Ego Sum Pastor Bonus
A new term of Gregorian chant zoom classes! A new resolution to be more organised!
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This week I looked ahead at this Sunday’s Communion Antiphon, and it’s another favourite one: Ego sum pastor bonus. It’s not the simplest, but it’s not that crazy either.
The Graduale Project has a good video, repeating the antiphon between verses of Psalm 22/23:
The Psalm verses (Clementine Vulgate):
Dominus regit me, et nihil mihi deerit : in loco pascuae ibi me collocavit.
The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing. He hath set me in a place of pasture.
Super aquam refectionis educavit me, animam meam convertit.
He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment: He hath converted my soul.
So, it turns out the Graduale Project uses the Bea Psalter! You can play spot-the-difference in the video and see what you think. You might recognise this as the famous “The Lord is my Shepherd” Psalm, but without the word Shepherd. Yes, the Douay Rheims and St Jerome Vulgate translations don’t use the word Shepherd here. Even the Nova Vulgata doesn’t.
The words to the antiphon are pretty brief, so I thought I’d look at the other “I AM” sayings of Jesus:
- Ego sum panis vitae (or panis vivus)
- Ego sum lux mundi
- Ego sum ostium
- Ego sum pastor bonus
- Ego sum resurrectio et vita
- Ego sum via, veritas et vita
- Ego sum vitis vera
More extensive notes about occurences of “I am” in John’s Gospel: “I AM” Sayings in the Fourth Gospel compiled by Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.
So, that should give ample fodder for a quiz for Friday. Onwards!