Church Music

I suppose it is no coincidence for an Australian Catholic Hymn book, that many of these old songs are set to Irish melodies. This one is set in CWB II to DANIEL, although other settings appear more common overseas.

I love you, O my Lord most high,
for first your love has captured me;
I seek no other liberty:
bound by your love, I shall be free.

May memory no thought suggest
but shall to your pure glory tend,
may understanding find no rest,
except in you, its only end.

All mine is yours: say but the word,
say what you will, it shall be done;
I know your love, most gracious Lord,
I know you seek my good alone.

Apart from you, nothing can be,
so grant me this, my only wish,
to love you, Lord, eternally,
you give me all in giving this.

– St Ignatius of Loyola
tr. Edward Caswall

This song’s text is attributed to St Patrick and translated by Cecil Frances Alexander.

It is set to the Irish tune ST PATRICK. oddly the first verse stops half way through.

The text in CWB II is:

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 myself to God forever
   to Jesus in his incarnation
   baptised for me in the Jordan river,
   and crucified for my salvation;
   he burst the prison of his tomb,
   ascended to the heavenly throne,
   returning at the day of doom
   by faith I make his life my own.
3. I bind myself to God today
   to his great power to hold and lead,
   his eye to watch me on my way,
   his ear to listen to my need,
   the wisdom of my God to teach,
   his hand to guide, his shield to ward;
   the word of God to give me speech,
   his heavenly host to be my guard.
4. I bind myself to God today,
   the strong and holy Trinity,
   to know the name and make it known,
   the Three in One, the One in Three,
   from whom all nature has creation,
   eternal Father, Spirit, Word.
   praise God my strength and my salvation;
   praise in the Spirit through Christ the Lord!

This variation seems more widespread and includes the “Breastplate”. I prefer the language even with the archaisms eg “bursting from the spiced tomb”.

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,
the 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, the One in Three,
of whom all nature hath creation,
eternal Father, Spirit, Word.
Praise to the Lord of my salvation;
salvation is of Christ the Lord!

We are actually celebrating the feast day of St Peter this Sunday as he is our patron saint. We would usually use Psalm 15 (You are my inheritance, O Lord) for the Thirteenth Sunday but it has been replaced, as have the readings.

Entrance: Christ be Our Light  (Farrell) AOV 2/3

Psalm 33 (McKenna)

The Lord has set me free from all my fears.

Gifts: Do You Really Love Me (Landry)

Communion: Seed, Scattered and Sown (Feiten) GA 195

Thanksgiving: The Summons  (Maule-Bell) AOV NG 149

Recessional: You Are My Rock (Chinn)

This Brian Wren text covers gathering, communion and recessing so pick your verses and the whole service is covered.

The text is provided by the wonderful people at Hope Publishing. They give an extra verse for funerals there.

CWB II chose to set it to ST FLAVIAN rather than the music preferred at Hope (DOVE OF PEACE), which has more of a lilt to it.

This is by Melvin Lloyd Farrell and, while not mentioned by CWB II, is one of several hymns loosely based on the original Latin text Adoro te Devote by Thomas Aquinas. It is set to the chant ADORO TE DEVOTE. It is for Eucharist or Adoration.

Mary at Godsongs has looked at this one extensively. Some of the lyrics in the version she has match the verses in CWB II, but I can only find the identical lyrics to CWB II elsewhere in (no surprise here) CWB I! I did find almost all of what is in CWB II with even more verses here. It has a refrain in CWB II (the first two lines of stanza four at Godsongs) but that is not always used.

This is a text about church from Ernest E. Ryden. You can find the lyrics in the page scans at Hymnary. There is a verse about Eucharist that is omitted in CWB II, maybe it was too Lutheran. The phrase “inly giv’n” is quite the archaism.

Hymnary sets it to everything else, but CWB II chooses EISENACH, which is appropriately stirring.

I’ve blogged the version from AOV 2 Guitar edition here, under its other title “How Rich Are the Depths of God”.

Since that version has more basic chords I’ve done a different backing using the full accompaniment so you may compare my backings seven years apart.

The text is based on Psalm 139 but using the title “The Hound of Heaven” suggests we look at the famous poem of that name. The poem starts “I fled him”, which relates to Psalm 139:7 “Where could I go to escape from you?”, although the specific verses aren’t in the text Willcock uses from the Grail.

This fine song is by Richard Connolly and unusually he has done the lyrics himself for this one, and he has done a pretty good job without James McAuley.

I like the tune but I am sure he reused it in a Play School song with nonsense lyrics for children. I just can’t place it.

The text is at smallchurchmusic. The sheet music can be purchased from As One Voice.

I am ploughing on with my quixotic quest to blog Catholic Worship Book II. Since the few recent (ie last 50 years) tunes have mostly been covered here before it means a lot of traditional hymnody and lamentably few new discoveries. I have skipped all the songs that I have covered already from other collections.

I have covered this text by David E. Trueblood before here set to HYMN TO JOY but am reposting because CWB II uses the equally stirring IN BABILONE. The text is here.

Readings: Genesis 14:18-20

Corinthians 11:23-26

Luke 9:11-17

Whatever the strange and dubious origins of this feast, the readings flow and bounce off each other in a thoughtful way. The “bread and wine” of Melchizedek from Genesis are amplified by the Psalm and fulfilled in Paul’s teaching about Eucharist. If the Eucharistic theme of the feeding story in Luke wasn’t already obvious, it certainly is after the three preceding pieces of scripture. Our role in all this depends on the Lukan Jesus saying, “Give them something to eat yourselves.”

Entrance: All Are Welcome (Haugen) CWB II 535

Psalm 109 (McKenna)

You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedik

Gifts: Song of the Body of Christ  (Haas) AOV 1/27

Communion: Our Blessing Cup  (Mason)

Thanksgiving: Bread of Heaven  (Manibusan-Hart)

Recessional: Celtic Alleluia (Sending Forth)  (O’Carroll/Walker) AOV 1/13