Liturgy and Lectio: Paschal Milk and Honey

The Lord has led you into a land flowing with milk and honey, alleluia: that the law of the Lord may be always on your lips, alleluia, alleluia.

Introdúxit vos Dóminus in terram fléntem lac et mel, allelúia: et ut lex Dómini semper sit in ore vestro, allelúia, allelúia. (Ex. 13:5, 9)

~ Officium (the Dominican name for the Introit or Entrance Antiphon) for Mass on Easter Monday

A Sister shares her reflections:

This antiphon struck me in a special way when we practiced the chant a few days before, and this continued through Holy Mass on Easter Monday and into the Octave. The Lord has led us into the land of His promise—into the Dominican monastic life, but most especially into His Love. There it is flowing with milk and honey—as the Spouse tells His Bride in the Song of Songs, “Your lips distil nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue.” Why? Because we have the law of the Lord ever on our lips, chanting His praises in the liturgy throughout the day, meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary as we recite the Aves, carrying His Word in our hearts as we savor it in lectio divina. “How sweet are Thy words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth,” says the Psalmist. You, O Lord, You are the milk and honey, lac et mel, as You give Yourself to us in Holy Communion, “containing in Itself all sweetness.” As Our Lord invites in the words of the Psalmist: “Dilata os tuum, et implebo illud—Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.”