I am finding some interesting obscurities in CWB.
This is a song for Eucharist with a text by James McMullen. I can find nothing about him, except that this song appeared in three hymnals other than CWB, but even then there is no mention of the music. Something about the words makes me think it is a translation, or does a chant setting just make me think the original text must have been Latin.
Here it is set to JESU DULCIS MEMORIA (Plainchant melody mode 1), which usually means I won’t touch it with BIAB, but this time I put in the intervals to make it metrical.
1 How blest are we who share this bread.
The flesh and blood of Christ our Lord;
May love unite us gratefully
As sons of God who live in peace.
2 O Lord, we eat this bread of life,
The bread you give your faithful sons,
The peace of Christ, your Son, is ours,
Uniting us to do your will.
3 Our fathers fed on heavenly food:
The manna gathered in the wild.
Your God sent bread we now receive,
Our daily food of lasting strength.
4 This banquet gives eternal life,
A life of love and unity,
For we now live in Jesus Christ
And share with him his risen might.
5 Give thanks to Jesus, saving Lord,
Our Paschal Victim, newly slain.
He shares his Father’s love with us,
He makes us worthy sons of God.
6 Lord Jesus Christ, we beg your grace,
We turn to you, our hope and guide.
This bread unites us, faithful sons,
Awaiting prfect unity.
7 Give praise to God for he is good,
To him who made us like himself,
To Christ, his Son, who set us free,
To God’s great Gift, our source of life.
This clip is a very different setting of the same text with no mention of McMullen.