Come, O Creator Spirit, come – A Hymn for Whitsunday (Original Hymn-tune) скачать в хорошем качестве

Come, O Creator Spirit, come – A Hymn for Whitsunday (Original Hymn-tune)

Nothing can give us greater assurance than the promise given by Our Lord Jesus Christ—that the Comforter would come unto us to direct our faith toward Christ. At Pentecost, this promise was fulfilled exactly as He had foretold His disciples: the Holy Ghost descended as a rushing wind from heaven, and appeared as a rain of cloven tongues of fire. This event marked the chrism of the Church—the validation of the Bride of Christ as truly His own. It was the fulfillment of His words in the Gospel according to St. John, chapter three, during His discourse with Nicodemus: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” and later saying, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” and yet “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” A question may arise from this: What does it mean, that he who is born of the flesh is flesh? At first glance, it may seem unimportant, but it opens to us the understanding that the Kingdom of Heaven is now made accessible also to the Gentiles. Many passages in the New Testament testify that, at that time, the Jews often found their assurance of righteousness in being descendants of Abraham. Yet even St. John the Baptist declared, as recorded in Matthew 3:9: “And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” The hymn I composed seeks to commemorate this most sacred moment. Its lyrics are taken from the English translation by Robert Seymour Bridges, written in 1899. Bridges, a British poet, served as Poet Laureate from 1913 until his death in 1930. His translation is of the renowned hymn Veni Creator Spiritus—a traditional Christian invocation of the Holy Spirit, believed to have been composed by Rabanus Maurus, a 9th-century German monk, teacher, archbishop, and saint. The original Latin hymn is traditionally chanted in Gregorian style, using a melody from the 11th century attributed to Kempten Abbey. Its metrical structure is 8.8.8.8., making it rhythmically regular and adaptable to various chant and hymn settings.