Also known as “Sweet Sacrament” this is a text by Frederick William Faber a C19 Anglican convert to Catholicism, set to John de Luca’s arrangement of a “German melody” he calls EUCHARIST but is better known as SWEET SACRAMENT sourced from Romischkatholisches Gesangbuchlein published in 1826.
It is a song for Eucharist, obviously, and I looked at it years ago in a compendium post about songs for Corpus Christi.
The text has had a fair share of “alt” going on and many verses are often omitted.
I made a fake organ backing:
1 Jesus, my Lord, my God, my all,
How can I love Thee as I ought?
And how revere this wondrous gift,
So far surpassing hope or thought?Refrain
Sweet Sacrament, we Thee adore;
Oh, make us love thee more and more; Oh, make us love thee more and more.2 Had I but Mary’s sinless heart
To love thee with, my dearest King,
Oh, with what bursts of fervent praise
Thy goodness, Jesus, would I sing!3 Ah, see within a creature’s hand
The vast Creator deigns to be,
Reposing, infant like as though,
On Joseph’s arm, or Mary’s knee.4 Thy body, soul, and Godhead, all;
O mystery of love divine!
I cannot compass all I have,
For all thou hast and art are mine.5 Sound, sound His praises higher still,
And come, ye angels, to our aid;
‘Tis God, ‘Tis God, the very God,
Whose power both us and angels made.
There are extra verses:
Ring joyously, ye solemn bells!
And wave, O wave, ye censers bright!
‘Tis Jesus cometh, Mary’s Son
And God of God, and Light of Light.O earth, grow flowers beneath his feet,
And thou, O sun, shine bright this day.
He comes, he comes, O Heaven on earth,
Our Jesus comes upon His way.He comes, he comes, the Lord of Hosts,
Borne on His throne triumphantly.
We see thee, and we know thee, Lord;
And yearn to shed our blood for Thee.
What a lot of priests and behind them the nuns, with the laity in their place way up the back. I wonder what the occasion was?
Reminding us that this was a new song(!) in 2022:
