This is one of the hymns I sang at Mass this morning. I did it a little more in the sotto voce style at church. The recorded version is a little more like an anthem. This is a more recent hymn than I thought. Written in 1955.
Mass was very serene this morning. But, I confess, I forgot to prepare something on the Mother’s Day theme! And, somebody asked me to sing Ave Maria and I wasn’t prepared. I’ll know better next year. I did call my mother and I wished her a “Happy Mother’s Day.”
The story of the Gospel today concerns my namesake saint. The entire passage is quoted below:
Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit,
looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God
and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and Stephen said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened
and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
But they cried out in a loud voice,
covered their ears, and rushed upon him together.
They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him.
The witnesses laid down their cloaks
at the feet of a young man named Saul.
As they were stoning Stephen, he called out,
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice,
“Lord, do not hold this sin against them;”
and when he said this, he fell asleep.
I have worked pretty hard all my life at avoiding repeating the martyrdom of St. Stephen. So far, so good.
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