 2Cor.8.9 — For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.
Notes
- 1 ↩pietatis rendered as mercy (divine compassion); medieval fons pietatis can also shade toward loving-kindness or pity.
- 2 ↩charitatis rendered as love per default lexeme policy; theological-virtue sense of charity is retained in topic tagging.
- 3 ↩lambere can mean lick or kiss; rendered as kiss for tender infancy devotion without sounding grotesque.
- 4 ↩pannulos: little cloths/rags; rendered as 'tiny clothes' for the infant's swaddling or poor linens, not generic rags.
John Pecham (Peckham), Philomena companion
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