Agnus Dei - The Agnus Dei was introduced in the Mass by Pope Sergius (687-701) Actually, John the Baptist, upon seeing Christ at the Jordan River, proclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (John 1:36)  I once considered ending Requiem for Peace with Fratres in Unum, however, I was persuaded to end with the most powerful statement possible. In my view, the Agnus Dei is the culminating point of any Mass; the most optimistic statement of the entire work.  I asked my brother, Gordon, to write a short homily on the subject. Gordon teaches teaches Quranic Arabic (among other subjects) at Trinity Western Universtiy.

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, a Lamb without blemish or defect, chosen before the creation of the world. He, though innocent, takes upon Himself the sufferings of all people, because He takes upon Himself the sins of all. “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all”: all human sin in its breadth and depth becomes the true cause of his suffering. If the suffering is measured by the evil suffered, then the words of the prophecy enable us to understand the extent of this evil and suffering with which He burdened Himself. It can be said that this is “substitutive” suffering; but above all it is “redemptive.” The Man of Sorrows of that prophecy is truly that “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” In His suffering, sins are canceled out precisely because He alone could take them upon Himself, accept them with that love for the Father which overcomes the evil of every sin; in a certain sense He annihilates this evil in the spiritual space of the relationship between God and humanity, and fills this space with good.

Little lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? He is callèd by thy name, for he calls himself a Lamb, he is meek and he is mild, he became a little child. You and I, limited creatures, are in fact made for the infinite, for goodness, for laughter, for joy, for compassion—these are what will prevail against their ghastly counterparts.

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. He was cut off from the land of the living, though he had done no violence, no threat, no tyranny, no revenge, no sword, no raids, no bloodshed.

Retaliation, if that is the response, will repay the wrong, and ‘get our own back’; but it will also sharpen the wrong done, keep it alive, accentuate it, even ‘justify’ it. Only ‘taking’ wrong forgivingly, takes it away. Wrong-doers have then no cause to perpetuate their enmity, no reason to despair of themselves and no occasion to entrench themselves in evil. On the contrary, there is in their neighbor’s ‘peace’ that which closes the account, frees the spirit from enmity and hate, restores the broken community between the persons, and truly ‘overcomes evil with good.’ We cannot have it so, however, without knowing that a cost is borne, is readily and sacrificially paid, by the soul that wills forgiveness, whose ‘peace’ is active, compassionate and ready.

Those who make war in this name not only desecrate his teachings and life example. Rather, they also subject his name to daily disgrace, perverting a word of love into a weapon of destruction. In so doing they prevent the world from seeing his way in action, hinder people from following the Lamb wherever he goes.

His teaching to not take revenge, his command to love enemies, his act of forgiving his killers, is not a general concept among the myriad spiritualities of humankind. Rather, it is a particular teaching fleshed out in a particular person. But that particularity is not a possession for a single group to hoard. His teaching of peacemaking is a peculiar treasure for the whole world, and finds admiration and even emulation in many diverse traditions. In fact, those who claim the teaching as their sole possession, who claim an exclusive link to the Lamb but act like the tiger, are themselves judged by the teaching.

One man in the name of love. Love ready to die for others, but never to kill. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Through the death of one, life comes to all. The sacrifice is particular but the benefits universal, for every tribe and language and people and nation. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

What is lacking in his sufferings is not their efficacy but their imitation.