Sonus Epulantis: The Sounding of the Feast
The Latin phrase sonus epulantis comes from Psalm 41. The word sonus means sound or sounding, while epulantis is a little more difficult to translate. It comes from the verb epulari, which does not have an exact translation in English. The verb epulari expresses all the joyful activity contained in a festival: eating and drinking, music and dancing, and whatever wholesome merry making may take place. It is translated as to feast, to banquet, or to make merry.
Psalm 41 is a poetic hymn that was sung by the Jews during their captivity expressing their intense longing to return to the Temple. With the coming of Christ, the Psalm expresses our intense longing for heaven during our exile here on earth.
While the enemies taunt us saying, “Where is your God?”, we still give praise to the Lord, trusting that the sonus epulantis is taking place, even now, in heaven, and the trials of this world will be rewarded there. The Holy Eucharist is both our foreshadowing and our portal into this heavenly banquet.
Through prayer and study, the Lord mercifully bestows lights on our clouded intellects by which we delight in the contemplation of eternal truths. The delight we experience from contemplating truth is a participation in the sonus epulantis of heaven. These writing on theology, philosophy, and history are the fruit of my own prayer and study. After the Sacred Scriptures, St. Thomas Aquinas and Joseph Ratzinger are the two authors I most regularly turn to for inspiration.
Psalm 41
This Psalm is more commonly known by the opening line, “Sicut Cervus…” which was the older Roman Latin version, rather than opening line below from the Vulgate. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s polyphonic masterpiece, Sicut Cervus, popularized this Psalm, capturing the soul’s longing for heaven;
| Latin | English |
| Quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum, ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus. Sitivit anima mea ad Deum fortem, vivum; quando veniam, et apparebo ante faciem Dei? Fuerunt mihi lacrimae meae panes die ac nocte, dum dicitur mihi quotidie : Ubi est Deus tuus? Haec recordatus sum, et effudi in me animam meam, quoniam transibo in locum tabernaculi admirabilis, usque ad donum Dei, in voce exsultationis et confessionis, sonus epulantis. Quare tristis es, anima mea? et quare conturbas me? Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc confitebor illi, salutare vultus mei, et Deus meus… | As the deer longs for running streams; so my soul longs for thee, O God. My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God? My tears have been my bread day and night, whilst it is said to me daily: Where is thy God? These things I remembered, and poured out my soul in me: for I shall go over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God: With the voice of joy and praise; the sound of feasting. Why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou trouble me? Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him: the salvation of my countenance, And my God… |
Sonus Epulantis is dedicated to my dear father, Joseph Markey (+2018), who was gifted with a deep sense of wonder in God and His creation.
(Painting at the top of Blog is the The Wedding Feast by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (+1569))