ecs 220:
I am old enough to remember when hymns were almost exclusively about GOD; now it seems more and more of them celebrate US instead. Just another manifestaion of our Oprahfied, “self-esteem” culture, I suppose. One of my favorite Christ-centered hymns was one I actually first saw in an Episcopal hymnal; I’ve never heard it sung in a Catholic Church. It begins:
Here now, O Lord, I see Thee face-to-face,
Here would I touch and handle things unseen;
Here grasp with firmer hand Eternal Grace,
and all my weariness upon Thee lean.
– and is meant as a communion hymn.
***Pange Lingua ** * (translation)
Sing, my tongue,
The mystery of the glorious body,
And of the precious Blood,
Shed to save the world,
By the King of the nations,
The fruit of a noble womb.
Given to us, born for us,
From a stainless Virgin,
And having dwelt in the world,
Sowing the seed of the word,
He closed in a wonderful way,
The days of his habitation.
On the night of His last supper,
Reclining with His brothers,
The law having been fully observed
With legal foods,
He gives Himself as food with His
Own hands to the twelve.
The Word in Flesh makes true Bread
His Flesh with a word;
Wine becomes the Blood of Christ,
And if sense is deficient,
To confirm sincere hearts,
Faith alone suffices.
Then let us prostrate and
Venerate so great a Sacrament,
And let the old law yield
To the new rite;
Let faith stand forward to
Supply the defect of the senses.
To the Begetter and the Begotten,
Be praise and jubilation,
Health, honor, and strength,
And blessing too,
And let equal praise be to Him,
Who proceeds from Both.
Amen. Alleluia.
Its grandeur breaks the heart, even in translation.
“Glory and Praise” is the song that sends me into convulsions. Come to think of it, so does the rest of the song book by that name.