Is this hymn heretical?

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FelixRoma

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Is this hymn troubling to anyone else?

Refrain: We come to share our story,
we come to break the bread,
we come to know our rising
from the dead.
  1. We come as your people,
    we come as your own,
    united with each other,
    love finds a home.
  2. We are called to heal the broken,
    to be hope for the poor;
    we are called to feed
    the hungry at our door.
  3. Bread of life and cup of promise,
    in this meal we all are one.
    In our dying and our rising,
    may your kingdom come.
  4. You will lead and we shall follow,
    you will be the breath of life;
    living water,
    we are thirsting for your light.
  5. We will live and sing your praises,
    “Alleluia” is our song.
    May we live in love and peace
    our whole life long.
 
It’s a hideous hymn with a very modernist vibe, but it doesn’t seem overtly heretical.

I pray for the day when we get to have a massive bonfire using all of these hymnals that were produced after Vatican II. 😛
 
Heretical? Not really.
Awful to sing? Absolutely. (It’s on my top 10 least favorite hymn list.)
 
See, that’s part of the problem with the music we sing in Mass. Is it overtly heretical? No. It’s simply as banal, as "mild-as-milk"ie as it can possibly be. It doesn’t really say ANYTHING.
 
Could you please be a little more specific as to which verse (or verses) you are wishing to analyze, and which heresy you are considering? I see how in general, this hymn should focus more on God and His saving power than on us and our actions of coming together. But, since the hymn does acknowledge the directing of these mentioned communal actions in order so that “your kingdom come”; from this perspective, the hymn is simply a bit weak, but not outright heretical.

Dauphin, please focus on the immediate subject in a thoughtful and constructive manner. Advocating massive book burnings without at least a few thoughtful arguments seems a bit severe and hasty, doesn’t it? Though it is unfortunate that some songwriters have written poor hymns since Vatican II, that does not mean that all of them are complete trash. If you don’t like all of the post Vatican II hymns, then please express it at least thoughtfully by supporting your statements. True faith and compassionate education unites the Church.👍

Pax!
 
This song was reminds me of Gregorian Chant. Even though it lacks the beauty of chant and depth of meaning in lyrics, it is the single most monotonous song written this century. Boring!!

I don’t see any heresy, though.
 
Two thumbs down. 😦 But not IMHO heretical.

It is one of those that I would not join in singing but would bow my head in prayer instead. (the priest said this was ok LOL when I told him I disliked the choices).

But the music is much much better in our parish since the new music director came.😃
 
banal, mind-numbing, hard to sing, can’t dance to it – yes
heretical, probably not, there is not enough substance there to amount to a real heresy.
 
Forgive me; heresy was perhaps too strong a word.

We often sing this at my parish during Communion, and it just seems to shift the focus from receiving the Blessed Sacrament to coming together as a faith community to share a “meal”, in the words of the hymn.

At times it appears as an indirect attack on the Real Presence.
 
We sang that hymn for the Mass erecting our Diocese. It is very monotonous, as pnewton said. However, my Aggie friend, don’t insult Gregorian Chant by comparing it to this. 😉 It’s like comparing fine wine to generic soda.

The lyrics are somewhat questionable because it reduced the Mass to a meal. Yes, the Mass contains the meal element to it, but it is also very much a sacrifice. This hymn is not one of David Haas’ finest moments, nor is it one of GIA’s brightest stars.

We sang this in my old parish once and the pastor had this pained look on his face. We hadn’t sung it since; although, now that I’m in a new parish, I am pretty sure that the ban on that song remains at the former.
 
pnewton said:
This song was reminds me of Gregorian Chant. Even though it lacks the beauty of chant and depth of meaning in lyrics, it is the single most monotonous song written this century. Boring!!

I don’t see any heresy, though.
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The tune is actually a native Hawaiian tune, but it is still dreadfully repetitive. It seems that to get liturgical music published these days, it has to be completely centered on “us,” while relegating God to either a vague goal or as a means to achieving some sort of earthly utopia.
 
Oh man. We used to have to sing this song during “children’s liturgies” growing up in Catholic grade school.

Liberals have some weird preoccupation with “story telling.” I think the line, “we have come to share our stories” actually refers to the reading of the Gospel. Liberals see it as simply telling stories that inspire us. In that sense, it’s heretical. Also, saying that we’re sharing a meal is partially true, but it leaves out the most important aspect: The sacrificial nature of the Mass, which is the principle part of the sacrament. I don’t think it’s too much of a jump to conclude that the author of the song doesn’t accept Catholic teaching on the inspiration of Holy Scripture and the sacrificial nature of the Mass, not to mention the Real Presence.
 
UKcatholicGuy said:
I don’t think it’s too much of a jump to conclude that the author of the song doesn’t accept Catholic teaching.
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No kidding. After David Haas published his song, “Dear Sister God”, he presented music workshops at which he and his ex-wife, composer Jeanne Cotter, informed the participants of their “duty” and “responsibility” to purge their parishes of “exclusive language” in the liturgy.

I’ve been to one of the horrid parishes who hang on his every word (he used to be the Music Director there), and they rewrote their missals to eliminate any reference to God as our Father, and anything else they found “offensive”. I guess that Jesus should’ve been more sensitive when He prayed to His Father.
 
We come to share our story,
we come to break the bread,
we come to know our rising
from the dead.

It does seem to be confused about just WHOSE death and resurrection is being anamensized, which would lead to a substitution of “These are our bodies” for “This is My Body.”
 
FelixRoma said:
Forgive me; heresy was perhaps too strong a word.

We often sing this at my parish during Communion, and it just seems to shift the focus from receiving the Blessed Sacrament to coming together as a faith community to share a “meal”, in the words of the hymn.

At times it appears as an indirect attack on the Real Presence.
Click to expand...
I have no problem with “break the bread” and “meal” in this hymn.

The 2005 Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church includes:
“275. What are the names for this sacrament? …
The unfathomable richness of this sacrament is expressed in different names which evoke its various aspects. The most common names are: the Eucharist, Holy Mass, the Lord’s Supper, the Breaking of the Bread, the Eucharistic Celebration, the Memorial of the passion, death and Resurrection of the Lord, the Holy Sacrifice, the Holy and Divine Liturgy, the Sacred Mysteries, the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, and Holy Communion.”

By calling it the “breaking of the bread” we are not suggesting that it is not the Body of Christ. The Catechism has in n. 1328 “… it is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies; [footnote 147: Cf. Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7, 11.] by doing so they signified that all who eat the one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form but one body in him.”
 
bpbasilphx said:
We come to share our story,
we come to break the bread,
we come to know our rising
from the dead.

It does seem to be confused about just WHOSE death and resurrection is being anamensized, which would lead to a substitution of “These are our bodies” for “This is My Body.”
Click to expand...
We enter into his death and resurrection, and it becomes by extension, our own.

This hymn actually expresses well the theology about what we do at Eucharist.

And yes - we tell stories. Stories of saints throughout the ages, stories of our faith from scripture, and our very own stories as well.
 
I had said:

**Originally Posted by bpbasilphx
We come to share our story,
we come to break the bread,
we come to know our rising
from the dead.

It does seem to be confused about just WHOSE death and resurrection is being anamensized, which would lead to a substitution of “These are our bodies” for “This is My Body.”**
PaixGioiaAmor said:
We enter into his death and resurrection, and it becomes by extension, our own.

This hymn actually expresses well the theology about what we do at Eucharist.

And yes - we tell stories. Stories of saints throughout the ages, stories of our faith from scripture, and our very own stories as well.
Click to expand...
It would be well if the pronouns were changed to YOUR story and YOUR rising. It is only through His first that we know our own resurrection.
 
FelixRoma said:
Forgive me; heresy was perhaps too strong a word.

We often sing this at my parish during Communion, and it just seems to shift the focus from receiving the Blessed Sacrament to coming together as a faith community to share a “meal”, in the words of the hymn.

At times it appears as an indirect attack on the Real Presence.
Click to expand...
It’s a favorite at my parish, too. Our former music director loved it.

But your observation above is spot on!
 
John_Lilburne said:
I have no problem with “break the bread” and “meal” in this hymn.

The 2005 Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church includes:
“275. What are the names for this sacrament? …
The unfathomable richness of this sacrament is expressed in different names which evoke its various aspects. The most common names are: the Eucharist, Holy Mass, the Lord’s Supper, the Breaking of the Bread, the Eucharistic Celebration, the Memorial of the passion, death and Resurrection of the Lord, the Holy Sacrifice, the Holy and Divine Liturgy, the Sacred Mysteries, the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, and Holy Communion.”

By calling it the “breaking of the bread” we are not suggesting that it is not the Body of Christ. The Catechism has in n. 1328 “… it is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies; [footnote 147: Cf. Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7, 11.] by doing so they signified that all who eat the one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form but one body in him.”
Click to expand...
Not fully Catholic in its wording IMHO as we look at the Eucharist as being fully THE BODY, BLOOD and DIVINITY of JESUS CHRIST. I also note that the quote was this “enter into communion with HIM and form but one body in HIM.” so we are not placing us first but always Christ.
 
FelixRoma said:
Is this hymn troubling to anyone else?

Refrain: We come to share our story,
we come to break the bread,
we come to know our rising
from the dead.
  1. We come as your people,
    we come as your own,
    united with each other,
    love finds a home.
  2. We are called to heal the broken,
    to be hope for the poor;
    we are called to feed
    the hungry at our door.
  3. Bread of life and cup of promise,
    in this meal we all are one.
    In our dying and our rising,
    may your kingdom come.
  4. You will lead and we shall follow,
    you will be the breath of life;
    living water,
    we are thirsting for your light.
  5. We will live and sing your praises,
    “Alleluia” is our song.
    May we live in love and peace
    our whole life long.
Click to expand...
Nothing wrong with this hymn. It is one of the better ones out there.
 
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