Marian hymns feature in Hymns on Sunday this week, marking the Feast of the Assumption of Mary on 15 August. It's a particularly significant time for New Zealand Catholics as they rededicate Aotearoa New Zealand to Mary this month, and you can hear a special recording of Bishop Pompallier's hymn Mō Maria that's been made for the occasion.
The Assumption of the Virgin, altarpiece fragment - Bernado Daddi (1290-1348) Photo: CC0 1.0 / Robert Lehman Collection, Metroploitan Museum of Art
SONG: KA WAIATA
Artist: New Zealand Youth Choir 1996, Karen Grylls (dir)
Words/Music: Richard Puanaki
Recording: Trust MMT 2016
Maria
Ka waiata ki a Maria
Hine i whakaae
Whakameatia mai
Te whare tangata.
Hine pūrotu
Hine ngākau
Hine rangimārie
Ko te whaea
Ko te whaea
O te ao
SONG: HAIL, QUEEN OF HEAVEN, THE OCEAN STAR
Artist: Choirs of the Diocese of Leeds
Words/Music: Father John Lingard/Trad
Recording: Herald HAVPCD 397
Hail, Queen of Heav'n, the ocean Star,
Guide of the wand'rer here below!
Thrown on life's surge we claim thy care,
Save us from peril and from woe.
Mother of Christ, Star of the sea,
Pray for the wanderer, pray for me
O gentle, chaste, and spotless Maid,
We sinners make our prayers through thee
Remind thy Son that He has paid
The price of our iniquity.
Virgin most pure, Star of the sea,
Pray for the sinner, pray for me.
Sojourners in this vale of tears,
O thee, blest Advocate, we cry,
Pity our sorrows, calm our fears,
And soothe with hope our misery.
Refuge in grief, Star of the sea,
Pray for the mourner, pray for me.
And while to Him who reigns above,
In Godhead One, in Persons Three,
The source of life, of grace, of love,
Homage we pay on bended knee;
Do thou, bright Queen, Star of the sea.
Pray for thy children, pray for me.
SONG: CHRIST BE OUR LIGHT
Artist: Choirs of the Diocese of Leeds
Words/Music: Bernadette Farrell
Recording: Herald HAVPCD 397
Longing for light, we wait in darkness
Longing for truth, we turn to You.
Make us Your own, Your holy people
Light for the world to see.
Refrain:
Christ, be our light!
Shine in our hearts.
Shine through the darkness.
Christ, be our light!
Shine in Your church gathered today.
Longing for peace, our world is troubled
Longing for hope, many despair.
Your word alone has pow'r to save us.
Make us your living voice.
Refrain:
Longing for food, many are hungry
Longing for water, many still thirst.
Make us Your bread, broken for others
Shared until all are fed.
Refrain:
Many the gift, many the people
Many the hearts that yearn to belong.
Let us be servants to one another
Making Your kingdom come.
Refrain:
SONG: LEAD KINDLY LIGHT
Artist: Cantus Choro
Words/Music: John Henry Newman/John Dykes
Recording: Move 743142
Lead, kindly light, amid th’encircling gloom,
lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home;
lead thou me on!
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
lead thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!
So long thy power hath blest me, sure it still
will lead me on.
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent,
till the night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile, which I
Have loved long since, and lost awhile!
SONG: FIRMLY I BELIEVE, AND TRULY
Artist: Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, Richard Marlow (dir), Christopher Allsop (organ)
Words/Music: Newman/Trad arr Vaughan Williams
Recording: Priory 723
Firmly I believe and truly
God is three, and God is one;
And I next acknowledge duly
Manhood taken by the son.
And I trust and hope most fully
In that manhood crucified;
And each thought and deed unruly
Do to death, as he has died.
Simply to his grace and wholly
Light and life and strength belong,
And I love supremely, solely,
Him the holy, him the strong.
And I hold in veneration,
For the love of him alone,
Holy church as his creation,
And her teachings are his own.
Adoration aye be given,
With and through the angelic host,
To the God of earth and heaven,
Father, son and Holy Ghost.
SONG: MŌ MARIA
Artist: Students and staff from Te Kura Taumata o Panguru, members of the Panguru community, Mina Pomare-Peita (director)
Words/Music: Bishop Jean-Baptiste Pompallier
Recording: National Liturgy Office of the Catholic Church 2021
Mō Maria aianei,
ō tātou waiata,
kia kaha rā tātou,
kia nui te aroha.
Aroha ki te Atua
Aroha ki a Maria
i te Rangi,
te whenua
āke tonu, āke tonu.
Āmene.
[For Mary now
our songs
let us be strong
let there be great love.
Love God
love Mary
in Heaven
and on earth
for ever and ever.
Amen.]
SONG: IMMACULATE MARY
Artist: Choirs of the Diocese of Leeds
Words/Music: Father Jean Gaignet/Trad
Recording: Herald HAVPCD 397
Immaculate, Mary! Our hearts are on fire.
That title so wondrous fills all our desire!
Refrain:
Ave, Ave, Ave Maria
Ave, Ave, Ave Maria.
We pray for our Mother, the Church upon earth.
And bless, sweetest Lady, the land of our birth.
Refrain:
In grief and temptation, in joy, or in pain
we’ll seek thee, our Mother, nor seek thee in vain.
Refrain:
In death’s solemn moment, our Mother, be nigh;
as children of Mary, help us when we die.
Refrain:
To God be all glory, and worship for aye,
and to God’s Virgin Mother, an endless Ave.
Refrain:
SONG: PRAISE TO THE LORD, THE ALMIGHTY
Artist: Choir of the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick
Words/Music: Neander trans Winkworth/Anon
Recording: Priory 706
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation.
O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation:
All ye who hear,
brothers and sisters draw near,
praise him in glad adoration.
Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth
shelters thee under his wings, yea, so gently sustaineth:
hast thou not seen
all that his people have been
granted in what he ordaineth?
Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
surely his goodness and mercy here daily attend thee:
ponder anew
what the Almighty can do,
if with his love he befriend thee.
Praise to the Lord, who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
biddeth them cease,
turneth their fury to peace,
whirlwinds and waters assuaging.
Praise to the Lord, who when darkness of sin is abounding,
who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
sheddeth his light,
chaseth the horrors of night,
saints with his mercy surrounding.
Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath come now with praises before him!
Let the Amen
sound from his people again:
gladly for aye we adore him.
