Do You Know Your Faith?

10-14-2018Weekly ReflectionRev. Emmanuel I. Ihemedu

Do you know why we sing Holy, Holy, Holy? The Sanctus (Holy), as it is called in Latin is the first praise we the people give to God the Father in the Eucharistic prayer. The whole Church of God unites each time we intone the Sanctus. The faithful here on earth (us), the souls in purgatory, and the saints in heaven are joined in praise of God.

The words of the Sanctus come to us from the Book of Isaiah. In a vision, the prophet saw the Lord seated on His throne, while angels called to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:3). The same acclamation came to be part of the Jewish morning prayer.

The New Testament addition of “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” is taken from Matthew 21:9; Luke 19:38. It is the same hymn of praise that the crowd of the disciples joyfully sang with a loud voice as Jesus made his way into Jerusalem; and the “Hosanna in the highest” (Matthew 19:38) is our triumphant response as a believing people.

When the Sanctus is intoned, many a time I look out into the congregation and I see people idling away; some are standing like spectators watching the choir; some are chewing gum in their absentmindedness; some are totally clueless and appear not to know what they are supposed to be doing or at what stage we are in the celebration. The time for the Sanctus is a time for all of us as the Body of Christ to join the whole Church in praise of our God. That’s why we provide you with the worship aide to ease your experience in the house of God.

Let us praise God with our brothers here on earth, in purgatory and in heaven as we sing the Sanctus!

Fr. Emmanuel