Thomas Aquinas

"The Pelican Song"

November 7, 2009

As a favor to a parishioner, we are singing Aquinas’ great Eucharist hymn, Adoro Te Devote, tomorrow at Divine Service. It actually fits nicely with the Gospel appointed for the day (Trinity 22), the Parable of the Unforgiving Slave (Matthew 18:21-35), especially in this line: “Blood whereof a single drop has power to win All [...]

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Holy Thursday

April 9, 2009

The words of the great Swedish bishop Bo Giertz damn us all: “There are no worthy guests at the Lord’s table. None has deserved to come.” Those words damn us all – yet they are also filled with grace. For tonight we are invited guests to the Lord’s table, despite our unworthiness. This is not [...]

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Adoro Te Devote

April 9, 2009

My annual Holy Thursday post: For me, it isn’t Holy Thursday unless we sing Aquinas’s “Adoro, Te Devote” in the translation by Gerard Manley Hopkins: Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore, Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more, See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart Lost, all lost [...]

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