The Love Of God Hymn

For 50 years a priest

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Wagner of the US Senate recounted that when as a boy he rang the church bells in his town in Germany and his grandfather assured him that he would never be able to do anything as important as calling people to worship God.

But an even greater privilege is that of a priest, however unworthy, when he calls God to take the form of bread and wine.  Out of love for us God took the form of a human being.  Out of love for us He comes to the Blessed Sacrament in the form of bread and wine at the call of a priest.

All of this is to make it easier for us to adore and love Him. As Sen. Wagner called people to church, the priest has even a greater privilege to call on God to come and stay with us.

Fifty years ago, 15 members of the Philippine Jesuit province were ordained in four different places. By the grace of God, six of the 15 are still around. Three of us are here in Cagayan de Oro (Bill Klintworth, Jim O'Donnell, and myself); two are in Manila (Simeon Reyes and Tom Steinbugler); one in New York (Joe O'Hare).

Death took two of our group just last year (Bishop Cisco Claver and T. Patrick Lynch).  A century ago there were less than a dozen Filipino Jesuit priests. Now there are now about 200.  The Lord has been good and great has been His mercy.

When my father told my grandfather that I wanted to be a priest, he told my father to tell me never to go to his house again. But when I went to see him, he was glad to see me. I brought Fr. Hamilton from PGH to visit him.

Although my grandfather hardly knew English and Fr. Hamilton spoke no Spanish they got along famously so that when he was dying at 94 he asked to see Fr. Hamilton.  God's ways are mysterious.  Thank the Lord that prejudice against the priesthood is now gone.

My grandfather, although he never went to church, prayed every day for an hour just before midnight in front of a picture of Our Lady of del Pilar. My other grandfather, who was Chinese, was also greatly devoted to Our Lady. He made a pilgrimage with his whole family every month of May to the shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, pushing up the Pasig River to Angono and from there hiking up the hills of Antipolo.

Devotion to Mary has been a Filipino tradition and she has interceded for us through many dangers and fostered the present vocations. “Pueblo amante de Maria (a nation lover of Mary)” is what my father called this nation in the hymn for the 33rd International Eucharistic Congress in 1937.

Songs and hymns for Proper 9A (Pentecost 14A) - July 3rd 2011

(Farrell) This one is great. Just don't try to sing all 17 verses! Choose what you like… Maybe add a verse about Rebekah and Isaac. I love this energetic call and response with the response "Lead us to your kingdom". You can sing with a cantor and response, or you could split your congregation in the middle doing half and half, or you could just have people singing all the way through. Lyrics (downloads a pdf). I like singing and I like the Lectionary, so I really like suggesting songs that fit Lectionary themes! I am a small l liberal, small o orthodox, small p progressive, big C Christian laywoman who suggests songs for her congregation (Brunswick Uniting Church) every week. I grew up on a steady diet of Methodist hymn-singing and Scripture in Song. In my late teenage years I led a youth group and we did the whole Praise and Worship band thing and tried to be like Hillsong. We also had an a capella sextet that sang some pretty awesome African American Gospel. In my 20s, I grew to love Taize, Iona and African song (thank you World Council of Churches), then lived in the USA for 3 years and grew to love American hymnody and Sacred Harp singing, as well as the Catholic Mass and cantored Psalms. Congregationally, I like songs that are beautiful, that are intelligent, and that are inclusive. I believe a song doesn't have to be new to fit these criteria. I love songs written by people in my worship community, but I also think it's important to sing songs from other traditions and other countries. I'd love to hear from you! My email is: LectionarySinger@gmail.

101 more hymn stories

Amazing Grace, 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions

Love Your God with All Your Mind, The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul

A dictionary of hymnology, setting forth the origin and history of Christian hymns of all ages and nations

Theological dictionary of the New Testament