This Sunday's Introit, from Chapter 36 of the Book of Sirach, is traditionally presented in alternation with verses of Psalm 122.
“Grant peace to those who are waiting for you, O Lord, so that your prophets may be proved trustworthy; hear the prayers of your servant and of your people Israel. “I rejoiced when it was said unto me: ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” When I noticed this prayer for peace given at the outset of this Sunday’s liturgy, I was moved by its timeliness, given the unrest we are witnessing in our communities and our country. To open our Masses this weekend, we reflect the Introit through the much-loved melody of Sebastian Temple’s Prayer of St. Francis. Here are a few more musical prayers for peace… Herbert Howells wrote the anthem O Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem (its text also from Psalm 122) during World War II. Melchior Franck’s Da pacem, Domine is a favorite of children’s choirs, since it’s so easy to sing in a round. It is a simple prayer which translates: “Give peace in our time, O Lord, because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.” And finally, we find a powerful testimony to the inner peace that Christ offers even in the midst of turmoil, in Horatio Spafford’s hymn, When Peace Like a River. Together, we are living through an unsettled, unsettling time. Do you have a favorite prayer for peace to add to our collection?
2 Comments
George Dardess
9/13/2020 08:45:39 am
Here's my own favorite Da nos pacem, Chelsea, though my memory of the last time I sang it is a bittersweet one. It was during a fall evening on the steps of the statehouse in Montpelier, VT, where we'd been visiting relatives in 2002. We'd gathered there with a large group protesting the build-up to the war in Iraq. We sang this hymn as the moon broke through the clouds scudding by… a sign of what? Of peace? I hoped so…but alas for that…yet I still love this setting.
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Peggy Rosenthal
9/13/2020 09:19:59 am
Chelsea, thanks for these riches. My favorite prayer for peace is the Dona Nobis Pacem of Bach's B Minor Mass. It's the longing expressed by the music there that I love.
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