The Glory of These Forty Days

A Lenten Hymn by Pope Saint Gregory the Great

As we approach Laetare Sunday (the approximate halfway mark of Lent), we are reminded of the coming glory of the Resurrection, and strengthened to persevere to the end of the Lenten season. The hymn “The Glory of These Forty Days,” attributed to Pope Saint Gregory I himself (after whom Gregorian chant is named) unites the themes of fasting and glory.

Using the examples of Moses and Elijah, the hymn emphasizes how each prophet’s fasting and self-denial is followed by a glorious event. In Moses’ case, it is the vision of God and the reception of the Ten Commandments; in Elijah’s case, it is the appearance of the chariot of fire which takes him to heaven.

The Church Father Tertullian writes, in his treatise “On Fasting,” of the fasting and reward of Moses:

“he whose heart was habitually found lifted up rather than fattened up, who in forty days and as many nights maintained a fast above the power of human nature…both saw with his eyes God's glory, and heard with his ears God's voice, and understood with his heart God's law.”

Pope Gregory’s Lenten hymn is a reminder of the hopefulness with which we fast and deny ourselves during this season; the more sincere the fast, the more glorious the graces we will receive.

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The glory of these forty days
We celebrate with songs of praise;
For Christ, by Whom all things were made,
Himself has fasted and has prayed.

Alone and fasting Moses saw
The loving God Who gave the law;
And to Elijah, fasting, came
The steeds and chariots of flame.

So Daniel trained his mystic sight,
Delivered from the lions’ might;
And John, the Bridegroom’s friend, became
The herald of Messiah’s Name.

Then grant us, Lord, like them to be
Full oft in fast and prayer with Thee;
Our spirits strengthen with Thy grace,
And give us joy to see Thy face.

O Father, Son, and Spirit blest,
To thee be every prayer addressed,
Who art in threefold Name adored,
From age to age, the only Lord.