Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. (Psalm 50:9 DR)
One of my favorite chants at Mass (technically speaking, prior to Mass) is the Asperges Me, during which the priest dips the aspergillum into water and sprinkles the faithful. This chant (excepting the standard doxology) is taken directly from this passage in Psalm 50:
Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo et mundabor,
Lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.
Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed:
Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. (Psalm 50:9 DR)
Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. (Psalm 50:3 DR)
St. Bellarmine reminds us that in the Old Covenant the hyssop was used to cleanse the sacrifices, and thus the Psalmist is
…alluding to the ceremony described in Numbers 19, where three things are said to be necessary to expiate uncleanness: the ashes of a red heifer, burnt as a holocaust; water mixed with the ashes; and hyssop to sprinkle it. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 50, 7.)
These three things have signification beyond this ceremony, for they are types of things in the New Covenant:
The ashes of the heifer of the holocaust = Death of Christ
Water = Baptism
Hyssop = Faith
The first two are perhaps more obvious within the standard typological framework, but in what manner does the hyssop prefigure faith? Both St. Bellarmine and St. Augustine speak of the hyssop as being a plant or herb with medicinal properties which typically grew on a rock or in rocky terrain, having its roots stuck fast to it. Faith is the means by which the soul adheres to the Rock, as St. Augustine explains:
Hyssop we know to be a herb humble but healing: to the rock it is said to adhere with roots. Thence in a mystery the similitude of cleansing the heart has been taken. Do thou also take hold, with the root of your love, on your Rock: be humble in your humble God, in order that you may be exalted in your glorified God. You shall be sprinkled with hyssop, the humility of Christ shall cleanse you. Despise not the herb, attend to the efficacy of the medicine. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 50, 12.)
This humility of heart which the hyssop symbolizes is what “takes hold” of the rock, which is another way to describe the act of faith by which the merits of Christ are applied to us in the sacrament of Baptism, which this passage prefigures:
The ashes signified the death of Christ; the water, baptism; and hyssop, faith; for hyssop is a stunted plant, generally growing on a rock. In the typical expiation, the water purified, but by virtue of the ashes of the slain heifer, and the aspersion with the hyssop; thus, the baptismal water purifies, by the application of the death and merits of Christ, through faith. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 50, 7.)
St. Bellarmine concludes his commentary on this passage by noting that this passage is primarily prophetic in speaking about the sacrament of Baptism effected by the merits of Christ:
It is, then, to the real, as well as the figurative expiation, that David refers when he says, “Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed;” for he asks for the cleansing which he knew was only emblematic, that by hyssop, which, however, he knew would be converted into the reality of the institution of baptism. To show God was the primary author of such purification, he does not say, let the priest sprinkle me, but, sprinkle me Yourself; to show the perfection of the thorough cleansing to be had in baptism, destroying sin most effectually, and giving additional grace. (ibid.)
This cleansing, as the Psalmist says, is not just a ritual cleanliness or a mere judicial announcement but is the remission of sin and transformation of the heart within, as Isaiah prophesies:
Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes: cease to do perversely, learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow. And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool. (Isaiah 1:16-18 DR)
I decided to go with the chant Asperges Me for this animation. I found this nice antique drawing of an aspergillum and isolated it in Photoshop. I also found a bunch of medieval chant manuscripts with the Asperges Me and brought all those into After Effects and masked them as needed. I used a bunch of different blending modes to create the collage-esque background of chant scores and added some slight wiggle to them.
For the aspergillum I added some wiggle hold to the position and rotation and then duplicated the layer and place it below. I added Shadow Studio 3 to it and the randomized seed of the wiggles creates an offset effect that gives the slight appearance of motion blur. I didn’t really intend that, but it happened.
Enjoy.
Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.
(Psalm 50:9 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: