I thought I'd post this hymn in case anyone has a situation next week for which it would be appropriate. Anyone may use it freely. It's not liturgically high, alas, but is theologically correct and uniquely among hymns, I think, makes the Christian case for the unity of soul and body. And yet it's enjoyable to sing (a bit heavy on alliteration, but that's half the fun).
Please feel free. I suggest the tune Beach Spring
1. At the dawning of creation, God divided light from shade,
And He made us, male and female. In His image we were made.
(Refrain) And the life that God created we will honor and defend
From conception to the heavens; from beginning to the end.
2. God the Father called a people, and He drew them by the hand
And He led them through the desert and into the Promised Land.
3. In His saving Incarnation, Jesus bore a human frame
To restore the sacred Image hidden by our sin and shame.
4. And He walked among the people, healed the sick and raised the dead,
And the poor rejoiced at hearing the appealing words He said.
5. On the Cross, our gracious Savior Jesus laid His body down,
Dying as the Man of Sorrows; giving humankind a crown.
6. And He sent the Holy Spirit for forgiveness of our sins.
Even now God dwells among us; even now, new life begins.
7. When we share the Holy Myst’ries in the Eucharistic food
We are filled with life eternal: Jesus’ Body and His Blood.
8. When He comes again in glory, all the dead shall rise again,
And our human eyes shall see Him in the splendor of His reign.
c. 2008 by Kathleen Pluth. Anyone may use this hymn freely.
I went to the vigil Mass and walked in the March, where I ran into David Sullivan, I doubt he'd mind me mentioning.
On the March there was a sister singing We Are One in the Spirit and We Shall Overcome. Meanwhile Magdalen College sang polyphony and some of the kids in my schola sang their Kyries.
Kathy, Nice running into you at the March for Life. One of the pleasant things about the March is the people you see. Another good thing is the average age of the marchers keeps dropping. My parish hosted six bus loads of high-schoolers the evening before the march. Very edifying to see all those teens attending Mass followed by two-hour adoration and Benediction, keeping four priests busy in the confessional. Hope for the future!
I was at the DC March for Life! There was a really awesome Eastern Orthodox presence there. We marched and sang together and had a great time. I even got to meet a monk from Spruce Island, Alaska (home of St. Herman!).
For some reason, though, we always end up marching right in front of the Tradition, Family, and Property people. Their strange attempt to bring back the feudal system kind of weirds me out.
Franciscan University gave us the day off and had buses go there, too. It was good to see all kinds of Catholic dioceses represented there--I definitely think I saw more Catholics there than anyone else.
Hi, I'm doing some 40 Days for Life stuff and thought I would just put this up towards the top, for anyone who might not know about it and may be interested.
As always this is perfectly free to use for any pro-life purpose.
Kathy, do you have the text set to HYFRYDOL? If not, I do plan to set it for our National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children memorial this Saturday. Thank you for your beautiful work!
Saw this today and was inspired to write music for it. Will post when finished. Organ, SATB, timp. And perhaps cym. However, the cong would take the refrain.
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