ST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, VICTORIA
  • Home
  • About
    • Safe Environment
  • Photos
  • Worship
    • Holy Baptism
    • Confirmation
    • Holy Matrimony
  • Ordinariate
  • Music
  • WALSINGHAM

A Martyr Glorious

29/12/2020

0 Comments

 
Fr Kenyon
Site of the Shrine of St Thomas of Canterbury, May 2015
Hail the love and power amazing
Of the incarnate living Word!
Year by year the song upraising,
Join we all with one accord,
Blessed saints and martyrs praising,
Who have died for Christ, their Lord.

Sing we now, for naught esteeming
Tyrant’s rage, Saint Thomas dies,
How the murderer’s weapon gleaming,
Place of prayer and praise defiles;
Yet the martyr’s life-blood streaming
Still for pardoning mercy cries.

How he lived a life laborious,
Be the wondrous story told;
How he died a martyr glorious,
Bishop wise, confessor bold;
How he reigns with Christ victorious
Clothed in white with crown of gold.

To the Lord of all creation,
In whose love the martyrs rest,
To the God of our salvation,
Whom their dying breath confessed,
Honour, praise and adoration,
Father, Son and Spirit blest.
0 Comments

Brightest Morn

16/12/2020

0 Comments

 
Fr Lee Kenyon
Hills of the North, rejoice,
Echoing songs arise,
Hail with united voice
Him who made earth and skies:
He comes in righteousness and love,
He brings salvation from above.

Isles of the Southern seas,
Sing to the listening earth,
Carry on every breeze
Hope of a world’s new birth:
In Christ shall all be made anew,
His word is sure, his promise true.

Lands of the East, arise,
He is your brightest morn,
Greet him with joyous eyes,
Praise shall his path adorn:
The God whom you have longed to know
In Christ draws near, and calls you now.

Shores of the utmost West,
Lands of the setting sun,
Welcome the heavenly guest
In whom the dawn has come:
He brings a never-ending light
Who triumphed o’er our darkest night.

Shout, as you journey on,
Songs be in every mouth,
Lo, from the North they come,
From East and West and South:
In Jesus all shall find their rest,
In him the sons of earth be blest.

Editors of the New English Hymnal
based on 
C.E. Oakley, 1832-1865
0 Comments

Heart So Holy

19/6/2020

0 Comments

 
Fr Kenyon
Sacred Heart, St John the Evangelist, Calgary
1. Heart of Jesus, sacred heart,
Praise to thee for all thou art!
Spring of grace, the Godhead’s shrine,
Throne of glory, heart divine!
Heart whom angel hosts adore,
Would that men would love thee more!
 
Heart of our Saviour, heart of our Friend,
Heart that hast loved thine own to the end,
Heart of our King! heart of our Lord!
Be thou for ever loved and adored!
 
2. Heart of Jesus, human heart,
Thanks to thee for all thou art!
Where should we have been or be,
Fount of goodness, but for thee?
Heart so full of love for us,
Would that we could love thee thus.
 
Heart of our Saviour…
 
3. Heart so holy, heart so pure,
Heart so patient to endure,
Heart that all our sin hast borne,
Bruised, humbled, crushed, forlorn.
Heart which we have wrung with pain,
Be thou never wronged again!
 
Heart of our Saviour…
4. Heart still beating in the Host,
Where, alas! we wrung thee most!
Heart so noble, heart so true,
Pierced by all, consoled by few,
Lonely heart so loving men,
Would that thou wert loved again!
 
Heart of our Saviour…
 
5. Heart so pitiful to heal,
Tender heart, so quick to feel,
Heart so ready to forgive,
Heart so grateful to receive,
Sea of love without a shore,
Be thou loved and trusted more!
 
Heart of our Saviour…
 
6. Heart of Jesus, broken heart,
Praise and thanks for all thou art!
Shelter in the noon-day heat,
Covert when the rain doth beat,
Home where all find peace and rest,
Be thou known and loved and blest!
 
Heart of our Saviour…
​
Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament
Hymns no.7
Catholic Supplement Hymn Book no.873

0 Comments

Angels’ Food

14/6/2020

0 Comments

 
Fr Kenyon
​1. Laud, O Sion, thy salvation,
Laud with hymns of exultation
Christ, thy King and Shepherd true:
Spend thyself, his honour raising,
Who surpasseth all thy praising;
Never canst thou reach his due.
 
2. Sing today, the mystery showing
Of the living, life bestowing
Bread from heaven before thee set;
E’en the same of old provided,
Where the Twelve, divinely guided,
At the holy Table met.
 
3. Full and clear ring out thy chanting,
Joy nor sweetest grace be wanting
To thy heart and soul today:
When we gather up the measure
Of that Supper and its treasure,
Keeping feast in glad array.
 
4. Lo, the new King’s Table gracing,
This new Passover of blessing
Hath fulfilled the elder rite:
Now the new the old effaceth,
Truth revealed the shadow chaseth,
Day is breaking on the night.
 
5. What he did at Supper seated,
Christ ordained to be repeated,
His memorial ne’er to cease:
And, his word for guidance taking,
Bread and wine we hallow, making
Thus our Sacrifice of peace.
 
6. This the truth to Christians given
Bread becomes his Flesh from heaven,
Wine becomes his holy Blood.
Doth it pass thy comprehending?
Yet by faith, thy sight transcending,
Wondrous things are understood.

​7. Yea, beneath these signs are hidden
Glorious things to sight forbidden:
Look not on the outward sign.
Wine is poured and Bread is broken,
But in either sacred token
Christ is here by power divine.
8. Whoso of this Food partaketh,
Christ divideth not nor breaketh:
He is whole to all that taste.
Whether one this bread receiveth,
Or a thousand, still he giveth
One same Food that cannot waste.
 
9. Good and evil men are sharing
One repast, an end preparing
Varied as the heart of man:
Life or death shall be awarded,
As their days have been recorded
Which from their beginning ran.
 
10. When the Sacrament is broken,
Doubt not in each severed token,
Hallowed by the word once spoken,
Resteth all the true content:
Nought the precious Gift divideth,
Breaking but the sign betideth,
He himself the same abideth,
Nothing of his fulness spent.

11. Lo! the Angels’ Food is given
To the pilgrim who hath striven:
See the children’s Bread from heaven,
Which to dogs may not be cast:
Truth the ancient types fulfilling,
Isaac bound, a victim willing,
Paschal lamb, its life blood spilling.
 
12. O true Bread, good Shepherd, tend us
Jesu, of thy love befriend us,
Thou refresh us, thou defend us,
Thine eternal goodness send us
In the land of life to see;
Thou who all things canst and knowest,
Who on earth such Food bestowest,
Grant us with thy Saints, though lowest,
Where the heavenly Feast thou showest,
Fellow heirs and guests to be.
Amen. Alleluia.

Sequence for Corpus Christi
New English Hymnal 521

​St Thomas Aquinas, 1227-1274
0 Comments

In Splendour Arrayed

6/5/2020

0 Comments

 
Fr Kenyon
Fr Kenyon
Fr Lee Kenyon
Fr Kenyon
Fr Lee Kenyon
A few shots of the progress thus far on the grotto for Our Lady at St Edward’s House; a practical and devotional way to spend some spare time in this Marian month of May, and to make use of the natural resource of the abundance of rocks and stones. The structure needs to be built up at the back and sides, a statue has been sourced, and after some proper landscaping and planting of roses (for the entrance arch) and Marian flowers (for the rockery), we will have a decent enough grotto in this relatively quiet and secluded part of the garden. 
​In splendour arrayed,
In vesture of gold,
The Mother of God
In glory behold!
O Daughter of David,
Thou dwellest on high,
Excelling in brightness
The hosts of the sky.
 
O Maiden thou art,
A Mother renowned;
A Mother who yet
As Virgin art crowned;
The Lord of the Angels,
God high and supreme,
Took flesh of thy substance,
The world to redeem.
All kindreds and tongues
Thine Offspring adore,
Creation must bow
His footstool before;
At thy gentle pleadings
May he from his height
Disperse all our shadows
And fill us with light.
 
The Father we praise,
Who chose for his Son
A Mother all-pure,
Th’ Immaculate one.
All praise to her Offspring
Who saveth our race:
Like praise to the Spirit
Who filled her with grace.
The Walsingham Pilgrim Manual
0 Comments

Walk, Not Fear

22/3/2020

0 Comments

 
Fr Kenyon
Fr Lee Kenyon
An overcast Mothering Sunday today, in more ways than one, brightened a little by the use of an old rose Low Mass set in the Spanish style. This set, used only once a year, was given to me almost two decades ago by my then-Anglican parish priest in Manchester. He had, in turn, been given it by his confessor, a monk of the Anglican Benedictine community at Nashdom. So, a nice bit a patrimony on this most patrimonial of Sundays.

Had normal service been in operation we would have enjoyed the return of the organ, flowers at the altar, beautiful Marian hymns, rosa mystica incense, and the distribution of daffodils and simnel cake. Alas. Our opening hymn for the Solemn Mass was to have been The God of love my Shepherd is - the 23rd psalm - appointed for this ‘Refreshment Sunday’ in the English Hymnal. Words by Herbert, music by Dr Charles Collignon, who taught anatomy, of all things, at the University of Cambridge in the second half of the 18th century. His tune is thus called ‘University’. I think it sublime and deeply fitting for this time.
1. The God of love my Shepherd is,
And he that doth me feed;
While he is mine and I am his,
What can I want or need?

2. He leads me to the tender grass,
Where I both feed and rest;
Then to the streams that gently pass:
In both I have the best.

3. Or if I stray, he doth convert,
And bring my mind in frame,
And all this not for my desert,
But for his holy name.
​

4. Yea, in death’s shady black abode
Well may I walk, not fear;
For thou art with me, and thy rod
To guide, thy staff to bear.

5. Surely thy sweet and wondrous love
Shall measure all my days;
And, as it never shall remove,
So neither shall my praise.

​George Herbert, 1593-1633
0 Comments

New Every Morning

16/3/2020

0 Comments

 
Fr Kenyon
Anglican Shrine of OLW, September 2013
1. New every morning is the love
Our wakening and uprising prove;
Through sleep and darkness safely brought,
Restored to life and power and thought.
 
2. New mercies, each returning day,
Hover around us while we pray;
New perils past, new sins forgiven,
New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven.
 
3. If on our daily course our mind
Be set to hallow all we find,
New treasures still, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.
 
4. The trivial round, the common task,
Will furnish all we need to ask,
Room to deny ourselves, a road
To bring us daily nearer God.
 
5. Only, O Lord, in thy dear love
Fit us for perfect rest above;
And help us, this and every day,
To live more nearly as we pray.

John Keble, 1792-1866 
0 Comments

We Devoutly Hail

28/1/2020

0 Comments

 
Fr Kenyon
​1. Thee we adore, O hidden Saviour, thee,
Who in thy Sacrament art pleased to be; 
Both flesh and spirit in thy presence fail,
Yet here thy presence we devoutly hail.
 
2. O blest memorial of our dying Lord,
Who living bread to men doth here afford!
O may our souls forever feed on thee,
and thou, O Christ, for ever precious be!
 
3. Fountain of goodness, Jesu, Lord and God,
Cleanse us, unclean, with thy most cleansing blood;
Increase our faith and love, that we may know
The hope and peace which from thy presence flow.
 
4. O Christ, whom now beneath a veil we see,
May what we thirst for soon our portion be,
To gaze on thee unveiled, and see thy face,
The vision of thy glory and thy grace.
 
St Thomas Aquinas, 1227-1274
translated by James Woodford, 1820-1885
0 Comments

Sweet Teacher

27/12/2019

0 Comments

 
Fr Kenyon
​Saint of the Sacred Heart
Sweet Teacher of the Word,
Partner of Mary’s woes,
And favourite of thy Lord!
 
Thou to whom grace was given
To stand where Peter fell;
Whose heart could brook the Cross
Of Him it loved so well!
 
We know not all thy gifts;
But this Christ bids us see,
That He who so loved all
Found more to love in thee.
 
Dear Saint! I stand far off,
With vilest sins opprest;
Oh may I dare, like thee,
To lean upon His breast?
 
His touch could heal the sick,
His voice could raise the dead!
Oh that my soul might be
Where He allows thy head.
 
The gifts He gave to thee
He gave thee to impart;
And I, too, claim with thee
His Mother and His Heart.
 
Ah teach me, then, dear Saint!
The secrets Christ taught thee,
The beatings of His Heart,
And how it beat for thee.
 
Frederick Faber, Cong. Orat., 1814-1863
Merciful Lord, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church: that she being enlightened by the doctrine of thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John, may so walk in the light of thy truth, that she may at length attain to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. - ​Divine Worship: The Missal.
0 Comments

Patience of Delay

6/11/2019

0 Comments

 
Fr Kenyon
Chapel of the Holy Souls, Westminster Cathedral, January 2017
Help, Lord, the souls which Thou hast made,
The souls to Thee so dear,
In prison for the debt unpaid
Of sins committed here.

Those holy souls, they suffer on,
Resign’d in heart and will,
Until Thy high behest is done,
And justice has its fill.
 
For daily falls, for pardon’d crime,
They joy to undergo
The shadow of Thy cross sublime,
The remnant of Thy woe.

Help, Lord, the souls which Thou hast made,
The souls to Thee so dear,
In prison for the debt unpaid
Of sins committed here.

Oh, by their patience of delay,
Their hope amid their pain,
Their sacred zeal to burn away
Disfigurement and stain;
 
Oh, by their fire of love, not less
In keenness than the flame,
Oh, by their very helplessness,
Oh, by Thy own great Name,

Good Jesu, help! sweet Jesu, aid
The souls to Thee most dear,
In prison for the debt unpaid
Of sins committed here.

 St John Henry Newman, 1801-1890
0 Comments

Her Virgin Eyes

19/10/2019

0 Comments

 
Fr Lee Kenyon
Our Lady and Child, St John Henry Newman, Victoria, BC
 1. Her Virgin eyes saw God incarnate born,
when she to Bethlem came that happy morn:
how high her raptures then began to swell,
none but her own omniscient Son can tell.
 
2. As Eve, when she her fontal sin reviewed,
wept for herself and all she should include,
blest Mary, with man’s Saviour in embrace,
joyed for herself and for all human race.
 
3. All saints are by her Son’s dear influence blest;
she kept the very fountain at her breast:
the Son adored and nursed by the sweet Maid
a thousandfold of love for love repaid.
 
4. Heaven with transcendent joys her entrance graced,
next to his throne her Son his Mother placed;
and here below, now she’s of heaven possest,
all generations are to call her blest.

Thomas Ken, 1637-1711
(Anglican Bishop of Bath & Wells, 1685-1691)
0 Comments

A Crown at Jesus’ Hand

22/8/2019

0 Comments

 
Fr Lee Kenyon
'The Coronation of the Virgin', 1641-1644, by Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), Museo del Prado, Madrid
1. Sing of Mary, pure and lowly,
Virgin-Mother undefiled.
Sing of GOD’s own Son most holy,
Who became her little child.
Fairest child of fairest Mother,
GOD the LORD who came to earth,
Word made flesh, our very brother,
Takes our nature by his birth.

2. Sing of JESUS, son of Mary,
In the home at Nazareth.
Toil and labour cannot weary
Love enduring unto death.
Constant was the love he gave her,
Though it drove him from from her side,
Forth to preach, and heal, and suffer,
Till on Calvary he died.

3. Sing of Mary, sing of JESUS,
Holy Mother’s holier son.
From his throne in heaven he sees us,
Thither calls us every one,
Where he welcomes home his Mother
To a place at his right hand,
There his faithful servants gather,
There the crownèd victors stand.
​​4. Joyful Mother, full of gladness,
In thine arms thy LORD was borne.
Mournful Mother, full of sadness,
All thy heart with pain was torn.
Glorious Mother, now rewarded
With a crown at JESUS’ hand,
Age to age thy name recorded
Shall be blest in every land.

5. Glory be to GOD the FATHER;
Glory be to GOD the SON;
Glory be to GOD the SPIRIT;
Glory to the THREE in ONE.
From the heart of blessèd Mary,
From all saints the song ascends,
And the Church the strain re-echoes
Unto earth’s remotest ends.

Roland Ford Palmer SSJE, 1891-1985
The Book of Common Praise No. 807
Grant to us, we beseech thee, O Lord: that we, who celebrate the festival of the Blessed Virgin Mary our Queen, being defended by her succour, may obtain peace in this world, and glory in that which is to come; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen. - Divine Worship: The Missal.
0 Comments

Maiden, Yet a Mother

3/8/2019

0 Comments

 
Fr Lee Kenyon
Our Lady, St Mary's, Little Walsingham, October 2010
1. Maiden, yet a Mother, 
Daughter of thy Son, 
High beyond all other – 
Lowlier is none; 
Thou the consummation 
Planned by God’s decree, 
When our lost creation 
Nobler rose in thee!

2. Thus his place preparèd, 
He who all things made
’Mid his creatures tarried, 
In thy bosom laid; 
There his love he nourished, - 
Warmth that gave increase 
To the Root whence flourished 
Our eternal peace.

3. Noon on Sion’s mountain
Is thy charity; 
Hope its living fountain 
Finds, on earth, in thee: 
Lady, such thy power, 
He, who grace would buy 
Not as of thy dower,
Without wings would fly.
4. Nor alone thou hearest 
When thy name we hail; 
Often thou art nearest 
When our voices fail; 
Mirrored in thy fashion 
All creation’s good 
Mercy, might, compassion 
Grace thy womanhood.

5. Lady, lest our vision, 
Striving heavenward, fail, 
Still let thy petition 
With thy Son prevail, 
Unto whom all merit, 
Power and majesty 
With the Holy Spirit 
And the Father be.

Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321
tr. Mgr Ronald Knox, 1888-1957

0 Comments

Thine Elect

17/7/2019

0 Comments

 
Fr Kenyon
O how glorious is the kingdom in which all the Saints rejoice with Christ,
and, clad in white robes, follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.

V. Let the Saints be joyful in glory. R. Let them rejoice in their beds.
O ALMIGHTY GOD, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord: grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living; that through their intercession we may come to those unspeakable joys, which thou hast prepared for them that unfeignedly love thee; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. 

from the Wednesday Commemoration of the Saints, St Gregory’s Prayer Book
1. I sing a song of the saints of God,
Patient and brave and true,
Who toiled and fought and lived and died
For the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
And one was a shepherdess on the green;
They were all of them saints of God, and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.
 
2. They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
And his love made them strong;
And they followed the right for Jesus’ sake
The whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
And one was slain by a fierce wild beast;
And there’s not any reason, no, not the least,
Why I shouldn’t be one too.
 
​3. They lived not only in ages past;
There are hundreds of thousands still.
The world is bright with the joyous saints
Who love to do Jesus’ will.
You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea,
In church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea;
For the saints of God are just folk like me,
And I mean to be one too.

Lesbia Scott, 1898-1986
0 Comments

Thy Wounds Supplied

10/7/2019

0 Comments

 
Fr Lee Kenyon
There is a stream of precious blood 
Which flowed from Jesus’ veins; 
And sinners washed in that blest flood 
Lose all their guilty stains. 

The dying thief rejoiced to see 
That Saviour in his day; 
And by that blood, though vile as he, 
My sins are washed away. 

Blest Lamb of God, Thy precious blood 
Shall never lose its power, 
Till every ransomed saint of God 
Be saved to sin no more. 

E’er since by faith I saw the stream 
Thy wounds supplied for me, 
Redeeming love has been my theme, 
And shall for ever be. 
​Soon in a nobler, sweeter song, 
I’ll sing Thy power to save; 
No more with lisping, stammering tongue, 
But conqueror o’er the grave. 

Lord, I believe Thou hast prepared, 
Unworthy though I be, 
For me a blood-bought free reward, 
A harp of God for me. 

’Tis strung and tuned for endless years, 
And formed by power divine, 
To sound in God the Father’s ears 
No other name but Thine.

​William Cowper, 1731-1800
0 Comments

Two Loyal Hearts

22/6/2019

0 Comments

 
Fr Lee Kenyon
Mosaics of Ss Thomas More and John Fisher on the pulpit
Fr Lee Kenyon
of the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, Manchester
1. When Herod, for an impious bride,
His eager lust would fain fulfil,
John in that hour a martyr died,
Unschooled to serve a tyrant’s will.
 
2. Nor less resolved, when Norman rage
The rights of holy Church gainsaid,
That wanton fury to assuage
Thomas his glorious blood must shed.
 
3. So, when a tyrant fiercer yet
His wedlock and his faith forswore,
A second John his sentence met,
A second Thomas witness bore.
 
​4. Time-serving priests their aid might lend,
Smooth courtiers tremble at his sway;
Two loyal hearts no force could bend
Their God, their conscience to betray.
5. ​O love that burned when love grew cold,
O faith that shone when faith was dim,
The Cross your Master bore of old
You bore to Calvary with him.
 
6. Twin beacon-lights, serenely set
At God’s right hand for all the earth,
Look down on England, nor forget
The thankless home that gave you birth;
 
7. To freedom and to wisdom friends,
Look on a world unwisely free;
To bear the cross our Master sends
How slow, how frail, how faint are we!
 
​8. To God, who crowns his saints above,
Be praise henceforth as heretofore,
Who throned in perfect truth and love
Liveth and reigneth evermore.
The Westminster Hymnal no.152
Mgr Ronald Knox, 1888-1957
0 Comments

The Strong Name

15/6/2019

0 Comments

 
Fr Lee Kenyon
​1. I bind unto myself today
The strong name of the Trinity
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.
 
2. I bind this day to me forever,
By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation,
His baptism in the Jordan river,
His death on cross for my salvation,
His bursting from the spiced tomb,
His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom,
I bind unto myself today.
 
3. I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea
Around the old eternal rocks.
 
4. I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
God’s eye to watch, God’s might to stay,
God’s ear to hearken to my need,
The wisdom of my God to teach,
God’s hand to guide, God’s shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
God’s heavenly host to be my guard.
5. Christ be with me, Christ within me, 
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
 
6. I bind unto myself the name,
The strong name of the Trinity
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three,
Of whom all nature has creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word.
Praise to the Lord of my salvation;
Salvation is of Christ the Lord!

St Patrick’s Breastplate
attributed to St Patrick
tr. Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander, 1818-1895
​
Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity: we beseech thee; that this holy faith may evermore be our defence against all adversities; who livest and reignest, ever one God, world without end. Amen. - Divine Worship: The Missal.
0 Comments

So Marvellous, So Fair

9/5/2019

0 Comments

 
Fr Kenyon
'The Resurrection of Christ', 1518, by Albrecht Altdorfer (c.1480-1538), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
1. All hail, dear Conqueror, all hail!
O what a victory is thine!
How beautiful thy strength appears;
Thy crimson wounds, how bright they shine!
 
2. Thou camest at the dawn of the day;
Armies of souls around thee were,
Blest spirits thronging to adore
Thy flesh, so marvellous, so fair.
 
3. The everlasting Godhead lay
Shrouded within those limbs divine,
Nor left untenanted one hour
That sacred human heart of thine.
​4. They watched those hands the nails had pierced,
The forehead torn, the wounded side;
Bright flashed the cave – before them stood
The living Jesus glorified.
 
5. They worshipped thee, those ransomed souls,
With the fresh strength of love set free;
They worshipped joyously, and found
Their heaven as they looked on thee.
 
6. Down, down, all lofty things on earth,
And worship him with joyous dread!
O sin, thou art undone by love;
O death, thou are discomfited.
Fr Frederick Faber, Cong. Orat., 1814-1863
The English Catholic Hymn Book no.881
0 Comments

Jesus, our Love

6/4/2019

0 Comments

 
Fr Kenyon
'The Descent from the Cross', before 1443, by Rogier van der Weyden (1399-1464), Museo del Prado, Madrid
1. Oh come and mourn with me awhile!
See, Mary calls us to her side;
Oh come and let us mourn with her;
Jesus, our Love, is crucified!

2. Have we no tears to shed for Him,
While soldiers scoff and Jews deride?
Ah! look how patiently He hangs;
Jesus, our Love, is crucified!

3. How fast His Hands and Feet are nailed;
His blessèd Tongue with thirst is tied;
His failing Eyes are blind with blood:
Jesus, our Love, is crucified!

4. His Mother cannot reach His Face;
She stands in helplessness beside;
Her heart is martyred with her Son’s;
Jesus, our Love, is crucified!

5. Seven times He spoke, seven words of love,
And all three hours His silence cried
For mercy on the souls of men;
Jesus, our Love, is crucified!

6. What was Thy crime, my dearest Lord?
By earth, by heaven, Thou hast been tried,
And guilty found of too much love:
Jesus, our Love, is crucified!
7. Found guilty of excess of love,
It was Thine own sweet will that tied
The tighter far than helpless nails;
Jesus, our Love, is crucified!

8. Death came, and Jesus meekly bowed;
His falling eyes He strove to guide
With mindful love to Mary’s face;
Jesus, our Love, is crucified!

9. Oh break, Oh break, hard heart of mine!
Thy weak self-love and guilty pride
His Pilate and his Judas were;
Jesus, our Love, is crucified!

10. Come, take thy stand beneath the Cross
And let the Blood from out that Side
Fall gently on thee drop by drop;
Jesus, our Love, is crucified.

11. A broken heart, a fount of tears,
Ask, and they will not be denied;
A broken heart, Love’s cradle is;
Jesus, our Love, is crucified!

12. O Love of God! O Sin of Man!
In this dread act your strength is tried;
And victory remains with Love;
For He, our Love, is crucified!
Fr Frederick Faber, Cong. Orat., 1814-1863
0 Comments

Think on Me

29/3/2019

0 Comments

 
Fr Lee Kenyon
1. Lord Jesus, think on me,
And purge away my sin;
From earthborn passions set me free,
And make me pure within.

2. Lord Jesus, think on me,
With care and woe opprest;
Let me thy loving servant be,
And taste thy promised rest.

3. Lord Jesus, think on me,
Amid the battle’s strife;
In all pain and misery
Be thou my health and life.
4. Lord Jesus, think on me,
Nor let me go astray;
Through darkness and perplexity
Point thou the heavenly way.

5. Lord Jesus, think on me,
When flows the tempest high:
When on doth rush the enemy
O Saviour, be thou nigh.

6. Lord Jesus, think on me,
That, when the flood is past,
I may the eternal brightness see,
​And share thy joys at last.
Bishop Synesius, 375-430, translated by A.W. Chatfield, 1808-1896
The English Hymnal no.77
0 Comments

More Sparing

21/3/2019

0 Comments

 
Fr Lee Kenyon
'The Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness', Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734)
​1. The fast, as taught by holy lore,
We keep in solemn course once more;
The fast to all men known, and bound
In forty days of yearly round.
 
2. The law and seers that were of old
In divers ways this Lent foretold
Which Christ, all seasons’ king and guide,
In after ages sanctified.
 
3. More sparing therefore let us make
The words we speak, the food we take,
Our sleep and mirth, and closer barred
Be every sense in holy guard.
 
4. In prayer together let us fall,
And cry for mercy, one and all,
And weep before the Judge’s feet,
And His avenging wrath entreat.
 5. Thy grace have we offended sore,
By sins, O God, which we deplore;
But pour upon us from on high,
O pardoning One, Thy clemency.

​6. Remember Thou, though frail we be,
That yet Thine handiwork are we;
Nor let the honour of Thy name
Be by another put to shame.
 
7. Forgive the sin that we have wrought;
Increase the good that we have sought;
That we at length, our wanderings o’er,
May please Thee here and evermore.
 
8. We pray Thee, holy Trinity,
One God, unchanging Unity,
That we from this our abstinence
May reap the fruits of penitence.
Ex more docti mystico
c. 6th century, translated by John Mason Neale, 1818-1866
The English Hymnal no.65
0 Comments

Dost Thou See Them?

11/3/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
'The Temptation of Christ by the Devil', 1860, by Félix Joseph Barrias (1822-1907), Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa
1. Christian, dost thou see them
On the holy ground,
How the troops of Midian
Prowl and prowl around?
Christian, up and smite them,
Counting gain but loss;
Smite them by the merit
Of the holy Cross.
 
2. Christian, dost thou feel them,
How they work within,
Striving, tempting, luring,
Goading into sin?
Christian, never tremble;
Never be down-cast;
Smite them by the virtue
Of the Lenten fast.
​3. Christian, dost thou hear them,
How they speak thee fair?
‘Always fast and vigil?
Always watch and prayer?’
Christian, answer boldly,
‘While I breathe I pray:’
Peace shall follow battle,
Night shall end in day.
 
4. ‘Well I know thy trouble,
O my servant true;
Thou art very weary, -
I was weary true;
But that toil shall make thee
Some day all mine own, -
But the end of sorrow
Shall be near my throne’.
St Andrew of Crete, 660-732, translated by J. M. Neale, 1818-1866
The English Hymnal no.​72
0 Comments

Obedient Made

15/2/2019

0 Comments

 
Fr Lee Kenyon
'The Holy Family', 1595, by El Greco (1541-1614), Hospital de Tavera, Toledo
​1. O blessed Light of Saints above,
The highest hope of mortals here,
Jesu, upon whose earliest hours
There smile the love of home most dear!
 
2. O Mary, rich in heavenly grace,
Thy Saviour hung at thy pure breast:
Fed by thy milk, warmed by thy kiss,
The infant Jesus found his rest:
 
3. And thou, the Virgin’s chosen guard,
Sprung from the ancient fathers’ line,
Whom by a father’s sweetest name
Thy Child doth call, the Seed divine:
 
4. Ye who of Jesse’s noble line
Were born, that every race and land
Might find salvation, hear our prayers
Who suppliant at your altars stand.
5. ’Tis eventide: the sun returns;
From earthly things his light departs.
Abiding here, to you we pour
Our prayers from out our inmost hearts.
 
6. Your earthly home with heavenly grace
And flowers of every virtue shone:
So may our lives and homes on earth
Express the image of your own.
 
7. Jesu, who wast obedient made
Unto thy parents, praise to thee:
Like glory to the Father be,
And Holy Ghost eternally. Amen.

The English Catholic Hymn Book no.813
0 Comments

Song of Sweetness

10/2/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Next Sunday is Septuagesima, the beginning of that period of Pre-Lent, consisting of three Sundays that precede and prepare the Church (according to the Ordinariate and Extraordinary Forms of the Roman Rite) for the great penitential season of Lent. The liturgical character of this period anticipates Lent by omitting the Alleluia and the Gloria from Mass, and the Te Deum from the Divine Office, and by clothing the church and her ministers in violet.

The ancient hymn below, translated by the eminent Anglican hymnographer, John Mason Neale, may be sung on this Sunday before Septuagesima, so as to emphasise the bittersweet loss of the Alleluia from the Sacred Liturgy; a word dear to the hearts of Christians, that will not now be heard again until the Easter Vigil. ​Here follows Neale’s own explanation:

‘The Latin Church, as it is well known, forbade, as a general role, the use of Alleluia in Septuagesima. Hence, in more than one ritual, its frequent repetition on the Saturday before Septuagesima, as if by way of farewell to its employment. This custom was enjoined in the German Dioceses by the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 817: but various reasons render it probable that the following hymn is not of earlier date than the thirteenth century. The farewell to Alleluia in the Mozarabic rite is so lovely that I give it here. After the Alleluia Perenne, the Capitula are as follows:— “Alleluia in heaven and in earth; it is perpetuated in heaven, it is sung in earth. There it resounds everlastingly: here sweetly. There happily; here concordantly. There ineffably; here earnestly. There without syllables; here in musical numbers. There from the Angels; here from the people. Which, at the birth of Christ the Lord, not only in heaven, but the earth, did the Angels sing; while they proclaimed, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will”. The Benediction:— “Let that Alleluia which is ineffably sung in heaven, be more efficaciously declared in your praises. Amen. unceasingly sung by Angels, let it here be uttered brokenly by all faithful people. Amen. That it, as it is called the praise of God, and as it imitates you in that praise, may cause you to be enrolled as denizens of the eternal mansion. Amen”. The Lauda:— “Thou shalt go, O Alleluia; Thou shalt have a prosperous journey, O Alleluia. R. And again with joy thou shalt return to us, O Alleluia. V. For in their hands they shall bear thee up; lest thou hurt thy foot against a stone. R. And again with joy thou shalt return to us, O Alleluia”’.

Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences, 1867, edited by John Mason Neale, 1818-1866
1. Alleluya, song of sweetness,
Voice of joy, eternal lay;
Alleluya is the anthem
Of the choirs in heavenly day,
Which the Angels sing, abiding
In the house of God alway.

2. Alleluya, thou resoundest,
Salem, mother, ever blest;
Alleluyas without ending,
Fit yon place of gladsome rest;
Exiles we, by Babel’s waters,
Sit in bondage and distress.
3. Alleluya we deserve not
​Here to chant for evermore:
Alleluya our transgressions
Make us for awhile give o’er;
For the holy time is coming,
Bidding us our sins deplore.

4. Trinity of endless glory,
Hear thy people as they cry;
Grant us all to keep thy Easter
In our home beyond the sky;
There to thee our Alleluya
Singing everlastingly.
to the tune Tantum Ergo, The English Hymnal, no. 63
0 Comments

Blessed Maid!

9/2/2019

0 Comments

 
Fr Lee Kenyon
Our Lady and Child by Sir Ninian Comper (1864-1960), Wymondham Abbey, Norfolk, September 2013
1. Ave Maria! blessed Maid!
Lily of Eden’s fragrant shade! 
Who can express the love
That nurtured thee, so pure and sweet, 
Making thy heart a shelter meet
For Jesus’ holy Dove!
 
2. Ave Maria! Mother blest,
To whom, caressing and caress’d,
Clings the eternal Child;
Favour’d beyond Archangels’ dream, 
When first on thee with tenderest gleam 
The new-born Saviour smiled.
 
3. Thou wept’st, meek Maiden, Mother mild, 
Thou wept’st upon thy sinless Child, 
Thy very heart was riven:
And yet, what mourning matron here 
Would deem thy sorrows bought too dear 
By all on this side heaven?
​4. A Son that never did amiss,
That never shamed his Mother’s kiss, 
Nor cross’d her fondest prayer:
E’en from the Tree he deign’d to bow 
For her his agonised brow,
Her, his sole earthly care.
 
5. Ave Maria! thou whose name
All but adoring love may claim,
Yet may we reach thy shrine;
For he, thy Son and Saviour, vows 
To crown all lowly lofty brows
With love and joy like thine.

John Keble, 1792-1866
​
written as part of his poem
‘The Annunciation of the B.V.M.’
on the death of his mother, 1823
English Hymnal no. 216
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Fr Lee Kenyon

    Fr Lee Kenyon

    Archives

    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018

    Categories

    All
    Advent
    Andrew SDC
    Anglican
    Ascension
    Baptism
    Benedict XVI
    Bible
    Christmas
    Church
    Collect
    Discipleship
    Easter
    Ecumenism
    Epiphany
    Eucharist
    Faithful Departed
    Five Wounds
    Guéranger
    Holy Family
    Holy Name
    Holy Spirit
    Holy Week
    Hymnody
    John Paul II
    Knox
    Lent
    Liturgy
    Love
    Monarchy
    Music
    Nativity
    Newman
    Ordinariate
    Our Lady
    Parsch
    Passiontide
    Penance
    Pentecost
    Pilgrimage
    Poetry
    Prayer
    Precious Blood
    Pre-Lent
    Priesthood
    Resurrection
    Rogation
    Sacred Heart
    Saints
    Transfiguration
    Trinity
    Unity

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
    • Safe Environment
  • Photos
  • Worship
    • Holy Baptism
    • Confirmation
    • Holy Matrimony
  • Ordinariate
  • Music
  • WALSINGHAM