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The Coronation of our Blessed Mother

The Eucharistic Prayer is reserved for the priest. However, this solemn prayer that began with the Preface is now interrupted to allow us to intervene with the Sanctus. We sing with the entire creation that mysterious passage in Isaiah 6:1-3, wherein the prophet tells us of his vision of God. The seraphim were gathered around the throne, extolling the thrice-holy Lord of all creation, when God revealed his mission to the prophet. We add to this acclamation, the psalms and hosannas that resounded in Jerusalem on Psalm Sunday.[1]

Cardinal Bona (seventeenth century) explains that this hymn contains three praises and two petitions:

- First, we extol the holiness, power, and supreme dominion of God, when we say, "Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might."

- Then, we praise his glory which shines forth in all creatures, when we say, "Heaven and earth are full of your glory."

- Third, we laud Christ by saying, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." While saying this, we invite him to come to our souls with the same affection and devotion with which his Blessed Mother received him at the annunciation.

- The two petitions are: "Hosanna in the highest"; we say it twice, asking for our salvation and everything that leads to it. The first petition is addressed to God, and the second to Christ.

The same author adds: "This hymn is placed at the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer so that we realize we are involved in a very important business. We are before the throne of His Divine Majesty, entering the Holy of Holies. If until now it was convenient for us to be pure and devout, henceforward we should be inflamed with so much love that we might set fire to all present; even more, to the whole world."[2]

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This hymn does not appear in the ancient liturgy. Its inclusion in the Mass is attributed to Pope St Sixtus I (119‑128). Among the Greeks, the hymn is called the Trisagion.

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Now, let us consider him who triumphed. After the hosannas were silent, Jesus shed tears over Jerusalem. He wept over the lot of people who were to reject the cross and repudiate their vocation. His disciples did not understand, either, the nature of his unending rule. A few branches torn from palms still lay in the streets and were not yet withered when the King is raised up, nailed to the murderers' cross. "Scandal and madness," some say; for us the mystery of the cross is "the power and wisdom of God" (1 Cor 1:24).

Is it not true that as soon as you cease to be afraid of the cross, of what people call the cross, when you set your will to accept the will of God, then you find happiness, and all your worries, all your sufferings, physical or moral, pass away?

Truly the cross of Jesus is gentle and lovable. There, sorrows cease to count; there is only the joy of knowing that we are co‑redeemers with him.[3]

1. Mt 29:9; Mk 11:9; Ps 118:26.

2. J. Cardinal Bona, De Sacrif. Missae.

3. J. Escriva de Balaguer, The Way of the Cross, Second Station.

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