This is one of those hymns of Holy Week that has almost always lead me to tears. Between this, and "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord" those are the two most moving Western hymns of the season.
This was our warm up/tuning chorale in marching band in high school. We were consistently a top finalist in Nationals competition yearly, they trained us to sound like professionals as teenagers. It hit me hard as a teenager and still stops me in my tracks at 34 and hits even harder. So much power.
I have to come here and listen to this every Good Friday. I haven't heard this sung at my church in decades. I just posted in my group that I wish Catholics sang "The Old Rugged Cross" too. So much more moving and easier to sing than Were You There. I am so tired of "trembling, trembling, trembling". Thanks. I appreciate this beautiful version very much. Have a blessed Easter.
This is one of my favorite lenten songs. And probably my favorite part is that the choir can receive Christ without having to rush or be pushed along :). Thanks for posting all of the songs from your parish. God bless.
Lovely singing! But video is quite a put off due to the lack of altar rail being used, no kneeling when receiving Our Lord, for the most part it appears Communion received in the hand, and the extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist. (Read what St Thomas says about Priests should be the only ones who are to handle the Blessed Eucharist). I'm sure these people are very well meaning, but these are all liturgical abuses introduced into the Church in the last 50 years.
I remember kneeling at the altar to receive the Holy Eucharist, and even today, I do not receive in the hand, only on the tongue.Due to the lack of a railing, seriously bad knees that make it difficult to smoothly and safely genuflect, and the large number of communicants in line behind me, I always make a profound bow before receiving. Otherwise, I would at least genuflect. Also, our parish does not sing our hymns with accompaniment on Good Friday. We cut the organ off (for the most part) from the Gloria on Holy Thursday until the Easter Vigil and all singing is a cappella, and the Mass parts are Gregorian chant. For the Repose of the Blessed Sacrament processional, we sing the 'Pange Lingua', but use a single handbell chime at the beginning of each line, on pitch to assist the congregation, as it's very easy to get lost due to Doppler effect and the acoustics as we all make the walk to the Altar of Repose. That is not "part of the music", but merely a cue to keep everyone together and on pitch (our choir is very, very good but the congregation needs the help as we walk). Our service is mostly in English or Spanish, but during the Triduum, the various parts are chanted in Latin. Is it perfectly in tradition? No, but we do the very best that we can, and our parish is HUGE. Lovely to see that at least people are coming to worship, and that we try to keep things holy.
The video is a put off??? Less than 15% of Catholics attend mass in 2019. Two years ago when you made this comment, the percentage was not much better. One quarter of the parishes in my Chicago archdiocese will be no more due to lack of priests. And you are worried about "liturgical abuses"???
