On the Sundays after Pentecost, most of the Communion chants are taken from the Psalms, as indeed are most of the Gregorian propers throughout the year. There are a some exceptions, however, such as the two from John 6, on the 9th and 15th Sundays, and another from Wisdom 16 on the 13th: “Thou hast given us bread from heaven, o Lord...” These are obviously chosen in reference to the Eucharist, although it has never been a habit of the Roman Rite (nor indeed, of any historical rite) to be consistently obvious in its choice and arrangement of liturgical texts, especially in the seasons without an overarching theme such as Advent or Passiontide. In Lent, a number of Communios are taken from the Gospel of the day, and there is one such in the time after Pentecost as well, on the third Sunday.
However, the Communio for the Sundays at the end of the year, from the 23rd to the last, may seem like a bit of a puzzler, since it is a text which has no evident reference to the Eucharist, and from a Gospel which is not part of the temporal cycle at all.Communio Amen, dico vobis, quidquid orantes pétitis, crédite, quia accipiétis, et fiet vobis. (Amen I say to you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you shall receive, and it shall be done to you. Mark 11, 24.)
The explanation for this lies in a feature which is found in the early sources of the Roman Rite, and which was retained in many of its Uses up to the time of the Tridentine reform, but was not part of the Use of the later medieval Papal court, which became the Missal of St Pius V. In the earliest Roman lectionaries, proper epistles and gospels are assigned to the Wednesdays and Fridays of the weeks after Epiphany and Pentecost, as well as those of Advent and Eastertide. This Communio is taken from the Gospel which is assigned to the Wednesday of the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost, Mark 11, 23-26, in the second oldest lectionary of the Roman Rite, the Murbach capitulary, ca. 750 AD.
“[Jesus answering, saith to His disciples: Have the faith of God.] Amen I say to you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed and be cast into the sea, and shall not stagger in his heart, but believe, that whatsoever he saith shall be done; it shall be done unto him. Therefore I say unto you, all things, whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive; and they shall come unto you. * And when you shall stand to pray, forgive, if you have aught against any man; that your Father also, who is in heaven, may forgive you your sins. But if you will not forgive, neither will your Father that is in heaven, forgive you your sins.” |
| The Gospel mentioned above in a Missal according to the Use of Cologne, printed in 1487. |
Although this passage is missing from the medieval editions of the Roman Missal, and the early printed editions based on them, it returned to general use with the publication of the Missal of St Pius V, in which it forms the Gospel for the Mass of St Gregory the Wonderworker, whose feast is today. (The selection of verses is not exactly the same; it includes verse 22, in brackets above, and ends at the asterisk.) The reason for this is that Gregory is traditionally said to have moved part of a mountain, as explained in the lessons of the 3rd nocturn of Matins on his feast day, which are taken from St Bede’s commentary on the Gospel of Mark.
“The heathen, who have written curses against the Church, are wont to reprove our people by saying that they did not have full faith in God, because they never been able to move mountains. To these it should be answered that not all things have been written down which have been done in the Church, just as the Scripture also bears witness concerning the deeds of Christ our Lord Himself. (John 21, 25) Whence this could also happen, that a mountain might be lifted up and cast into the sea, should this be necessary, as we read was done by the prayers of the blessed father Gregory, bishop of Neo-Caesarea in Pontus, a man outstanding in his merits and virtues...
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| A stained-glass window in the cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, which shows St Gregory moving the mountain (in a much more dramatic fashion than in St Bede’s account.) Image from Wikimedia Commons by Faragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0. |
for when he wished to build a church in a suitable place, but saw that it was too narrow, being wedged in between a precipice on the sea on one side, and a mountain on the other, he came there by night, and kneeling down, reminding the Lord of His promise... and in the morning ... found that the mountain had left as much space as the builders required for the church. Therefore this man, or other man of like merit, was have been able, if need were, to obtain from the Lord by the merit of his faith, that even a mountain should be removed, and be cast into the sea.”
Fully in keeping with the exegetical traditions of the earlier Fathers, St Bede goes on to give a spiritual explanation of this passage as well. “But since by the term ‘mountain’ is sometimes signified the devil, namely, on account of the pride whereby he lifts himself up against God, and wishes to be like unto the Most High (Isa. 14, 14), a mountain is lifted up and cast into the sea at the command of whose who are mighty in faith when holy teachers preach the Word, and an unclean spirit is driven out of the hearts of them that are foreordained unto eternal life...”
