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Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Ecce Agnus Dei

All hail the Sacred Body
of Christ our Lord and God;
come, join the Mystic Banquet
and drink his Precious Blood.
The angel-hosts are circling
around his altar-throne;
we lift our hearts to heaven
and make their songs our own.

Christ's holy Incarnation
commands our thankful praise:
in humble celebration
this Sacrifice we raise.
And, Father, as we proffer
our lowly bread and wine,
return them to your faithful
as mystic Food divine.

The death and Resurrection,
th'Ascension of your Son
are present here among us,
which have the vict'ry won.
We praise you, Father, for your gift:
the fruit of Mary's womb.
We now approach this table
as in the upper-room.

Sustainer of creation,
O Spirit, now descend!
Dear Father, now accept the praise
we offer without end.
O Feast of our Redemption!
O Sacrifice adored!
The living and departed
in communion with Our Lord!

Words: copyright (c) Michael Astley 2004
Tune: Ellacombe (The Day of Resurrection)

Posted by special request. :-) I must say, I'm very flattered.

I have only written three hymns (one of which contains theology that I'm no not entirely sure about - perhaps some tweaking is in order). The inspiration doesn't come too very frequently. As with the previous one, feel free to use it with acknowledgement.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting the Corpus Christi hymn - I like it very much too.

kingsfold

Michael said...

Thank you both for your kind words. It's so affirming to be appreciated like this. i'm sure our organist would agree with you, Ian - I save him having to

Good to have you here, Kingsfold. You'll notice that the tune "Kingsfold" is in the correct metre for the Marian hymn.

We should speak soon.

Anonymous said...

Indeed, and, if I may say so, a much nicer tune than Tyrol ;)

I've been keeping an eye out here for a while, but not had anything much to say before.

Michael said...

Thank you both for your kind words. It's so affirming to be appreciated like this. I'm sure our organist would agree with you, Ian - I save him having to

I'm sorry. I've just realised thatI never finished this sentence. I'm at work and must have got distracted by somebody. I had meant to say that I save our organist having to choose a hymn.

Michael said...

I mention it in the post with the Marian hymn, where I say Until about five minutes ago, the penultimate line of the first verse read "In you, with soul from sin preserved", which is a little too 1854 for me now. (I had a very different outlook on things three years ago).


It referred to the Immaculate Conception, but you know my views on that matter now. :-)

(Never call yourself stupid x)