#catholichymn

Our Morning Offering – 29 March – “Here I Am, Lord”

Our Morning Offering – 29 March – The Fifth Sunday of Lent

“Here I Am, Lord” By Daniel Schutte

I, the Lord of sea and sky I have heard My people cry All who dwell in dark and sin My Hand will save.

I, who made the stars of night I will make their darkness bright Who will bear my light to them? Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord.  Is it I, Lord? I have heard You calling in the night I will go, Lord,…

Our Morning Offering – 9 October – The Memorial of Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Praise to the Holiest in the Height By Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Praise to the Holiest in the height, And in the depth be praise: In all His words most wonderful; Most sure in all His ways.

O loving wisdom of our God, When all was sin and shame, He, the last Adam, to the fight And to the rescue came.

O wisest love! that flesh and blood Which did in Adam fail, Should strive afresh against the foe, Should strive and should prevail.

And that a higher gift than grace Should flesh and blood refine, God’s presence, and His very self And essence all-divine.

O generous love! that He, who smote In man for man the foe, The double agony in man For man should undergo.

And in the garden secretly, And on the cross on high, Should teach His brethren, and inspire To suffer and to die.

Praise to the Holiest in the height, And in the depth be praise: In all His words most wonderful; Most sure in all His ways.

Our Morning Offering – – 18 April – Wednesday of the Third Week of Eastertide

At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing

At the Lamb’s high feast we sing praise to our victorious King, who hath washed us in the tide flowing from His piercèd side; praise we Him whose love divine gives His sacred blood for wine, gives His body for the feast, Christ the Victim, Christ the Priest.

Where the paschal blood is poured, death’s dark angel sheathes his sword; Israel’s hosts triumphant go through the wave that drowns the foe. Praise we Him, whose blood was shed, Paschal Victim, Paschal Bread; with sincerity and love eat we manna from above.

Mighty Victim from the sky, pow’rs of hell beneath Thee lie; death is conquered in the fight, Thou hast brought us life and light; hymns of glory and of praise, risen Lord, to Thee we raise; Holy Father, praise to Thee, with the Spirit, ever be.

Paschal triumph, Paschal joy, only sin can this destroy; from the death of sin set free, souls reborn, dear Lord, in Thee. Hymns of glory, songs of praise, Father unto Thee we raise; risen Lord, all praise to Thee, Ever with the Spirit be.

Translator:  Robert Campbell Robert Campbell was a Catholic advocate residing in Edinburgh. He died in 1868.

Our Morning Offering – 4 February – The Memorial of Blessed Rabanus Maurus (776-856)

Veni Creator Spiritus By Blessed Rabanus Maurus (776-856)

Come, Creator, Spirit, come from Your bright heavenly throne, come take possession of our souls and make them all Your own. You who are called the Paraclete, best gift of God above, the living spring, the vital fire, sweet christ’ning and true love. . . . O guide our minds with Your best light, with love our hearts inflame and with Your strength, which ne’er decays, confirm our mortal frame. Far from us drive our deadly foe, true peace unto us bring and through all perils lead us safe beneath Your sacred wing. Through You may we the Father know, through You th’eternal Son and You the Spirit of them both, thrice-blessed Three in One. . . .

Today, 4 February, us the Memorial of Blessed Rabanus Maurus.

Rabanus Maurus was a young boy who loved to study and became a disciple of the great Englishmen who brought learning and holiness to the kingdom of Charlemagne.   He was born in 784, when the Carolingian renaissance was at its height and his parents sent him to be educated at St Boniface’s great monastery of Fulda, which had a famous school.   So remarkable was he as a student that the Abbot of Fulda sent him to study under Charlemagne’s own schoolmaster, Alcuin, at Tours and it was under this teacher that he received the name Maurus, after St. Benedict’s favourite disciple.   On returning to Fulda, he was first a teacher, then head of the school there, which became famous all over Europe.

He continued the tradition of sacred learning begun by St Boniface and Alcuin.   He wrote homilies, scientific treatises, poetry, hymns and commentaries on most of the books of the Bible.   Like St Bede, he was the marvel of his time for his learning and was unequalled in his time for his scriptural and patristic learning.

In 822, Blessed Rabanus Maurus was elected abbot of Fulda and the monastery flourished under his guidance. He increased the library, built new buildings and fostered learning of every kind.  In 842, he retired, planning to live a life of prayer in solitude for the rest of his life.

In 847, he was chosen to be archbishop of Mainz, at the age of sixty-three and the last years of his life were spent directing the affairs of his diocese, holding provincial synods, and directing a multitude of charitable works.   During a famine, he fed three hundred poor people at his own house.   He became bedridden shortly before his death and from the moment of his death was regarded as a saint.

He was buried at the monastery of St Alban’s in Mainz but later his relics were transferred to Halle.