O Sacred Head Sore Wounded

O sacred head, sore wounded,
defiled and put to scorn;
O kingly head surrounded
with mocking crown of thorn:
What sorrow mars thy grandeur?
Can death thy bloom deflower?
O countenance whose splendor
the hosts of heaven adore!

Thy beauty, long-desirèd,
hath vanished from our sight;
thy power is all expirèd,
and quenched the light of light.
Ah me! for whom thou diest,
hide not so far thy grace:
show me, O Love most highest,
the brightness of thy face.

I pray thee, Jesus, own me,
me, Shepherd good, for thine;
who to thy fold hast won me,
and fed with truth divine.
Me guilty, me refuse not,
incline thy face to me,
this comfort that I lose not,
on earth to comfort thee.

In thy most bitter passion
my heart to share doth cry,
with thee for my salvation
upon the cross to die.
Ah, keep my heart thus moved
to stand thy cross beneath,
to mourn thee, well-beloved,
yet thank thee for thy death.

My days are few, O fail not,
with thine immortal power,
to hold me that I quail not
in death's most fearful hour;
that I may fight befriended,
and see in my last strife
to me thine arms extended
upon the cross of life.

Text: Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676), vv. 1-3 & 5, tr. Robert Bridges (1844-1930), v. 4 tr. James Waddell Alexander (1804-1859)
Tune: Herzlich thut mich verlangen (Passion Chorale) 76.76D, by Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612)

Meter: 76 76 D

Eternal Lord of Love Behold Your Church

Eternal Lord, of love behold your church
walking once more the pilgrim way of Lent,
Led by your cloud by day, by night your fire.
Moved by your love and toward your presence bent.

So daily dying to the way of self,
so daily living in your way of love,
We walk the road, Lord Jesus, that you trod,
knowing ourselves baptized into your death:

If dead in you, so in you, we arise.
You the firstborn of all the faithful dead.
And as through stony ground the green shoots break,
Glorious in springtime dress of leaf and flower.

Text: Thomas Cain (b. 1931)
Tune: OLD 124TH 10.10.10.10.10

O Love of God, How Strong and True (Tune: Jerusalem)

O love of God, how strong and true!
Eternal, and yet ever new;
Uncomprehended and unbought,
Beyond all knowledge and all thought.

O love of God, how deep and great!
Far deeper than man's deepest hate;
Self fed, self kindled, like the light,
Changeless, eternal, infinite.

O heavenly love, how precious still,
In days of weariness and ill,
In nights of pain and helplessness,
To heal, to comfort, and to bless!

O wide embracing, wondrous love!
We read you [thee] in the sky above,
We read you [thee] in the earth below,
In seas that swell, and streams that flow.

We read you [thee] best in Him who came
To bear for us the cross of shame;
Sent by the Father from on high,
Our life to live, our death to die.

We read your [thy] power to bless and save,
E'en in the darkness of the grave;
Still more in resurrection light,
We read the fullness of your [thy] might.

O love of God, our shield and stay
Through all the perils of our way!
Eternal love, in thee we rest
Forever safe, forever blest.

We will exalt you, God and King,
and we will ever praise your name;
We will extol you ev'ry day,
and evermore your praise proclaim.

Text: Horatius Bonar (1861)
Tune: JERUSALEM, by. C. Hubert H. Parry (1916), arr. Michael McCarthy (2004)

My Shepherd Will Supply My Need (Psalm 23)

My Shepherd will supply my need:
Jehovah is His Name;
in pastures fresh he makes me feed,
beside the living stream.
He brings my wandering spirit back
when I forsake his ways,
and leads me, for his mercy's sake,
in paths of truth and grace.

When I walk through the shades of death
his presence is my stay;
one word of his supporting grace
drives all my fears away.
His hand, in sight of all my foes,
doth still my table spread;
my cup with blessings overflows,
his oil anoints my head.

The sure provisions of my God
attend me all my days;
O may thy house be my abode,
and all my work be praise.
There would I find a settled rest,
while others go and come;
no more a stranger, nor a guest,
but like a child at home.

Paraphrase of Psalm 23

Words: Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Tune: RESIGNATION, CMD, American folk melody

We Are Called (David Haas)

1. Come! live in the light!
Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord!
We are called to be light for the kingdom,
to live in the freedom of the city of God!

Refrain:

We are called to act with justice.
We are called to love tenderly.
We are called to serve one another, to walk humbly with God.

2. Come! Open your heart!
Show your mercy to all those in fear!
We are called to be hope for the hopeless,
so all hatred and blindness will be no more! (Refrain)

3. Sing! Sing a new song!
Sing of that great day when all will be one!
God will reign and we'll walk with each other as sisters and brothers united in love! (Refrain)

Composer: David Haas (1988)

See my other blog postings in the Contemporary Catholic series.

Laetare Jerusalem

Laetáre Jerúsalem:
et convéntum fácite
ómnes qui dilígitis éam:
gaudéte cum laetítia,
qui in tristítia fuístis:
ut exsultétis, et satiémini
abubéribus consolatiónis véstrae.

Ps.: Laetátus sum in his quae dícta sunt míhi:
in dómum Dómini íbimus.

Glória Pátri, et Fílio,
et Spirítui Sáncto.
Sicut erat in princípio,
et nunc, et semper,
et in saécula saeculórum. Amen.

Laetáre Jerúsalem:
et convéntum fácite
ómnes qui dilígitis éam:
gaudéte cum laetítia,
qui in tristítia fuístis:
ut exsultétis, et satiémini
abubéribus consolatiónis véstrae.

Rejoice, O Jerusalem:
and come together all you that love her:
rejoice with joy you that have been in sorrow:
that you may exult,
and be filled from the breasts of your consolation

Ps.: I rejoiced at the things that were said to me:
we shall go into the house of the Lord.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Introit, Fourth Sunday in Lent (Laetare Sunday)

Thine Arm, O Lord, in Days of Old

Thine arm, O Lord, in days of old
was strong to heal and save;
it triumphed o'er disease and death,
o'er darkness and the grave.
To thee they went, the blind, the dumb,
the palsied, and the lame,
the leper with his tainted life,
the sick with fevered frame.

And lo! thy touch brought life and health,
gave hearing, strength, and sight;
and youth renewed and frenzy calmed
owned thee, the Lord of light:
and now, O Lord, be near to bless,
almighty as of yore,
in crowded street, by restless couch,
as by Gennesaret's shore.

Be thou our great deliverer still,
thou Lord of life and death;
restore and quicken, soothe and bless,
with thine almighty breath:
to hands that work and eyes that see,
give wisdom's heavenly lore,
that whole and sick, and weak and strong,
may praise thee evermore.

Text: Edward Hayes Plumptre (1864)
Tune: ST. MATTHEW, CMD, from Supplement to the New Version of Psalms by Dr. Brady and Mr. Tate, 1708