Doubling My Lenten Prayer

Lent always creeps up on me. Yep, it did it again this year, too. Because Lent is a challenge for me and I end up overthinking it, I twirl in circles that are dizzyingly distracting from the transcendent and keep me “in the dust of everyday life” (Berthold Auerbach). This Lent I am going to focus on music as an “outburst of the soul” (Frederick Delius) to propel me to the Cross and Resurrection.

Let me share with you some of my favorites…….

I begin with the Stabat Mater, a 13th-century Christian hymn to Mary, which portrays her suffering as Jesus Christ's mother during his crucifixion. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III. The title comes from its first line, "Stabat Mater dolorosa", which means "the sorrowful mother was standing".  I cannot say the stations without chanting out loud the first verse and humming the rest.

At the cross her station keeping,

Stood the mournful mother weeping,

Close to Jesus to the last.

Through her heart, his sorrow sharing,

All his bitter anguish bearing,

Now at length the sword had passed.

Oh how sad and sore distressed

Was that mother highly blessed,

Of the sole-begotten One!

Christ above in torment hangs;

She beneath beholds the pangs

Of her dying glorious Son.

Is there one who would not weep,

Whelmed in miseries so deep

Christ's dear Mother to behold?

Can the human heart refrain

From partaking in her pain,

In that Mother's pain untold?

For the sins of His own nation

Saw Him hang in desolation,

All with bloody scourges rent.

Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,

She beheld her tender child,

Till His Spirit forth he sent.

O, thou Mother, fount of love,

Touch my spirit from above,

Make my heart with thine accord.

Make me feel as thou has felt;

Make my soul to glow and melt

With the love of Christ our Lord.

Holy Mother, pierce me through;

In my heart each wound renew

Of my Savior crucified.

Let met share with thee his pain,

Who for all my sins was slain,

Who for me in torments died.

Let me mingle tears with thee,

Mourning Him Who mourned for me,

All the days that I may live.

By the cross with thee to stay,

There with thee to weep and pray,

This I ask of thee to give.

Virgin, of all virgins blest,

O refuse not my request:

Let me in thy weeping share

Let me, to my latest breath,

In my body bear the death

Of that dying Son of thine.

Wounded with his every wound,

Steep my soul till it hath swooned

In His very blood away.

Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,

Lest in flames I burn and die,

In that awful judgment day.

Christ, when thou shalt call me hence,

Be Thy mother my defense,

Be Thy cross my victory.

While my body here decays,

May my soul Thy goodness praise,

Safe in Paradise with Thee. Amen.

My second selection is a change of pace: a Spiritual!. The voice of my soul is swinging my body. This, to me, is an appeal for collective guilt.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord? (Ooh)
Were you there when they crucified my Lord? (Ooh)
(Oooh, sometimes it causes me to tremble)
Tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they took him from the cross?
Were you there when they took him from the cross?
(Oooh, sometimes it causes me to tremble)
Tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they took him from the cross?

Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
(Oooh, sometimes it causes me to tremble)
Tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?

Were you there when the stone was rolled away?
Were you there when the stone was rolled away?
(Oooh, sometimes it causes me to tremble)
Tremble tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when the stone was rolled away?

This hymn In the Garden He Prayed by Lloyd Larson speaks to when we must pull away from the crowd and seek comfort in surrendering to the Lord.

Jesus alone in the garden,

Fell to the ground where He prayed

Father, oh holy Father,

My soul is dark and dismayed

Please take this bitter cup from Me

My Spirit longs to be free

Yet not my will cried the Savior

As there in the garden He prayed.

Soldiers with clubs came to seize Him

As there in the garden He prayed

Led by a fallen disciple

By a kiss Jesus was betrayed.

Abandoned by those who most loved Him,

Deserted and all alone

Taken to face His accusers

From the garden where He had prayed.

Jesus the chosen One of God

Son of the great I AM

Sent to redeem the fallen

Out from the garden where He had prayed.

Redeeming Rose of Calvary by David Lanz III and Herb Frombach is a beautiful choral composition that I sang in personal mourning. With the support of choristers we gathered at the foot of the Cross. This is a very reverential piece.

The living Rose is dying on the tree,

The blooming Rose of Calvary.

From sin and death now save us, tender Stem,

O bleeding Rose of Calvary

The nails and spears are piercing hands and side,

A crown of thorns his shallow breath.

The King of Kings is now upon the cross,

His Kingdom waits beyond his death

Redeeming Rose, your petals fall,

Your tears flow gently to the ground

Although your voice cannot be heard

Your silence will resound

No stone will hold the Lamb who dies for us

No tomb enfold the Prince of Peace

The Rose fulfills the ancient prophecy

The Rose must die to set us free

Redeeming Rose, your petals fall

Your tears flow gently to the ground

Although your voice cannot be heard

Your silence will resound, your silence will resound

The bleeding Rose is dying on the tree

Redeeming Rose of Calvary.

I love this next hymn Amazing Love by Charles Wesley published in 1738 because the enormity of God dying for me alone can be so empowering and humbling and yet evasive when I fail to ponder adequately this Love in gratitude and wonder.

Refrain:
Amazing love! How can it be
That thou, my Lord, shouldst die for me?

And can it be that I should gain
An int'rest in the Savior's blood!
Died he for me? who caused his pain!
For me? who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That thou, my Lord, shouldst die for me?

Refrain:
Amazing love! How can it be
That thou, my Lord, shouldst die for me?

'Tis myst'ry all: the Immortal dies!
Who can explore his strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
Let angel minds inquire no more.

Refrain:
Amazing love! How can it be
That thou, my Lord, shouldst die for me?
 
He left his Father's throne above,
So free, so infinite his grace,
Emptied himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam's helpless race.
'Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

Refrain:
Amazing love! How can it be
That thou, my Lord, shouldst die for me?
 
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray;
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

Refrain:
Amazing love! How can it be
That thou, my Lord, shouldst die for me?
 
No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Refrain:
Amazing love! How can it be
That thou, my Lord, shouldst die for me?

Weep, Mother Mary by Lee Dengler is another hymn for chorus that is sung in four parts with the weight of the bass parts giving it a proper sound of grief. It is almost a catharsis because it acknowledges Mother Mary’s sorrow so deeply.

Weep oh weep, Mother Mary,

How great a Mother’s loss

They took your son, Mother Mary

To die upon the cross!

Weep, oh weep, Mother Mary,

They led your child away

Down the Via Dolorosa

To Calvary that day.

Weep, mother Mary,

They hung your Jesus high

Nails through His hands and feet

He was left to die.

Weep, oh weep, Mother Mary

So deep your agony

To see your wounded dying Son

Impaled upon that tree.

Weep, oh weep, Mother Mary

You heard Him pray, “Forgive”

At the bidding of His father

He died that we might live.

Weep, oh weep, Mother Mary

Behold your martyred Son

By his blood and broken body,

Redemption’s deed is done.

Weep, Mother Mary

Weep, Mother Mary

Weep, Mother Mary,

Oh weep.

For the finale, a country song The Old Wooden Cross. Truly, “Comfort Food” for the soul.

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross
The emblem of suffering and shame
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross (rugged cross)
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true
It's shame and reproach gladly bear
Then he'll call me some day to my home far away
Where his glory forever I'll share

And I'll cherish the old rugged cross (rugged cross)
Till my trophies at last I lay down
And I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown
I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown.

“Whoever sings a praise, not only praises, but only praises with gladness. He that sings praise, not only sings, but also loves him of whom he sings. In praise, there is the speaking forth of one confessing; in singing, the affection of one loving.” (Commentaries to the Psalms, specifically Psalm 72 by St. Augustine)