The glory of these forty days
we celebrate with songs of praise,
for Christ, through whom all things were made,
himself has fasted and has prayed.
Alone and fasting Moses saw
the loving God who gave the law,
and to Elijah, fasting, came
the steeds and chariots of flame.
So Daniel trained his mystic sight,
delivered from the lions' might,
and John, the Bridegroom's friend, became
the herald of Messiah's name.
Then grant us, Lord, like them to be
full oft in fast and prayer with thee;
our spirits strengthen with thy grace,
and give us joy to see thy face.
O Father, Son and Spirit blest,
to thee be every prayer addressed,
who art in threefold name adored,
from age to age, the only Lord.
Attributed to Pope Gregory I; translated by Maurice F Bell
I enjoy hymns that are scripturally based and remember, with fondness, on the CF Integrated Training Course being asked to find the biblical foundations of a hymn.
Witney CC has started an online weekly reflection and I was seeking some hymn words to accompany Luke 4 – Jesus in the wilderness. I’m fairly certain I have never sung this hymn, but it is chockful of biblical characters.
Note those first words: “the glory of these forty days” i.e Lent. How many of us, who have chosen to give up something during Lent, see this time as full of glory?
The lines on Moses and Daniel are simple and true but those on Elijah baffle me, surely his fasting was before he encountered God on Horeb?
When I came to “John, the Bridegroom’s friend” I had a lightbulb moment. When Jesus and his disciples were invited to a wedding at Cana – perhaps the link was through his (distant) cousin John, son of Elizabeth? But no, one of the Zoom attendees pointed out that In Mark 2:19 Jesus responds when asked why he and his disciples are not fasting: “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them”. So, the bridegroom is Jesus - that makes a lot more sense!
The penultimate verse encourages us to see these biblical figures as examples of how to achieve a closer bond with God. I notice that studying God’s word does not appear as a means for becoming closer – is this merely because these pillars from our past lacked written scripture?
The last verse I find very confusing. It seems to say that our prayers should be addressed only to God. As Congregationalists we believe this, but Pope Gregory was a Catholic – they also address their prayers to Saints, don’t they? (I’ve heard of people praying to St Anthony, patron saint of lost things, when they cannot find their keys). M F Bell was an Anglican priest, who had served in various parishes, when he wrote this hymn in 1906. At the age of 67 he converted to Roman Catholicism.
So, I remain puzzled about why these words were written but I agree with them whole-heartedly.
Elaine Kinchin