Guide us with your grace, give us faith so we'll be safe

I thought it was about time to do some blogging again, and what better time than the end of one year and the beginning of another?   I get so much from music and have become a fan of Pentatonix, the leading American a capella group, that is there is no accompaniment as the five members produce all the sounds.

Here for the New Year is their version of 'The Prayer' a song with many versions, but this one really shows their skills and the beauty of the arrangements.  The lyrics are below. 

Let this be our prayer...  and a blessed New Year!

I pray you'll be our eyes   and watch us where we go
And help us to be wise     in times when we don't know
Let this be our prayer   when we lose our way

Lead us to a place   Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe 

 

La luce che tu hai   I pray we'll find your light
Nel cuore resterà    And hold it in our hearts
A ricordarci che   When stars go out each night
L'eterna stella sei    Oh
 

Nella mia preghiera   Let this be our prayer
Quanta fede c'è   When shadows fill our days

Lead us to a place   Guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe

 

A world where pain and sorrow will be ended
And every heart that's broken will be mended
And we'll remember we are all God's children
Reaching out to touch in
Reaching to the sky

 

We ask that life be kind

And watch us from above

We hope each soul will find

Another soul to love

 

Let this be our prayer -

Just like every child   needs to find a place

Guide us with your grace   Give us faith so we'll be safe

Needs to find a place   Guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe

 

Songwriters: Carole Bayer Sager / David Foster

Young gifts - dance

These are Ghetto Kids from Kampala, Uganda, on recent 'Britain's Got Talent'. What energy... life... Easter...

Young gifts - voice

This is Londoner Malakai with a voice from heaven, singing 'Pie Jesu' from Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Requiem' recently on 'Britain's Got Talent.'

Good Friday

 

He got up from table, removed his outer garment

Today we begin the Sacred Triduum or Three Days. The drama unfolds over Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.There are always new things to discover in the Bible, especially in the Gospels. Just looking at one commentator on Mass readings, I found some thoughts on one sentence in the Gospel for this evening, the Mass of the Lord's Supper: "He got up from table, removed his outer garment".

It turns out that the original Greek words were more like "laid down" his garment and "rose" from the table. Both of these words almost always refer in the New Testament to Jesus' Death and Resurrection. 

This is all very much St John's style, and so we can see why people often say that the Washing of Feet replaces the institition of the Eucharist in the fourth Gospel. There is a parallel with the actions and words of Jesus over the bread and wine: he took, blessed, broke and gave saying 'my body given for you', and 'my blood poured out for you.' 

The foot washng is not just a lesson leading to a moral lesson for us all, important as that is. Both the washing of feet and the Eucharist point us to the life giving Death and Resurrection that Jesus was to accomplish over the next few days.

Hosanna!

Yesterday was Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. The weather held out, so we were able to have our processions in each of the three morning Masses in our churches.  Mind you, none of them had as many people - or palms- as they had in the city of Antipolo in the Phillipines, as this picture shows..

 

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This week is the very centre of our Christian year. There is always a lot to do in parishes at this time of year, but we are blessed with many people in our chrches who get stuck in, and everything always goes well. 

The Palm Sunday cry, of course, is "Hosanna" so here is the Hosanna hymn from Hillsong. The video is of Palm Sunday in Jerusalem, with the crowds following the route down the Mount of Olives followed by Jesus.

Myfanwy + Cello = Magic

Take a listen to Sheku Kanneh-Mason's new version of the beautiful melody "Myfanwy", written by Joseph Parry, born Merthyr Tydfil, died Penarth and buried in the St Augustine's churchyard high on Penarth Head.  This famous song can reduce me and many others to tears, and some say it is a sign of Welshness if it enthrals you. 

Here Sheku, member of a famous musical family, is filmed I think in Wales appropriately, either on the Brecon Beacons or maybe Snowdonia.  Listen, drift, think and maybe pray. 

Woman At The Well

I'm sharing this dramatic interpretation of Sunday's Gospel, even though I did before, as it is so striking. The text can be found on this Sunday's newsletter.

Happy St David's Day!

Happy St David's Day!  Here's a little video about St David (and leeks) that's for children really, but that makes it easy and accessible! There are other online if you search "Saint David"

Psalmed into Lent

 

Before Lent gets too far underway, I'll share, as I have done before, Allegri's setting of Psalm 50/51, the "Miserere" (Have mercy...).  This famous and beautiful piece is sung here by the Sixteen, a wonderful choir. This was the responsorial psalm for Ash Wednesday, but serves as an intro or commentary for all of this season. Sit back, listen, relax, and be gently drawn into Lent.

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday, c.1860 by Carl Spitzweg (1808-1885), © Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

I was surprised at first when I received today's artwork from ChristianArt. The painting is of a clown sitting in what I took to be a prison cell.  I thought of "Vesti la Giubba", the famous aria from opera "I Pagliacci", where the clown has to go on with the show despite his broken heart. In fact the opera was not written until 1892, 30 years or so after the pictuure was painted by German Carl Spitzweg around 1860.  But the painting is entitled "Ash Wednesday", so my next though was of the Carnival, and in particular the "Carnevale" in Venice where people dress up in costumes and masks, and where one of the traditional characters is the Pierrot, the clown. This festival takes place in the days before Lent begins, when you had to use up the food that would not be eaten in that season. By extension, a good time in general was, and is, had by all before the austerity of Lent. The word carnival comes from the Latin for "farewell to meat" = vale carne.

Now the picture started to make more sense. The carival is over, as the Seekers sang back in the 60s. Our clown has had his fun and now finds himself alone in a quiet place. I originally thought he was in prison, but not necessarily so. However, everything is indeed bare, and he bows his head as he starts to reflect after all the activity of the carnival. Time to reflect, to see how things are going in our lives when we look beyond the surface stuff - under the clown's garb, the priest's garb, or anyone's garb or outer appearance.

In Mass this morning I reflected on the opening words of the first reading, from the prophet Joel:

   Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –come back to me with all your heart

Today, as Lent begins, the Lord calls us back in the central areas of our Christian life - our relationships with Hm, with our neighbour and with ourselves, as indicated by the Gospel's drawing our attention to prayer, almsgiving and fasting. Yes we are to enjoy life, live to the full, but we must also admit that we often wander off the road, down alleys, get stuck at roundabouts etc. We need time and space to hear that call "Come back to me". We need to create an opportunity to stop, to reflect, to adjust. That doesn't need to be a bare cell like the clown, but it does mean letting go of the distractions and superficialities in the way that the cell represents.