Advent Hymn: "Verbum supernum proteins"

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I have found it spiritually beneficial to sing, read, or pray the hymn Verbum supernum prodiens (not the St. Thomas Aquinas' text) whether in Latin or English at least once a day of late.  

It is very beautiful chanted in Latin, and there are several chant melodies for it in the body of Gregorian and Ambrosian chant. And there are several chant settings in the various Anglican hymnals that do a fine job of pairing English translation to the original tunes.

The Church uses this text as an Advent Hymn.  There is another text of the same title by St. Thomas Aquinas that includes the famous verses 'O Salutaris Hostia'. But my interest has been in this older text now used in the Office of Readings in Advent.

The following translation is by George R. Woodward, the editor of the influential Anglican hymnal Songs of Syon :

[There is an alternative to the final verse that appears in the 3rd Edition of Songs of Syon:  "To God the Father, God the Son, / And God the Spirit, Three in One, / Laud, honour, might, and glory be / from age to age eternally."]

To Him Who comes the world to free, 

To God on high all glory be!

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Dr. Margaret Barker: Reading the Meaning

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"All religious belief is expressed, transmitted and received in code.  even the simplest statements, when they are examined carefully by an outsider, have very little meaning.  This is because every religious community has its own way of speaking about faith, and the most effective way to do this is in pictures.  People brought up in a Christian community recognise immediately what is meant by the Lamb of God, or by bread and wine; to someone from another culture, however, these are not vivd images but a solid wall which separates those inside, those 'in the know', from everyone else. 'Other cultures' are no longer those who can be identified as other faith communities.  The 'other cultures' now are the vast mass of people who have lost all touch with Christian tradition.

"It used to be thought that putting the code into modern English would overcome the problem, and make everything clear to people who had no roots in a Christian community.  This attempt has proved misguided, since so much of the code simply will not translate into modern English.  It was not the words themselves which were the problem, but rather the pictures, the signs and symbols which the words were describing.  The 'blood of the Lamb' is a phrase familiar to all Christians; it is perfectly good modern English, but, unexplained, is meaningless.

"There has also been an attempt to put the Bible, more particularly the New Testament, into a code-free form.  Remove the symbols and the pictures, it was thought, break the pure truth free from the story in which it was unfortunately embedded, and then all would be clear.  The result proved to be exactly the opposite; a fog of contemporary philosophical jargon was offered in place of the vivid symbols and stories of the Bible, and the problem remained.

"The task, then, has had to alter. The need now is not just for modern English, or modern thought forms, but for an explanation of the images and pictures in which the ideas of the Bible are expressed.  These are specific to one culture, that of Israel and Judaism, and until they are fully understood in their original setting, little of what is done with the writings and ideas that came from that particular setting can be understood.  Once we lose touch with the meaning of biblical imagery, we lose any way into the real meaning of the Bible.  This has already begun to happen, and a diluted 'instant' Christianity has been offered as junk food for the mass market.  The resultant malnutrition, even in churches, is all too obvious."

Margaret Barker

"On Earth as it is in Heaven"

[2009: Sheffield Phoenix Press]

pp. 1-2.

Canadian Advent Hymn: THERE'S A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS CRYING

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There's a Voice in the Wilderness Crying

The Schola Cantorum of St. Peter's in the Loop

The original Hymn Text by James Lewis Milligin (1876-1961):

There’s a voice in the wilderness crying,
A call from the ways untrod:
Prepare in the desert a highway,
A highway for our God!
The valleys shall be exalted,
The lofty hills brought low;
Make straight all the crooked places,
Where the Lord our God may go!

O Zion, that bringest good tidings,
Get thee up to the heights and sing!
Proclaim to a desolate people
The coming of their King.
Like the flowers of the field they perish,
The works of men decay,
The power and pomp of nations
Shall pass like a dream away.

But the word of our God endureth,
The arm of the Lord is strong;
He stands in the midst of nations,
And He will right the wrong.
He shall feed His flock like a shepherd,
And fold the lambs to His breast;
In pastures of peace He’ll lead them,
And give to the weary rest.

There’s a voice in the wilderness crying,
A call from the ways untrod:
Prepare in the desert a highway,
A highway for our God!
The valleys shall be exalted,
The lofty hills brought low;
Make straight all the crooked places,
Where the Lord our God may go!

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Uher Hymn: LO, HOW SHE BRINGS LIFE WITH HER

Dear friends in Christ,

It is my sincere desire that this text be shared widely and used freely. Please feel free to post it on your blogs or email it to friends. I give permission for its use provided that my copyright notice is kept intact and that no words are altered.

Our Lady of the Sign, pray for us!

God bless us one and all,

Vincent Uher

Lo, how she brings Life with her

Lo, how she brings Life with her
Concealed beneath her heart,
Eve's daughter, brave and chosen,
God's partner to his art.
Her will knit with divine will
Desires his Word be done.
For God she weaves within her
The body of their Son.

Elisabeth her cousin
A child will bring to birth -
God's answer to her longing,
A prophet for the Earth.
"Peace be with you," said Mary.
Her cousin's babe did dance
The merry steps of best man:
The Bridegroom's here, at last.

Elisabeth cried out then,
"The child within me leapt!
When he heard your sweet greeting,
With joy my baby stepped."
She spoke full of the Spirit,
With insight from the Lord,
"How is it you come to me
The Mother of my Lord?"

The Mother of her Lord, yes,
Great Mary, Anna's child,
A daughter born to Israel,
A virgin undefiled,
She sang out as a woman
Brought up on Hannah's song,
"O praise, my soul, God's greatness.
Rejoice, our Lord is strong."

All ages call her blessèd
Just as she once foretold.
Blest is she amongst women,
Her Child blest from of old.
Blest is she who believes God
Who carries God's true Word.
Her Son both God and human
Fulfils great Gabriel's word.

Our Saviour, God of mercy,
Remembers Abraham's fold.
Praise God who casts down tyrants.
Rejoice! Our God is bold.
So sing we with blest Mary
To magnify the Lord
Who raised up his handmaiden.
Oh, holy is the Lord!

Copyright © 2006 by Vincent William Uher III

A hymn for Visitation, Fourth Advent, and the Nativity of St. John Baptist

This may be sung to the Bohemian Brethren tune Far Off Lands

or to the lovely tune Wie lieblich ist der Maien

[Uher Hymn] Flight into Egypt Hymn with music

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"Lonely Travellers from the Stable" is a hymn of mine (Vincent Uher) especially appropriate for use after Christmas Day and upon the Feast of the Holy Family.  

The hymn is also printed in some places as "The Flight into Egypt Hymn" or "Christmastide Kyrie".  This was originally a poem of mine simply titled "Flight into Egypt".  My preference is to use either the first line of my hymn ("Lonely Travellers from the Stable") or the explanatory title "The Flight into Egypt Hymn".

Click on the music above for larger size to print or view

Permission granted for one time use by church, school, or choir.

Poem: Flight Into Egypt

Lonely travellers from the stable

Out beneath the hard blue sky

Journeying, wandering, hoping, praying

For the safety of their child

While our mother Rachel's weeping

Fills the streets of Bethlehem.

Kyrie eleison. 

Warned by angels, moved to save him

Who was born our kind to save,

Joseph leads his holy family

Far from Herod and harm's way.

Mary shielding and consoling

Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Kyrie eleison. 

Fleeing from the land of promise

They in Egypt find a home

Strange the workings of God's mercy --

House of bondage now God's throne.

But for sons who all were murdered

Sorrow breaks the House of Bread.

Kyrie eleison. 

True the tale of flight and exile.

Out of Egypt comes God's Son.

Angels tell of Herod's dying.

All is ended, all begun.

Jesus will grow up in Nazareth

And the world will all be stunned.

Kyrie eleison. 

Words: Copyright © 1997 by Vincent Wm Uher III
vuher@alumni.rice.edu

Non-Jurors 1718: Priest's Prayer before the Canon

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The following prayer is rooted in The Divine Liturgy of St. Basil and comes from a 1718 Liturgy of the Non-Jurors:

Then the Priest shall turn to the Altar, and standing humbly before it, he shall say the Collect following. 

O ALMIGHTY God, who hast created us, and placed us in this ministry by the power of thy Holy Spirit; may it please thee, O Lord, as we are ministers of the New Covenant, and stewards of thy Holy Mysteries, to receive us who are approaching thy Holy Altar, according to the multitude of thy mercies, that we may be worthy to offer unto thee this reasonable and unbloody Sacrifice for our Sins and the Sins of the People. Receive it, O God, as a sweet smelling savour, and send down the grace of thy Holy Spirit upon us. And as thou didst accept this worship and service from thy Holy Apostles: so of thy goodness, O Lord, vouchsafe to receive these Offerings from the hands of us sinners, that being made worthy to minister at thy Holy Altar without blame, we may have the reward of good and faithful servants at that great and terrible day of account and just retribution; through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, who, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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Uher Hymn | Based upon the 23rd Psalm with Alleluyas | BISHOP AND GUARDIAN OF MY SOUL

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This hymn text is based upon the 23rd Psalm, and I have dedicated this text to Mr. Stephen Collins.

YouTube: "TO A MAID ENGAGED TO JOSEPH"

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To a Maid Engaged to Joseph

Hymn Text by Gracia Grindal

A Lutheran Advent Hymn

J Michael Thompson · The Schola Cantorum of St. Peter's in the Loop

Maranatha!

Jaroslav Vajda: "Then the Glory"

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You may be familiar, dear reader, with Jaroslav Vajda's hymn text "Now the Silence".  Less well known is a second text that Vajda wrote for the same tune by Carl Schalk.  His words capture well the substance of my last visit to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel this week to spend time with Our Lord:

Then the glory
Then the rest
Then the Sabbath peace unbroken
Then the garden
Then the throne
Then the crystal river flowing
Then the splendor
Then the life
Then the new creation singing
Then the marriage
Then the love
Then the feast of joy unending
Then the knowing
Then the light
Then the ultimate adventure
Then the Spirit’s harvest gathered
Then the Lamb in majesty
Then the Father’s Amen
Then
Then
Then

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The Rosy Sequence: Anglican Patrimony

Sarum Gradual, 1527
Cento from Dulcis Iesu Memoria
Translated by J.M. Neale

JESU! the very thought is sweet !

In that dear name all heart-joys meet ;

But sweeter than the honey far

The glimpses of his presence are.

No word is sung more sweet than this :

No name is heard more full of bliss ;

No thought brings sweeter comfort nigh,

Than JESUS, Son of God most high.

JESUS, the hope of souls forlorn,

How good to them for sin that mourn ;

To them that seek thee, O How kind ;

But what art thou to them that find ?

JESUS, thou sweetness, pure and blest,

Truth's fountain, light of souls distrest,

Surpassing all that heart requires,

Exceeding all that soul desires !

No tongue of mortal can express,

No letters write its blessedness :

Alone who hath thee in his heart

Knows, love of JESUS, what thou art.

I seek for JESUS in repose,

Where round my heart the shadows close;

Abroad, and when I shut the door,

I long for JESUS evermore.

As Mary in the morning gloom

Sought out her Master at the tomb,

So now, with love's most earnest cry,

I seek with heart and not with eye.

JESUS, to God the Father gone,

Is seated on the heavenly throne;

My heart hath also passed from me,

That where he is there it may be.

We follow JESUS now, and raise

The voice of prayer, the hymn of praise,

That he at last may make us meet

With him to gain the heavenly seat.

+Iesu dulcis memoria

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe • Our Lady of Tepeyac

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"Blest is she who trusted that the Lord's words to her would be fulfilled." St. Luke 1:45

Our Lady of Tepeyac, Star of the New Evangelisation, pray for us.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of us all,

help us and intercede for us with the Lord of All.

Links:

1. Star of the New Evagelization (Knights of Columbus website)


2. Mother Adela on Our Lady of Guadalupe


3. Zenit: Bishop Conley on Our Lady of Guadalupe  (Also, Lincoln Archdiocese)


4. "Our Lady of Guadalupe and the New Evangelization"


5. The Star of Evangelization (Catholic Charismatic Center, Houston)


6. Excerpts from an Address of Cardinal Burke:

Mary as our model in fostering the new springtime of faith

The following are excerpts of the address given by Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke, Archbishop emeritus of St Louis, U.S.A., and Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, at the Springtime of Faith Summit. The event was held at the University of Dallas Campus in Rome on 14 November [2009] on the theme: "Mary as our Model in Fostering the New Springtime of Faith".

The apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Tepeyac Hill and at the home of Juan Bernardino, uncle of St Juan Diego, from December 9th through 12th in 1531, are most remarkable among the approved apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The maternal tenderness and directness of the conversations of Our Lady with St Juan Diego are truly striking. The five apparitions over four days are marked by a certain urgency and insistent message, and have their culmination in the altogether remarkable divine writing of the image of Our Lady on the tilma of St Juan Diego. By means of the tilma — miraculous both for the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and for the uncharacteristic durability of its cactus-cloth material — Our Lady of Guadalupe has never ceased to appear to pilgrims who look upon the tilma which is truly alive with her image.

The apparitions and message of Our Lady of Guadalupe underline both the infinite transcendence of God and his unceasing mercy toward all men without boundary. At the very beginning of the first apparition, Our Lady of Guadalupe immediately identifies herself to St Juan Diego with these words: "I am the perfect and ever virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the God of truth through whom everything lives, the Lord of all things near us, the Lord of heaven and earth".¹ The Blessed Virgin Mary [then] declares the intention of her apparition: "I want very much to have a little house built here for me, in which I will show him [God], I will exalt him and make him manifest".²

The Mother of God continues: "I will give him to the people in all my personal love, in my compassion, in my help, in my protection: because I am truly your merciful Mother, yours and all the people who live united in this land and of all other people of different ancestries, my lovers, who love me, those who seek me, those who trust in me. Here I will hear their weeping, their complaints and heal all their sorrows, hardships and sufferings".³

Coming to Our Lady of Guadalupe on pilgrimage, the pilgrim experiences her divine maternity in an ever greater closeness to her Divine Son, our Savior. It is by drawing pilgrims to her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ — above all, in the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist — that the Mother of God hears the cries of God's children.

Rightly, Our Lady of Guadalupe is called the Star of the New Evangelization because she announces and presents the mystery of God's love and mercy in all of its newness, as if for the first time, so that once again men may come to know and have faith in her Divine Son, place their hope in him alone, and live in his love. In the same way, Our Lady of Guadalupe is our model in fostering the New Springtime of Faith, the new encounter with Christ, which leads each of us to the conversion of our life and transforms our society ever more into a civilization of love.

Historical Context

Certainly, the apparitions and message of Our Lady of Guadalupe respond to the condition of man in every period of Christian history, for, even though souls have been purified of the stain of original sin through the life-giving waters of Baptism, the effects of original sin have continued to cause men the greatest suffering and sorrow. The Christian vocation received at Baptism is the call to carry the Cross with Christ, in order that the Christian may reach the destiny of his earthly pilgrimage in the Kingdom of Heaven.⁴ Our Lady's apparitions and message at Tepeyac Hill and at the home of Juan Bernardino in December of 1531 responded, however, to a most dolorous manifestation of

man's sinfulness.

Our Lady appeared on the American continent at a time when many men were drifting far from God. The situation in what is today Mexico City was marked then by the violence and darkness which are always the fruit of man's rebellion against God. On the one hand, under a long and macabre leadership, the religion of the native Americans was increasingly marked by a diabolical worship which demanded constant and mass human sacrifice. Warren H. Carroll, historian and founder of Christendom College in Fort Royal, Virginia, has described the horror of the situation in his book, Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Conquest of Darkness.⁵

On the other hand, the arrival and activity of European explorers in the same territory had developed into a conflict between the Spanish and Native Americans, which threatened an increasingly massive destruction of human life and goods. The story of the conflict is quite complicated. It was marked both by the sincere desire to evangelize a pagan people, including the elimination of the practice of human sacrifice, and by the lack of respect for the human dignity of the Native Americans, manifested in cruel executions and other violations of human life.⁶

With her apparitions and her message, the work of the Franciscan Friars who had been laboring diligently to evangelize the Native Americans and to bring their fellow Spaniards to an ever greater conversion of heart, under the spiritual leadership of their confrere, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, First Bishop of Mexico, bore fruit which was truly miraculous. While it is estimated that until the time of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe some 200,000 Native Americans had received the gift of faith and Baptism, among them St Juan Diego and his wife, from the time of her apparitions until the deaths of Bishop Juan de Zumárraga and St Juan Diego, who died within days of each other in the Spring of 1548, some 9 million Native Americans were baptized.⁷

Our Lady of Guadalupe chose as her messenger one of the Native Americans who had been evangelized and baptized by the Franciscan Friars. When Our Lady first appeared to St Juan Diego, he was, in fact, on his way to receive post-baptismal instruction in the faith, on 9 December 1531, then observed as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in the Spanish Empire.

St Juan Diego advanced the First Evangelization by following the Star, the Mother of God. He told pilgrims about her apparitions and message over the remaining 17 years of his life. The place of his catechesis was Our Lady's chapel, constructed by both the Spanish and the Native Americans, the chapel in which her miraculous image was enthroned by Bishop Juan de Zumárraga on 26 December 1531, just fourteen days after her final apparition.⁸ St Juan Diego shows us how to follow the model of the Mother of God in advancing the New Springtime of Faith.

Through the gift of faith and Baptism, the Spanish and the Native Americans became one people, a new race, the mestiza people whose distinctive features are seen most perfectly in the face of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Since the time of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the unity of the people in the Catholic faith has been severely tested, especially during times of persecution of the Church in Mexico, but the Mexican people has remained united, invoking the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

A sterling example of the fruit of the unceasing spiritual maternity of Our Lady of Guadalupe is seen in the martyrdom of Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro on 23 November 1927, during a cruel persecution of the Church. On one of the walls of the cell in which he awaited execution, Blessed Miguel Pro inscribed the prayer: "¡Viva Cristo Rey! ¡Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!",⁹ "Long live Christ the King! Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe!".

Click here for the full article and footnotes on EWTN's website.

Painting by the hand of Antonella Cappuccio

in 2009 for the Knights of Columbus

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Star of the New Evangelisation, pray for us.

Bishop Ken: The Holy Child Jesus

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The following is an Anglican meditation written by the sainted Bishop Thomas Ken as part of several simple guides to Christian prayer and life for a younger person, a young scholar at school. I meant to post this on the Feast of el Divino Niño, but I gather for whatever reason now is the right time. May the Child Jesus bless you in the reading of it, and may Thomas Ken pray for us.


This, good Phil. is the lowest degree of duty, and it should be your dayly endeavour, to improve in your devotion, as well as in your learning, and the more effectually to move you to so happy an improvement, I advise you on Sundays and Holy-days, attentively to read over this following Meditation, and to propose to your self, the Holy Child Jesus, for your example.

A Meditation on the Holy Child Jesus.

        Glory be to Thee, O Lord Jesus, Glory be to Thee, who when Thou wert twelve years old, didst go up to Jerusalem with Thy Parents, after the custom of the Feast, to eat the Passover, and to worship Thy Heavenly Father.

El Divino Niño, Hanceville, Alabama

        O blessèd Saviour, give me grace like Thee, to make Religion my first, and chiefest care, and devoutly to observe, all solemn times, and all holy Rites, which relate to Thy worship.

        Glory be to Thee, O Lord Jesus, Glory be to Thee, who when Thy Parents returned home, didst stay behind in Jerusalem, and after three days, wast found of them in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the Doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

        O blessèd Saviour, who in Thy very Childhood, didst triumph over all the vain delights of youth; and wouldst choose no place, but the Temple to reside in, Mortifie in me, all inordinate love of sensual pleasure, which may pervert me from my duty; raise in me an awful reverence of Thy House, an early devotion in my Prayers, and a delight in Thy Praises.

        O blessèd Jesu, who didst choose before all others, the company of the Doctors, and didst both hear them, and ask them Questions; give me grace to abhor all lewd company, and all filthy communication, give me grace to love wise, and sober, and profitable, and religious conversation, and to be diligent, and inquisitive after learning, and whatsoever is good.

        Glory be to Thee, O Lord Jesus, Glory be to Thee, who when Thy Father, and Mother had sought Thee, sorrowing, didst reply to them, How is it that ye sought me, wist ye not that I must be about my Fathers business?

        O blessèd Jesu, who from Thy infancie didst make it Thy whole imployment, to do Thy Fathers will, kindle in me a forward zeal for Thy Glory, that I may consecrate my youth to Thy service, and make it the great business of my life, to know and fear, to love and obey, my Heavenly Father.

        Glory be to Thee, O Lord Jesus, Glory be to Thee, who didst at last return home with Thy Parents, and wert subject to them!

        O blessèd Jesu, give me grace to honour my Parents, and Governours, and readily to obey all their lawful commands!

        Glory be to Thee, O Lord Jesus, Glory be to Thee, who in those tender years, wert blessed with such Heavenly wisdom, that all that heard Thee, were astonished at Thy understanding and answers, who didst dayly increase in this Heavenly wisdom, and in favour with God and Man!

        O Lord Jesu, bless me with all abilities of mind and body, that may make me dayly increase in my Learning; but above all, bless me with Wisdom from above, and give me Thy Holy Spirit to assist, and enlighten me, that as I grow in Age, I may dayly grow in Grace, and in the knowledge of Thee, and in favour with God and Man; and every day more and more conformable to Thy Unsinning and Divine example.

Amen, Lord Jesus, Amen.

O Jesus, Roi d’Amour, 

j’ai confiance en ta Miséricordieuse Bonté.

Mère Yvonne-Aimée, priez pour nous.

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