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I wrote the text of the following hymn when I was still a priest in the Anglican Communion. I started work on it at Ein Kerem in the Holy Land and continued working on it in Ellon and Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire, and finished it on Galveston Island near Texas. It was first sung at the Catholic Parish and Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, Texas. A thousand million kindnesses were extended to me by people of many lands as I wrote this text and heard it sung for the first time.The tune FAR OFF LANDS employed below was popular in The Hymnal 1940 of the Episcopal Church of the USA. The text may also be sung to the lovely tune WIE LIEBLICH IST DER MAIEN. Noel Jones has also written a magnificent setting of the text, and his tune is entitled EIN KEREM.
The text may be used for the Visitation of St. Elisabeth by the Blessed Virgin Mary. Also, it may be used in Advent, on Marian feasts and feasts of the Forerunner as well as the feast of St. Elisabeth. There are other possible applications.
The text is now under a Creative Commons 3.0 license, so my desire is to see the text used and shared provided my name — Vincent Uher — is included as the author of the text. It would also be nice to be contacted by email. My email address may be found in the sidebar. By clicking on the images below, a larger image should be revealed which one may download and print.
Blessings to all who read or make use of this hymn.
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