Veneration of the Holy Cross: Crucem tuam
Translation: We adore your Cross, O Lord, and we praise and glorify your holy resurrection: behold, indeed, on account of the wood of the Cross, joy came into the world. V. May God have mercy on us and bless us, may He shine His face on us and have mercy on us.
Popule meus
Translation: O my people! What have I done to you? Or in what have I offended you? Answer Me.
Holy God, Holy Mighty One.
Holy Immortal One: have mercy on us.
Communion: Crux fidelis
Translation: O faithful Cross, incomparable Tree, the noblest of all; no forest hath ere put forth the likes of thine own leaves, thy flowers, thy fruits; Sweet the wood, sweet the nails, that bear so sweet a burden.
v1. Sing, O my tongue, of the battle, of the glorious struggle; and over the trophy of the Cross, proclaim the noble triumph; tell how the Redeemer of the world won victory through his sacrifice.
v2. The Creator looked on sadly as the first man, our forefather, was deceived, and as he fell into the snare of death, taking a bite of a lethal fruit; it was then that God chose this blessed piece of wood to destroy the other tree’s curse.
v3. Such was the act called for by the economy of our salvation: to outwit the resourceful craftiness of the Traitor and to obtain our remedy from the very weapon with which our enemy struck.
v4. And so, when the fullness of that blessed time had come, the Son, the Creator of the world, was sent from the throne of the Father, and having become flesh, he came forth from the womb of a virgin.
v5. The infant cried as he was placed in the narrow manger; his Virgin Mother wrapped his limbs in swaddling clothes, encircling God’s hands and feet with tight bands.
v6. When more than thirty years had past, at the end of his earthly life, he willingly gave himself up to the Passion; it was for this that he was born. The Lamb was lifted up onto a Cross, offered in sacrifice on wood.
v7. Behold the vinegar; the gall, the reed, the spittle, the nails and spear! His precious body is torn open, water and blood rush forth. This great and mighty river washes land, sea, stars–the entire world!
v8. Bend thy branches, tallest of trees, relax thy hold on his tightly stretched body; soften up the hardness which nature hath given thee, and present to the body of the Heavenly King a more bearable support.
v9. Thou alone hast been worthy to carry the ransom of the world: mankind’s ship had gone down beneath the waves, but thou openest the way to our port of rescue. For thou art anointed with the sacred blood which sprung forth from the body of the Lamb.
v10. Equal and eternal glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Illustrious Paraclete, the Blessed Trinity whose divine grace redeems and conserves us always. Amen.