Scripture
Psalms 80 · Psalms 87 · Psalms 91–92
Exultate Deo. An invitation to a solemn praising of God.
1 Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for Asaph himself.
2 Rejoice to God our helper: sing aloud to the God of Jacob.
3 Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel: the pleasant psaltery with the harp.
4 Blow up the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your solemnity.
5 For it is a commandment in Israel, and a judgment to the God of Jacob.
6 He ordained it for a testimony in Joseph, when he came out of the land of Egypt: he heard a tongue which he knew not.
7 He removed his back from the burdens: his hands had served in baskets.
8 Thou calledst upon me in affliction, and I delivered thee: I heard thee in the secret place of tempest: I proved thee at the waters of contradiction.
9 Hear, O my people, and I will testify to thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken to me,
10 there shall be no new god in thee: neither shalt thou adore a strange god.
11 For I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
12 But my people heard not my voice: and Israel hearkened not to me.
13 So I let them go according to the desires of their heart: they shall walk in their own inventions.
14 If my people had heard me: if Israel had walked in my ways:
15 I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on them that troubled them.
16 The enemies of the Lord have lied to him: and their time shall be for ever.
17 And he fed them with the fat of wheat, and filled them with honey out of the rock.
Domine, Deus salutis. A prayer of one under grievous affliction: it agrees to Christ in his passion, and alludes to his death and burial.
1 A canticle of a psalm for the sons of Core: unto the end, for Maheleth, to answer understanding of Eman the Ezrahite.
2 O Lord, the God of my salvation: I have cried in the day, and in the night before thee.
3 Let my prayer come in before thee: incline thy ear to my petition.
4 For my soul is filled with evils: and my life hath drawn nigh to hell.
5 I am counted among them that go down to the pit: I am become as a man without help,
6 Free among the dead. Like the slain sleeping in the sepulchres, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.
7 They have laid me in the lower pit: in the dark places, and in the shadow of death.
8 Thy wrath is strong over me: and all thy waves thou hast brought in upon me.
9 Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me: they have set me an abomination to themselves. I was delivered up, and came not forth:
10 My eyes languished through poverty. All the day I cried to thee, O Lord: I stretched out my hands to thee.
11 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? or shall physicians raise to life, and give praise to thee?
12 Shall any one in the sepulchre declare thy mercy: and thy truth in destruction?
13 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark; and thy justice in the land of forgetfulness?
14 But I, O Lord, have cried to thee: and in the morning my prayer shall prevent thee.
15 Lord, why castest thou off my prayer: why turnest thou away thy face from me?
16 I am poor, and in labours from my youth: and being exalted have been humbled and troubled.
17 Thy wrath hath come upon me: and thy terrors have troubled me.
18 They have come round about me like water all the day: they have compassed me about together.
19 Friend and neighbour thou hast put far from me: and my acquaintance, because of misery.
Bonum est confiteri. God is to be praised for his wondrous works.
1 A psalm of a canticle on the sabbath day.
2 It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to thy name, O most High.
3 To shew forth thy mercy in the morning, and thy truth in the night:
4 Upon an instrument of ten strings, upon the psaltery: with a canticle upon the harp.
5 For thou hast given me, O Lord, a delight in thy doings: and in the works of thy hands I shall rejoice.
6 O Lord, how great are thy works! thy thoughts are exceeding deep.
7 The senseless man shall not know: nor will the fool understand these things.
8 When the wicked shall spring up as grass: and all the workers of iniquity shall appear: That they may perish for ever and ever:
9 But thou, O Lord, art most high for evermore.
10 For behold thy enemies, O lord, for behold thy enemies shall perish: and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
11 But my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn: and my old age in plentiful mercy.
12 My eye also hath looked down upon my enemies: and my ear shall hear of the downfall of the malignant that rise up against me.
13 The just shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus.
14 They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of the house of our God.
15 They shall still increase in a fruitful old age: and shall be well treated,
16 That they may shew, That the Lord our God is righteous, and there is no iniquity in him.
Dominus regnavit. The glory and stability of the kingdom; that is, of the church of Christ. Praise in the way of a canticle, for David himself, on the day before the sabbath, when the earth was founded.
1 The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty: the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded himself. For he hath established the world which shall not be moved.
2 My throne is prepared from of old: thou art from everlasting.
3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord: the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods have lifted up their waves,
4 With the noise of many waters. Wonderful are the surges of the sea: wonderful is the Lord on high.
5 Thy testimonies are become exceedingly credible: holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, unto length of days.
Catechism
Catechism of the Council of Trent, Part 2, Chapter 1, Sections 24-26
The Sponsors at Baptism
Besides the ministers who, as just explained, confer Baptism, another class of persons, according to the most ancient practice of the Church, is admitted to assist at the baptismal font. In former times these were commonly called by sacred writers receivers, sponsors or sureties, and are now called godfathers and godmothers. As this is an office pertaining almost to all the laity, pastors should explain it with care, so that the faithful may understand what is chiefly necessary for its proper performance.
Why Sponsors Are Required At Baptism
In the first instance it should be explained why at Baptism, besides those who administer the Sacrament, godparents and sponsors are also required. The propriety of the practice will at once appear to all if they recollect that Baptism is a spiritual regeneration by which we are born children of God; for of it St. Peter says: As newborn infants, desire the rational milk without guile. As, therefore, every one, after his birth, requires a nurse and instructor by whose assistance and attention he is brought up and formed to learning and useful knowledge, so those, who, by the waters of Baptism, begin to live a spiritual life should be entrusted to the fidelity and prudence of some one from whom they may imbibe the precepts of the Christian religion and may be brought up in all holiness, and thus grow gradually in Christ, until, with the Lord's help, they at length arrive at perfect manhood.
This necessity must appear still more imperative, if we recollect that pastors, who are charged with the public care of parishes have not sufficient time to undertake the private instruction of children in the rudiments of faith.
Antiquity Of This Law
Concerning this very ancient practice we have this noteworthy testimony of St. Denis: It occurred to our divine leaders (so he called the Apostles), and they in their wisdom ordained that infants should be introduced (into the Church) in this holy manner that their natural parents should deliver them to the care of some one well skilled in divine things, as to a master under whom, as a spiritual father and guardian of his salvation in holiness, the child should lead the remainder of his life. The same doctrine is confirmed by the authority of Hyginus.