I can no more…The words from near the beginning of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius (words by Cardinal Newman) sum up Easter Saturday.
Sanctus fortis,
Sanctus Deus,
De profundis oro te,
Miserere,
Judex meus,
Parce mihi,
Domine.Firmly I believe and truly
God is Three, and God is One;
And I next acknowledge duly
Manhood taken by the Son.
And I trust and hope most fully
In that Manhood crucified;
And each thought and deed unruly
Do to death, as He has died.
Simply to His grace and wholly
Light and life and strength belong.
And I love, supremely, solely,
Him the holy, Him the strong.Sanctus fortis,
Sanctus Deus,
De profundis oro te,
Miserere,
Judex meus,
Parce mihi,
Domine.And I hold in veneration,
For the love of Him alone,
Holy Church, as His creation,
And her teachings, as His own.
And I take with joy whatever
Now besets me, pain or fear,
And with a strong will I sever
All the ties which bind me here.
Adoration aye be given,
With and through the angelic host,
To the God of earth and heaven,
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.Sanctus fortis,
Sanctus Deus,
De profundis, oro te,
Miserere,
Judex meus,
Mortis in discrimine.I can no more; for now it comes again,
That sense of ruin, which is worse than pain,
That masterful negation and collapse
Of all that makes me man.…And, crueller still,
A fierce and restless fright begins to fill
The mansion of my soul. And worse, and worse,
Some bodily form of ill
Floats on the wind, with many a loathsome curse
Tainting the hallowed air, and laughs, and flaps
Its hideous wings
And makes me wild with horror and dismay.O Jesu, help! pray for me, Mary, pray!
Some Angel, Jesu! such as came to Thee
In Thine own agony…Mary, pray for me. Joseph, pray for me.
Mary, pray for me.
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