Remember Thy compassion, Lord, and Thy mercies, that are of old...

 

Had a difficult time rousing myself from bed earlier and so missed the singing of Reminiscere, tsk, and have barely heard much until now, when Père Grodziski is sermonising (and, obviously, am not making even an attempt to follow his preaching). 

As I age, I find that I need the practicalities arranged and accomplished in their right order on waking, lest I suffer a certain fogginess; this isn't that which will often accompany being roused from a sound but insufficient sleep when one is tired (I can scarcely ever be actually tired these days, can I, when my heaviest physical labor is the daily walks) but it's a close cousin to it. Instead of congratulating myself on the Lenten fast (were I to do such a thing, ahem, in spite of the Lord's explicit warning against such nonsense) I ought to concentrate perhaps on more carefully getting out of bed without hesitation in the mornings, once the alarm sounds. 

During the Offertory, at the incensing of the altar, the Compline hymn Christe lux es et dies ('en usage en France depuis le Vème siècle jusqu’au XVIIIème siècle, citée par Saint Césaire d’Arles et Saint Aurélien d’Arles dans leurs règles monastiques') will be sung, in the arrangement of Charles de Courbes (1622). 

Christe qui lux es et dies,
Noctis ténebras détegis,
Lucísque lumen créderis,
Lumen beátum prædicans.

Precámur, sancte Dómine,
Defénde nos in hac die:
Sit nobis in te réquies,
Quiétum diem tríbue.

Ne gravis somnus írruat,
Nec hostis nos surrípiat :
Nec caro illi conséntiens
Nos tibi reos státuat.

Oculi somnum cápiant,
Cor ad te semper vígilet :
Déxtera tua prótegat
Fámulos qui te díligunt.

Defénsor noster, áspice,
Insidiántes réprime :
Gubérna tuos fámulos
Quos sánguine mercátus es.

Meménto nostri, Dómine,
In gravi isto córpore :
Qui es defénsor ánimæ,
Adesto nobis, Dómine.

Deo Patri sit glória,
Ejusque soli Fílio,
Cum Spirítu Paráclito,
Et nunc et in perpétuum. Amen.

Quite lovely and really appropriate in its sentiments during the Lenten season. I hope that the heart is keeping its vigil whilst my eyes are luxuriating in sleep! De Courbes's Cantiques spirituels of 1622 includes 37 pieces in French and Latin (and one in Greek, evidently). He seems to have been a member of that select circle of composers who were also tax accountants-- although 'tax accountant' is perhaps a mischaracterisation of his professional duties.

The Inter vestibulum and Parce Domine by Nicolas-Mammès Couturier at the Communion is 'growing on me'. 

Post Primam. I returned here to add the video recording of the Mass; about to begin Our Lady's Prime, I found myself wondering why it was still so dark: 'even given the rain's clouds', I thought, 'it shouldn't be this dark'. Ah ha, the light dawned, happily enough not more than a second or two later.  

LDVM