About this work:
Published by Theodore Presser Company/Merion Music, Inc. Premiere performance by the University Chorale of Boston College. John Finney, Music Director.
I. KYRIE
Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.
II. MEDITATION. Poem by Elizabeth Kirschner (b. 1955)
Out of myself, I was looking for God
in silken streams the moon was told
where I bent down in ancient night
over my people, my death, my soul.
I think I haunt the hills around.
I think God loves the blackest sound,
the cry, the wind, the world's low whine,
God is alone where we abound.
Though we play at war up 'til the end
his love blazes into pain and back again
when deeply down and down we go
embalmed in his sweet amen.
Now we are lost, we sing to thee
joy may wander but never leave.
Now we are dead, we rise and praise,
permit us---just once!---your glory.
III. GLORIA
Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te, glorificamus te.
Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam.
Domine Deus, rex coelestis, pater omnipotens, domine fili unigenite,
Jesu Christe, altissime domine Deus, agnus Dei, filius patris.
Qui tollis peccata mundi miserere nobis, suscipe deprecationem nostram.
Qui sedes ad dexteram patris, miserere nobis.
Quoniam tu solus sanctus, tu solus dominus, tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe.
Cum sancto spiritu in gloria Dei patris. A-men.
IV. TRUTH. Poem by Claude McKay (1890-1948)
Lord, shall I find it in Thy Holy Church,
or must I give it up as something dead,
Forever lost, no matter where I search,
Like Dinosaurs within their ancient bed?
I found it not in years of Unbelief,
In Science stirring life like budding trees,
In Revolution like a dazzling thief---
Oh, should I find it on my bended knees?
So, what is Truth? So Pilate asked Thee, Lord,
So long ago when Thou wert manifest,
As the Eternal and Incarnate Word,
Chosen of God and by Him singly blest,
In this vast world of lies and hate and greed,
Upon my knees, Oh Lord, for Truth I plead.
V. CREDO
Credo in unum Deum.
Patrem omnipotentem, factorem coeli et terrae, visibilum omnium, et invisibilium
Et in unum Dominum, Jesum Christum, filium Dei unigenitum, et ex patre natum ante omnia saecula,
Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero, genitum non factum, consubstantialem patri,
per quem omnia facta sunt, qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de coelis.
Et incarnatus est de spiritu sancto ex Maria virgine, et homo factus est.
Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est.
Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum scripturas, et ascendit in coelum, sedet ad dexteram patris,
et iterum venturus est cum gloria judicare vivos et mortuos; cujus regni non erit finis.
Et in spiritum sanctum, dominum et vivificantem, qui ex patre filioque procedit,
qui cum patre et filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur, qui locutus est per prophetas.
Et unam sanctum catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam.
Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum, et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum,
et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.
VI. AND I REMAIN WITH YOU. Poem by Edith Stein (1891-1942) (Translated from German by Waltraut Stein.)
Who are you, sweet light, that fills me
And illumines the darkness of my heart?
You lead me like a mother's hand,
And should you let go of me,
I would not know how to take another step.
You are the space
That embraces my being and buries it in itself.
Away from you it sinks into the abyss
Of nothingness, from which you raised it to the light.
You, nearer to me than I to myself
And more interior than my most interior
And still impalpable and intangible
And beyond any name:
Holy Spirit --- eternal love!
VII. SANCTUS
Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth!
Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria ejus.
Osanna in excelsis.
Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini.
Osanna in excelsis.
VIII. APRIL 4th 1968. Poem by Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
On a rainy night
On a rainy night in April
When everybody ran
Said the minister
On a balcony
Of a hotel in Tennessee
"We came at once
Upstairs"
On a night
On a rainy night in April
When the shot was fired
Said the minister
"We came at once upstairs
And found him lying
After the tornado
On the balcony
We came at once upstairs"
On a rainy night
He was our hope
And we found a tornado
Said the minister.
And a well dressed white man
Said the minister.
Dropped the telescopic storm
And he ran
(The well-dressed minister of death)
He ran
He ran away
And on the balcony
Said the minister
We found Everybody dying
IX. AGNUS DEI
Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Dona nobis pacem.