A hymn for Fr Bob

A few weeks ago (7th October) I posted about the death of a priest friend whom I have admired tremendously since I worked with him in the 80s, Fr Bob Bedard of Ottawa in Canada. I was delighted to find that the religious congregation that he founded, the Companions of the Cross, have put a video of the whole of his Requiem on the internet. The principal celebrant was Archbishop Prendergast of Ottawa and there were hundreds of priests. Particularly indicative of Fr Bob's influence was the presence also of the Papal Nuncio to Canada. 

If I'm not mistaken, the leader of the music ministry playing and singing up in the gallery is Marcel, who was a young newly-married when I was there. I must confess to a lump in my throat when they went into the final hymn as Bob's coffin was led out of the Cathedral. "The Victory" by Bob Filorama was one of my favourite hymns that I heard over in Canada. It's a simple but moving melody with strong words, full of a Pauline hope. Dare I say it is also in some way a man's hymn - and not just because it speaks of a man's arrival at heaven. On the Requiem video it does not come out too clearly, but I found it also as the soundtrack to a lovely short video tribute to Blessed Pope John Paul II.

Catch the Requiem here and the John Paul video here