(come) holy spirit
April 21, 2009 – 8:56 pmMy Catholic upbringing is showing. After writing the last post, I was reminded of a prayer that I’ve always seen as rather fuddy-duddy, but can also be filled with the urgent rhythm of youthful drumming… depending on how you read it. Goes something like this, typesetting mine; imagine a low chanting in unison on on the parenthesized words, and a pulsing bass beat, and a rough, high, almost-straining tenor. The feeling of being filled with something great that goes beyond you, and is you, and through you.
(come) holy spirit
(come) fill the hearts
(come) the hearts of your faithful
(come) kindle in them
(come) kindle the firethe fire of love
(send) forth thy spirit
(send) forth to be created
(send) forth thy spirit
(send) forth to renewto renew the earth
let us pray.o god, who did
who did instruct the hearts
the hearts of the faithful
by your light(come) grant in us
(come) by that same spiritto be truly wise
to ever rejoice(amen.)
I wonder if that’s what people feel like when they pray.
2 Responses to “(come) holy spirit”
So, I have a distinctly non-Catholic upbringing, which doesn’t include set prayers. But that’s how spiritual music feels for me sometimes, and when I’m focusing clearly, that is how prayer feels. The things you were talking about in your previous post do resonate with me. Minus the scary. That’s just not part of my experience of … um … instrumentation?
By Bonnie on Apr 22, 2009
I would call myself agnostic, and religious music never fails to make me cry–there’s something different and powerful about it that even I can feel.
By Sa'am on May 11, 2009