Third Sunday after Epiphany

Thoughts for the Week - Fr. R. Taouk 
27th January 2019

The Sequence "Dies Irae" (Day of Wrath)
by Rev. Nicholas Gihr

Like the "Stabat Mater", the "Dies Irae" was originally intended for private devotion - a sort of pious meditation on the Last Judgment, whose appeal lay in the graphic portrayal of the emotions that fill the soul of man when, conscious of his guilt, he is reminded of the all-knowing and just Judge. Its excellence caused its adoption as a Sequence in the Mass for the Dead as early as the second half of the fourteenth century, but it was not until the sixteenth century that its use became universal through a rubric of the Roman Missal as revised by Pius V.

The contents of the Sequence are taken mainly from the prophetical descriptions of the Old Testament, from the eschatological sermons of Christ, and from the teaching and the references of the Apostles concerning the consummation of the world. The description of Christ's return as Judge of the Universe is in full harmony with Holy Scripture, especially the Letters of the Apostles. The time when the end of the world will come is, and will ever remain, a sealed mystery to Angels and men. Even the Divine Master refused to answer the question when put by His Apostles (Matt. 24), but admonished them to be watchful and ready at any time to render an account of themselves, as the Son of Man would come suddenly and unexpectedly.

Because of these repeated warnings of their Divine Master, the Apostles very properly believed it possible that the Second Coming of Christ, and with it the end of the world, might take place within their own lifetime. "Watch ye, therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour" (Matt. 25). "Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21). Since the Messianic or Christian Era, referred to by St. Peter as "the last times" (1 Peter 1:20), marks the beginning of the closing period of the world's history, the Second Coming of Christ as Judge may occur at any time, and in this sense it is ever near at hand. Therefore the Apostles frequently dwelt upon Christ's Second Coming, and particularly during the early days of suffering and persecution this thought was a source of comfort as well as a means of strengthening their confidence and encouraging them to persevere in following Christ. In a similar way the Second Coming of Christ is presented for our meditation in the "Dies Irae".

The thought of the "last trumpet" that will one day summon all men to the Resurrection and the Judgement, ought to rouse us from the fatal sleep of sin, and transform our indifference and lukewarmness, our negligence and sloth into earnest watchfulness and zealous pursuit of virtue.