A number of years ago, I composed music for a French Office hymn for the feast of Saint Andrew. It was a feastday gift for Reverend Father Abbot Dom André, O.Cist. The text spoke to me very powerfully. A melody for it came to me all at once, in a kind of stream of inspiration.
Why was I so touched by the text of this hymn when I first discovered it? There was something in it that connected deeply with the Magnificat Antiphon of the feast: “When blessed Andrew came to the place where the Cross had been prepared, he cried out and said: O goodly Cross, so long desired, and now made ready for my eager spirit; fearless and joyful do I come to you; therefore, receive me also gladly, as the disciple of him who hung upon you.” There was something else too: in the text of the hymn were many things deeply related to my own life experience.
As I prayed over the day’s texts, it occurred to me that I might translate the text of this hymn. It is being sung in a number of French–speaking monasteries today. Accept it as a kind of meditatio, as way of repeating the Word in other words. This hymn has been for many a kind of gift; may it speak to your heart as compellingly as it first spoke to mine.
Where then is your dwelling,
O Lamb of God who invite us?
Could it already be the tenth hour
for the disciple who set out to seek you?
For who can know the day and hour
when you will turn to us and say:
Come and see!
The joy of meeting you
is a brightness that transfigures:
a flame in this world’s night
since your Pasch of dazzling light.
Shine, and overcome the darkness,
that we may hear the Spirit’s whisper:
Jesus is Lord!
Filled now with your presence,
God, our every dawn indwelling,
we announce to all who seek you
a burning joy, an incandescence.
You alone can tell us
how that cry first pierced the silence:
Blessèd those who believe!
Lord, how can we follow you
with the faith of those fishers of men?
In this night of catching nothing
we would believe that your hands are full.
Stand again on this our shore,
and cry to us once more:
Cast the net!
On the threshold of your dwelling
Your Cross will be our sign;
for each apostle will have his hour
just as you had yours.
Stay with us, God our Master,
to say in your disciples:
Hail, Cross of Life!
His Excellency, Bishop Edward J. Slattery of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma has given
Father Mark a special mandate to live under the Rule of Saint Benedict in adoration before the Eucharistic Face of Jesus, offering thanksgiving, intercession, and reparation for all his
brothers in Holy Orders. In this way, Father is preparing the foundation of the new Diocesan Benedictine Monastery of Our Lady of the Cenacle. Father Mark is available to the
priests and deacons of the Diocese for spiritual and sacramental support in their pursuit of holiness. He is also charged with the spiritual formation of women who desire to dedicate themselves to spiritual motherhood in favour of priests.
