Another popular source for the Praise To God hymnal was the Weston Priory material from Gregory Norbet. This was before my time in the Catholic church, but they seemed unaccountably popular. A few have continued to popular and well known in Australia, likely due to their presence in As One Voice, but some, like this one, are new to me. The Dominican Fathers who made this hymnal were rather found of this material and one of the collections they used was Listen, which also included “The Lord Jesus” still used for feet washing, “Hosea” (AOV 1/130) and “All I As of You” (AOV 1/150).
One of the delights of hymnal archeology in the nooks and crannies of the Praise to God hymnal, is finding a lot of early Brian Boniwell songs that are new to me but more than forty years old. Some of his songs are now sold through Willow, but not this one.
This is the other song off the The Lord Delights record by Father Paul Gurr that was selected by the editors of PTG, that didn’t become a mainstay of Australian parish music – unlike, “Prepare the Way”, “The Lord is My Shepherd” and “Will You Love Me?”.
This song is sung in the voice of Christ, which may be a problem, although it seems obvious enough. Both The Lord Delights and Praise to God are long out of print, although while looking for information about all this I came across a couple of Paul Gurr songbooks in an online second hand music shop, which I have purchased and are on their way.
1 Ask the Father in my Name. He will give you his Kingdom,
And you shall be blessed, and you shall have life.
I’ll give to you my Spirit each day to share your load.
A light and joyful burdem you’d have upon your shoulder.
In my love. In my love.
2 Ask the Father in my Name, He will draw you to his freedom.
For He is life forever, seeking out your love,
And you will know the answer that others do not seek.
My love will grow within you and you will run to me.
With zero chance of finding a copy of the sheet music to this song, I am putting up the music, but I am happy to take it down if there are objections. You will note that chords are supplied on this one – it all seems a bit random in this hymnal whether you get melody line, lead sheet or hand written organ music.
This is a deep cut from Brian Boniwell that was selected for the Praise To God hymnal. The Dominican Fathers picked five of his songs that were in Father Paul Gurr’s The Lord Delights collection that used some of Boniwell’s best material. Three went on to be Boniwell’s best known songs, “Prepare the Way”, “The Lord is My Shepherd” and “Will You Love Me?”, all heavily used in Australian churches to this day.
The text is based on John 14:26-7, and the first verse is sung in the voice of Christ and the second isn’t. The Holy Spirit is apparently male here? I suppose you repeat the last two lines of the second verse to make it fit.
I’ve found a CD at Spectrum by Father Gurr, called The Lord Delights, but this song isn’t on it. I can’t find any sheet music for this anywhere, so I suspect it is only to be found in this out of print hymnal and the out print The Lord Delights, hence my posting of the sheet music below, apologies to Spectrum – I am happy to take it down. It looks like cut and paste in this case because it was spread over two pages and I did cut and paste it.
The sheet music in PTG is another that is melody line only – no chords. So I made some up again.
1 Peace I give to you my friends.
My peace I leave within your hearts.
My Spirit will be with you to guide you in His ways.
He’ll lead you where you’ve never been before.
He will show you wisdom.
You will know true joy when my spirit comes to lead you in His ways.
Way back when the Praise to God hymnal was put together Monica Brown was Sister Monica Brown SGS and making songs for children. Now she has lots of music for adults as well, especially to assist with meditation. This is a nice article about Monica.
I recall her songs from when my children were small and they were always welcome for First Communion classes and the like. It’s great that her music is still in print and available.
I any case the editors of PTG are to be applauded for seeking out women’s voices and not all of them were nuns. This was originally sourced from a collection called, Let the Children Come, but is now available as sheet music in the collection, Praise and Blessings. You can get MP3s and sheet music at her Emmaus site.
This is another case where all you get is melody line in this collection. So I made up some chords. Watch out for the key change for the last chorus – D to Eb.
I have a copy of her book, Why Sing? that I got second hand, probably at a LifeLine Bookfest – I miss them but its for the best that I am far away from those sales as I have no more room for books. There are copies of her book at Abebooks at the moment.
“The Visit” is from a different collection called, Knock, Knock, which is also available at that site. It is about Mary’s visit to her cousin, Elizabeth. There is further background at Godsongs. It is too gentle a song for congregational use, but would make a nice solo in the right context.
1 She walked in the summer through the heat on the hill.
She hurried as one who went with a will.
She danced in the sunlight when the day was done.
Her heart knew no evening who carried the sun.
2 Fresh as a flower at the first ray of dawn.
She came to her cousin whose morning was gone.
There leaped a little child in the ancient womb,
And there leaped a little hope in ev’ry ancient tomb.
3 Hail, little sister, who heralds the spring.
Hail, brave mother, who carries the King.
Hail to the moment beneath your breast,
May all generations called you blessed.
4 When you walk in the summer, through the heat on the hill.
When you’re wound with the wind and one with the will.
Be brave with the burden you are blessed to bear,
For it’s Christ that you carry ev’rywhere, ev’rywhere, ev’rywhere.
I blogged this song by Sister Miriam Winter here, and her version is indeed in the Praise To God hymnal, but the editor Nicolas Falzun OP gave us bonus material with his own setting of her text.
It’s an interesting tune with a neat modulation into the chorus and a bit of a jerk back into the verse, but if you love the text and want a new setting he has written one for you.
I mentioned in my post about this song that the words were a little odd. Father Falzun has rewritten them and they are – less odd – in his version. Since this hymn is unobtainable and as far as I can tell, this hymnal is the only place on earth it is available, I’ll post his setting so you can see how improved the words.
I've worked my way through the As One Voice books and other collections making backings on Band in a Box to help me (& you if you're interested) learn new songs for church. This is aimed at churches and musicians that own the collections but haven't exploited them fully. If you don't have them they are certainly worth buying. This site is educational, nonprofit and designed to enhance the commercial prospects of songwriters. This site does not distribute copyrighted sheet music.
Disclaimer
Any opinions expressed here are personal views and not the responsibility of any Church.
All music backings posted are created by myself and the intention is for them to be used to learn the songs. If any copyright holder wishes me to cease publicising and promoting their wares and directing people to where sheet music can be legally purchased please let me know.
Mason’s “Mass of Glory and Praise”
To access my backings for Paul Mason's mass go to Feb 2011 in the archive.
