On Good Friday, choirs around the world sing the Reproaches, also known as the Improperia, a series of antiphons and responses meant to be reproaches from Christ to His people. These reproaches are haunting, and worth listening to on this saddest of days, when the Creator of mankind was deserted, betrayed, tortured, and brutally murdered by the people He created to love and to love Him in return.
It is a heart-rending plea Jesus asks us:
The more we listen to this and reflect on His words, the more we can hear them when we choose sin in our daily lives. May His sacrifice serve to heal us of our sins, and bring us closer to Him so that, one day, we might sing alleluias in paradise instead of this plaintive, hearthbreaking music.
Popule meus, quid feci tibi? Aut in quo contristavi te? Responde mihi.
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My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me!
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Quia eduxi te de terra Ægypti: parasti Crucem Salvatori tuo.
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I led you out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom, but you led your Saviour to the cross.
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Hagios o Theos.
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Holy is God!
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go propter te flagellavi Ægyptum cum primogenitis suis: et tu me flagellatum tradidisti.
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For your sake I scourged your captors and their firstborn sons, but you brought your scourges down on me.
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Popule meus, quid feci tibi? Aut in quo contristavi te? Responde mihi.
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My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me!
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Popule meus, quid feci tibi? Aut in quo contristavi te? Responde mihi.
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My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me!
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Ego eduxi te de Ægypto, demerso Pharaone in mare rubrum: et tu me tradidisti principibus sacerdotum.
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I led you from slavery to freedom and drowned your captors in the red sea, but you handed me over to your high priests.
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Popule meus, quid feci tibi? Aut in quo contristavi te? Responde mihi.
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My people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me!
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Here it is in English with the same score.
IMAGE: Ecce Homo, by Francesco Paolo Hayez
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