Posted on 03/25/2002 7:44:34 PM PST by father_elijah
I thought a thread with our favorite Holy Week hymns would be inspirational. I begin with one of my favorites (which is especially beautiful sung to the tune O Waly Waly.
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.Forbid it Lord, that I should boast,
Savie in the death of Christ my God;
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.See from his head, his hands, his feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown!Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small:
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
O sacred Head, now wounded,
with grief and shame weighed down,
now scornfully surrounded
with thorns, thine only crown:
how pale thou art with anguish,
with sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish
which once was bright as morn!What thou, my Lord, has suffered
was all for sinners' gain;
mine, mine was the transgression,
but thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
'Tis I deserve thy place;
look on me with thy favor,
vouchsafe to me thy grace.What language shall I borrow
to thank thee, dearest friend,
for this thy dying sorrow,
thy pity without end?
O make me thine forever;
and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
outlive my love for thee.
----------------------------------------My song is love unknown,
my Savior's love to me,
love to the loveless shown
that they might lovely be.
O who am I
that for my sake
my Lord should take
frail flesh and die?He came from his blest throne
salvation to bestow,
but men made strange, and none
the longed-for Christ would know.
But O my friend,
my friend indeed,
who at my need,
his life did spend.Sometimes they strew his way,
and his strong praises sing,
resounding all the day
hosannas to their King.
Then "Crucify!"
is all their breath,
and for his death
they thirst and cry.Why, what hath my Lord done?
What makes this rage and spite?
He made the lame to run,
he gave the blind their sight.
Sweet injuries!
Yet they at these
themselves displease,
and 'gainst him rise.They rise, and needs will have
my dear Lord made away;
a murderer they save,
the Prince of Life they slay.
Yet steadfast he
to suffering goes,
that he his foes
from thence might free.Here might I stay and sing,
no story so divine:
never was love, dear King,
never was grief like thine.
This is my friend,
in whose sweet praise
I all my days
could gladly spend.
Words: Samuel Crossman, 1664
-------------------------------O mighty Cross, Love lifted high,
The Lord of life raised there to die;
His sacrifice on Calvary
Has made the mighty Cross
a tree of life to me.O mighty Cross, what throne of grace,
He knew no sin, yet took my place;
His sacrifice on Calvary
Has made the mighty Cross
a tree of life to me.O mighty Cross, O Christ, so pure,
Love held Him there, such shame endured;
His sacrifice on Calvary
Has made the mighty Cross
a tree of life to me.O mighty Cross, my soul's release;
The stripes He bore have brought me peace;
His sacrifice on Calvary
Has made the mighty Cross
a tree of life to me.
Words: David Baroni and John Chisum
patent
I don't know many hymns, but if I may make a suggestion for spiritual reading during Holy Week, I offer The passion of Christ according to St. Thomas Aquinas. I recently returned home from a class on the teachings of Aquinas and the instructor, a priest and philosophy professor, gave a wonderful lecture, in light of Holy Week, about St. Thomas' writings on the passion of Christ.
Refrain
Lord, we are able.
Our Spirits are thine.
Re-mold them, make them
Like Thee, divine.
Thy guiding radiance
Above us shall be
A beacon to God
To love, and loyalty.
Are ye able to remember,
When a thief lifts up his eyes,
That his pardoned soul is worthy
Of a place in paradise"
Are ye able when the shadows
Close around you with the sod
To believe that spirit triumphs,
To commend you soul to God?
Are ye able?
Still the Master
Whispers down eternity,
And heroic spirits answer
Now, as then in Galilee
In the cross, In the cross
Be my glory ever
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest, beyond the river.
One of my all-time favorites...
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.
Refrain
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.
O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.
Refrain
In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.
Refrain
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.
Refrain
It starts out like a funeral dirge and then on the refrain it bursts into joy.
It is by Robert Lowry
Low in the grave he lay
Jesus my Savior!
Waiting the coming day,
Jesus my Lord!
Refrain
Up from the grave he arose,
With a mighty triumph o'er his foes;
He arose a victor from the dark domain,
And he lives forever with his saints to reign.
He arose!
He arose!
Hallelujah!
Christ arose!
Vainly they watch his bed,
Jesus my Saviour!
Vainly they seal the dead,
Jesus my Lord!
Death cannot keep his prey,
Jesus my Savior!
He tore the bars away,
Jesus my Lord!
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