Pro Itinerantibus
The Magdalene's Ascent
Mary Magdalene serves as an exemplar of the soul's mystical journey, rising through contemplation to become the bride of Christ.
Let's go up that steep mountain where the Magdalene contemplates, singing sweet songs with a holy, peaceful mind, giving glory to God, who has filled her completely with grace. He leads the sweet bride on high with the heavenly choirs.1 Look, sinners, at her who was once so earthly: holy Mary shows you a high spring of great mercy.2 In heavenly melodies her pain was wholly changed, and she has been made the sweet and gentle bride of the heavenly Bridegroom. She hangs suspended in the air before the sweet Nazarene face; her whole heart burns, and in love she doesn't hold back.3 Jesus, her sweet bridegroom, leads her upward and brings her back again. She tastes a thousand delights, and sweet Jesus dines with her.✦ O loving wound, that binds and holds you fast with Jesus: embrace holy Jesus, who makes your mind serene again.4
The Flame of Divine Love
The soul, wounded by divine love, is liberated from earthly concerns and elevated by heavenly fire to a joy beyond human wisdom.
Love, love, love! Let your heart cry out with every vein. Jesus, you have wounded her and set her free from the arena.5 Burning, she soars, as if she had wings and were free from every sorrow.✦6 The love that carries her away is a flame from heaven that has filled her.✦ She enjoys and delights in that good which Athena never understood.7
Read the original Latin
In su quell’aspro monte, Dove contempla la Magdalena, Andian con dolci canti E con la mente santa e serena, Cantando gloria a Dio Che tutta l’ha di grazia piena. Con li celesti cori La dolce sposa in alto mena. Mirate, peccatori, Quella che già fu tanto terrena: Maria santa vi mostra Di gran pietade un’alta vena. In melodie celeste Fu tutta mutata la sua pena, E del superno Sposo È fatta sposa dolce et amena. In l’aria sta sospesa Ne la dolce facia nazarena; Tutto il suo cuor arde, E ne l’amor non si rafrena. Iesù, suo dolce sposo, In alto la conduce e la rimena. Mille delizie sente, E Iesù dolce con lei cena. O amorosa piaga, Che con Iesù ti liga e frena; Abracia Iesù santo, Che la tua mente raserena.
Amor, amor, amore! Grida il tuo cuor con ogni vena. Iesù, tu l’hai ferita, E liberata da l’arena. In alto ardendo vola Come se avesse ale et ogni pena. L’amor che la traporta, Fiamma è da ciel che l’ha ripiena. Quel ben fruisse e gode, Qual non intese mai Atena.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rev.3.20 — Look, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to them and eat with them, and they with me.
- ↩Isa.40.31;Ps.55.6 — But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not faint. Ps.55.6 — Fear and trembling came upon me, and horror overwhelmed me.
- ↩Acts.2.3 — And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed, and it sat upon each one of them.
Notes
- 1 ↩Subject of mena is unstated; context (bridegroom/Christ leading the Magdalene) supports Christ as subject and la dolce sposa as object.
- 2 ↩Maria santa is Mary Magdalene in this lauda, not the Virgin; pietade rendered as mercy (could also be pity/compassion).
- 3 ↩facia = faccia (face); Ne la dolce facia nazarena read as fixed attention on Christ's face (locative/attention), not mere spatial location.
- 4 ↩Abracia = abbraccia (embrace); frena can mean restrains/holds in check—here the wound both binds and steadies the soul with Christ.
- 5 ↩Italian arena may mean the sand of the circus (worldly combat) or earthly dust; rendered as “the arena” for the contest of the world from which Christ frees the Magdalene.
- 6 ↩Source: Come se avesse ale et ogni pena. The clause is elliptical; pena is taken with the preceding transformation of her sorrow (cf. previous section) as freedom from sorrow in flight, not as possession of pain.
- 7 ↩Atena is the pagan goddess of wisdom; the line contrasts the Magdalene’s enjoyed divine good with classical wisdom that never grasped it.
Lauds companion
Never lose the rhythm again
Chosen Portion delivers your morning, midday and night office to your phone — the Hours, without the bells.
Chosen Portion is a modern Book of Hours: it turns the fixed-hour structure this collection preserves into scheduled, tappable daily prayer on your phone.
- Three daily prayer moments scheduled around your real calendar, not a monastery's
- Psalms and historic prayers sequenced for you — no page-flipping or decision fatigue
- A visible streak of completed offices, so the rhythm compounds instead of collapsing