The epistle “I beseech you” (Ephesians 4, 1-6) invites us to humility, where it is said, “that you may walk worthily”, that is, humbly, “in the vocation to which you are called.” ... The gradual urges the same, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, etc. The proud make lords for themselves, but God is the lord of the humble, ... we must therefore be humble, because we have nothing if not from God.
Graduale, Ps. 32 Beáta gens, cujus est Dóminus Deus eórum: pópulus, quem elégit Dóminus in hereditátem sibi. ℣. Verbo Dómini caeli firmáti sunt: et spíritu oris ejus omnis virtus eórum. (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom the Lord hath chosen for His own inheritance.)In the offertory likewise we are invited to humility, whence in it we have the prayer of Daniel, “I prayed my God.” And because of this humility, he merited to hear the archangel, who informed him of the incarnation of Christ. Very fittingly is the angel mentioned, since this Mass is sung close to the feast of the dedication of St Michael.
Offertorium, Dan. 9 Orávi Deum meum ego Dániel, dicens: Exaudi, Dómine, preces servi tui: illúmina faciem tuam super sanctuarium tuum: et propitius intende pópulum istum, super quem invocátum est nomen tuum, Deus. (I, Daniel, prayed to my God, saying, ‘Hear, o Lord, the prayers of Thy servant; shine Thy face upon Thy sanctuary, and mercifully look down upon this people, upon whom Thy name hath been invoked, O God.)
The communion treats of the humble and the proud, “Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your God: all you that are round about him bring gifts,” i.e., the humble, who attribute all good things to God, “To him that is terrible, even to him who taketh away the spirit of princes,“” that is, their pride, for behold, he humbles the proud.Communio, Ps. 75 Vovéte et réddite Dómino, Deo vestro, omnes, qui in circúitu ejus affertis múnera: terríbili, et ei qui aufert spíritum príncipum: terríbili apud omnes reges terrae. (Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your God, all you that round about Him bring Him gifts, to Him that is terrible, even to Him who taketh away the spirit of princes: to the terrible with the kings of the earth.)
Excerpted from the Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, VI, 131
