Christ Be Our Light - Comments by Jim Minogue November 2008
Msgr. Brown asked if I would write down some reflections on the songs included
on the St. Vincent DePaul Contemporary Choir’s new CD, “Christ Be Our Light”.
So here
are some of my thoughts on what strikes me about the meanings of the songs.
When Susan and I first started planning the “Christ Be Our Light”
CD back in April of this year,
our basic intention was to record a collection of some of our favorite songs the
Contemporary Choir sings at Sunday Mass. As I reflect on how the work took shape,
what seems to have emerged is a collection of liturgical hymns that progress over some important aspects of our life as Catholic Christians from
conversion to our final resurrection.
The CD’s title song, Christ Be Our Light, is a powerful prayer made into a song that speaks of our need for God. The verses refer to some of
the fundamental desires we cry out for: longing for life, peace, hope, yearning for love, and for belonging.
The refrain completes this prayer asking Christ to
shine within us as our light of truth and love both as individuals and as a Church.
As this CD is released, I am struck by the events of the past few months that have
shaken our world. There are many that live in greater fear, loneliness, and despair.
However, as a people of faith -- fully alive with the light of Christ’s love, truth
and holiness -- we bring hope into this world of darkness. The picture we attempted
to paint musically
was the Easter Vigil celebration that begins with the Church gathered in
darkness which then becomes illuminated when the
flame of the paschal fire / candle is passed from person to person. This is a beautiful image of how the Church brings the light
of Christ into the world.
Sing of the Lord’s Goodness is an upbeat song that uses various phrases from the Psalms that exhort God’s people
to give Him thanks and praise. The words are a call to enter into worship with enthusiastic
expressions: singing of His goodness; proclaiming His mercy, His faithfulness and
the new life He gives. The Psalms also proclaim how fitting it is to make melody
with instruments – the trumpet, the lute and harp, cymbals -- and to even dance
as a means of expressing our fervent love for God.
In contrast to what is often
valued in our fallen world, How Beautiful
provides us a glimpse of what is truly
precious and beautiful in the eyes of God our Father. The first half of the song
makes reference to the “Body of Christ” in the person of Jesus on earth: living
among us, serving, suffering, forgiving, and willing to pay the price of our salvation
by His death on the cross. The second half of the song shifts to the Church as the
Body of Christ, “the radiant bride”, awaiting her groom “with His light in her eyes”.
It speaks of how beautiful it is for our Father in heaven to see our sacrificial
love that stems from “humble hearts” that “give the fruit of pure lives so that
others may live”, in imitation of Jesus. The song intensifies and transitions to
a higher key when exclaiming how beautiful it is when the good news of God’s love
and truth is proclaimed to others. The final lines
which
speak of how beautiful are “the hands that serve the wine and the bread and the
sons of the earth” can remind us Catholics of how special it is for our priests,
with their consecrated hands, to serve God’s people Jesus in the Eucharist.
Worthy is the Lamb uses lines from the Book of Revelation, Chapter 5, where Jesus
is welcomed into heaven as the victorious Lamb of God after His death and resurrection.
It is a song that we sing more often in the Easter season. The words of the song
not only celebrate the salvation that Jesus won for us in laying down His life and
dying on the cross, but it also makes the connection that we share in this. Not
only is Jesus worthy, but worthy are we who believe and have become “a people of
hope”, “a people of praise” and His “light for the world”.
The Supper of the Lord
is about the invitation God offers us to come and share in the precious gift of Jesus
present in the Eucharist, a feast truly divine. It is a gentle song with verses written from the Gospel of John, Chapter 6, where Jesus
proclaims that He is the Bread of Life. I like the term “Supper” of the Lord (versus “dinner”) because it communicates a very
welcoming, personal, and approachable reference
to the Mass. The song is
sung prayerfully to remind us of the reverence and awe we need to have as we approach Jesus present
in the Blessed Sacrament.
Alleluia #1 is another song of thanks and praise that
proclaims the victory of the resurrection of Christ. This song starts with voices
singing God’s praise and closes with an instrumental interlude that does the same.
You Are Mine is a familiar liturgical song that communicates the very tender, personal
love Christ has for each of us. As our savior, Jesus pledges to be with us, to help
us and heal us when we are confused, living in shame, hopeless, troubled and fearful.
For our part, Jesus calls us in prayer to “be still and know He is near” and “to come and rest”
in Him. Jesus then calls us to take action to “come and follow Him” and exercise our faith in Him as we “stand up…walk
and live!”
Holy Is His Name is Mary’s Canticle taken from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter
1. Her Magnificat is proclaimed when she and Elizabeth celebrate the wonders God
is doing as they discover God’s plan of salvation coming to fulfillment. In her
humility, Mary deflects the praise Elizabeth gives her in being chosen to be the
Mother of Christ as she proclaims the greatness of God shown by His mercy, faithfulness,
and justice. Mary sets a wonderful example for us as disciples of Christ who should
be available to be used by God for His glory.
Go Forth is a recessional song about
the “great commission” we have been given to go out and proclaim the good news of
salvation in Jesus by the witness of our lives. The use of the trumpet and French
horn musically underscores this announcing of the good news. This proclamation of
the gospel includes being a means of bringing spiritual and physical healing to others, “bringing them
hope and freedom from ev’ry ill”.
Give Me Jesus is a very simple, traditional song about one’s love for Jesus, which needs
to reach across the entirety of life. It is a commitment of love we need to make
each day when we “rise” and to live each step of the “journey” of life with Jesus,
so that when we “die”, death is the fulfillment of our desire to be one with Him.
The refrain reminds us that our desire for Jesus requires detachment from the things
of this world, which pale in comparison with what we gain when living fully in
Christ.
We Have Been Told uses scripture verses from the Gospel of St. John (Chapter
15) and from John’s first Epistle. A principle message of the song is that we should
first be receivers of God’s love and then be a channel of it for others. Jesus presents
us with the image that He is the vine and we are the branches that draw spiritual life
from Him to produce “great fruit”, the fruit of God’s love. By laying down His
life for us, Jesus has given example of the standard of sacrificial love the Father
is looking for. We remain in union with Jesus and are called His “friends” as we
obey His command to love others as He has loved us by laying down our lives in service
for others.
As I Kneel Before You is a sung prayer to Mary. It expresses a dimension
of Catholic spirituality where we can enter into a deeper relationship with Jesus
through a relationship with our Blessed Mother, Mary. A more defined expression
of this can be seen in the “Consecration to Jesus Through Mary”. The song highlights
some of the aspects of this relationship with Mary where we can entrust our daily
sacrifices and good works to her, the merits of which she can use for a greater
spiritual good that benefit others as well as ourselves. This relationship also includes
entrusting all of our dreams, desires and petitions to Mary who then brings before
the throne of God as a most powerful advocate. The Latin words in the refrain -- “Ave Maria, gratia plena…benedicta
tu” – are the first half of the Hail Mary taken from scripture.
Seek the Gift of Love
is a song I wrote inspired by the scripture passage from 1 Corinthians 13 on Love.
The Refrain is an exhortation to seek the three Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope
and Love, of which St. Paul says the greatest of these is Love. Verse one points
toward the need to be motivated by Love in all that we do so that there is true
merit in it; otherwise, our actions are ultimately useless to God who sees what is in our hearts.
Verse two touches on some of the positive aspects of Love, which involves humility,
being forgiving, trusting, hopeful, and even empowering us to endure all things.
In verse three, the culmination of the song, the central point is that even the
non-material spiritual gifts – like knowledge and prophetic utterances -- used here
on earth will pass away. And, when made perfect for heaven, the only thing we will take with us when we stand
before Christ is a heart filled with the Love we have
cultivated here on earth.
Shepherd Me, O God is a traditional song based upon Psalm
23. Often sung at funerals, it speaks of Jesus as the shepherd who leads us through
this life and ultimately into eternal life at the hour of our death. As we entrust
our lives to Jesus, we can be at peace knowing that He provides for all of our needs.
At the end of our life here on earth, He will help us overcome the fear of
death and lead us to the “Banquet of Love”, which awaits us in heaven.
I Know That My Redeemer Lives is a song about
our ultimate destiny in Christ: the resurrection of our body and soul into heaven. The song expresses a confidence in this final truth and at the same time a longing to
be raised up with Christ, to see Him face to face. Part of this is anticipation is that when the final day of
resurrection comes, it will be a day when every tear will be wiped away and “death will be no
more”. The song culminates with verse three, which proclaims that on “the last day”
we shall rise to be with God. This day of triumph is painted musically with the
French horn depicting the call for God’s faithful ones to rise to be with
Jesus forever in their new home in heaven.
Praise the Lord Jesus Christ, our Light!
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