Church Music

The last song in the collection, Hymns and Spiritual Songs Vol 1 from Liturgical Song, is this song for the Easter Sequence.

This is Paul Mason’s setting of c11 text by Wipo of Burgundy, Victimae Paschale Laudes in the ICEL translation.

For the full effect, Mason suggest a tenor voice cantor, a female voice cantor, SATB choir and assembly. Specifically, V1 – C1 + C2 in parts, V2 C1, V3 C2, V4 starts with C1 and ends with C2, V5&6 C1 + C2 in parts. It blossoms out in the alleluias, and it doesn’t at all come across in a BIAB backing. I’d love to hear a recording of the the full arrangement.

Christians, to the Paschal Victim
offer sacrifice and praise.

The sheep are ransomed by the Lamb;
and Christ, the undefiled,
has sinners to his Father reconciled.

Death with life contended: combat
strangely ended!
Life’s own Champion, slain,
yet lives to reign.

Tell us, Mary: say
what you did see upon the way?
The tomb the Living did enclose;
I saw Christ’s glory as He rose!

The angels there attesting;
shroud with grave-clothes resting.
Christ, my hope, has risen:
He goes before you into Galilee.

That Christ is truly risen
from the dead we know.
Victorious King, Thy mercy show!

Alleluia x6

Christ has become our paschal sacrifice; let us feast with joy in the Lord.

Alleluia x6

This is a very good collection that does not need all the artillery that the arrangements suggest, but will carry it off if you have the multiple cantors and choirs. For your $A40 you get twenty songs, with seven having an additional full score. You get Paul Mason’s wonderfully obssessive liturgy notes, so what’s not to like. I’d would like more single sheets and samples of the music available online for those of us who can’t just sit and sight read a piece. I hope Volume 2 emerges as promised.

Paul Mason has included this arrangement by himself and Seth Harsh of William Henry Monk’s hymn in the collection Hymns and Spiritual Songs Vol 1 (available at Liturgical Song).

Rounding out the nine new releases is a wonderful contemporary piano arrangement by Seth Harsh of “Abide With Me.” This version has been featured in Mass For You At Home (MFYAH).

I blogged the AOV version here , but this arrangement has a piano introduction added and some subtle changes to the chords.

My backing does it no justice – it always sounds like a piano roll when I just enter all the piano notes into BIAB.

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Paul Mason used a C15 Dominican chant for this text as a basis for his version of the Stabat Mater, rather than the usual Gregorian chant. As for the text, I’m sure Edward Caswall did his best for the translation but it does sound better in Latin.

Mason not only gives you music and text but expert exposition in which he refutes the usual attribution to Jacopone da Todi and traces its earliest appearance to C13 Bologna. This lament’s use is at Stations of the Cross and Holy Week.

You can find it in Hymns and Spiritual Songs Vol 1 at Liturgical Song.

I had real trouble with this and made three backings a varying levels of blah. I ended up slowing his tempo on the one I like best:

This is even slower:

… and this just sounds bad at his tempo – not Mason’s fault! Maybe it would be better with minimal to no accompaniment.

1 At the cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful Mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last.

2 Through her heart, his sorrow sharing,
All his bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword has passed.

3 O how sad and sore distressed,
Was that Mother highly blest
Of the sole begotten One!

4 Christ above in torment hangs,
She beneath beholds the pangs
Of her dying, glorious Son.

5 Is there one who would not weep,
Whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ’s dear Mother to behold?

6 Can the human heart refrain
From partaking in her pain,
In that Mother’s pain untold?

7 Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,
She beheld her tender Child,
All with bloody scourges rent.

8 For the sins of his own nation
Saw him hang in desolation
Till his spirit forth he sent.

9 O thou Mother! Font of love,
Touch my spirit from above,
Make my heart with thine accord.

10 Make me feel as thou hast felt;
Make my soul to glow and melt
With the love of Christ, my Lord.

11 Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Savior crucified.

12 Let me share with thee his pain,
Who for all my sins was slain,
Who for me in torment died.

13 Let me mingle tears with thee,
Mourning him who mourned for me,
All the days that I may live.

14 By the cross with thee to stay;
There with thee to weep and pray,
All I ask of thee to give.

15 Virgin of all Virgins best!
Listen to my fond request:
Let me share thy grief divine.

In the absence of a clip for this version here it is in Latin Gregorian chant.

OK this one is a bit special, but I don’t expect to hear you singing it at Mass this week.

Paul Mason has used the Song of Songs and the letters of Blessed Jordan of Saxony in what I interpret as a lusty paean to romantic love. It is available in the collection, Hymns and Spiritual Songs Vol 1 at Liturgical Song.

He, however, describes it thusly:

“You Are So Deeply Engraved in My Heart” is a beautiful new song for use at celebrations of Marriage and Religious Profession, as well as Masses for Religious, Masses for Marriage Anniversaries and the feasts of St Mary Magdalene and St Scholastica. Texts from Song of Songs and a 12th Century love letter from Jordan of Saxony to Diana D’Andalo are set to a beautiful soaring melody resulting in a moving song about the love between Christ the bridegroom and his bride, the Church.

It appears Mason was worried enough that the text would be misconstrued (by the likes of me), he devoted a whole crowded page to explaining its origins in the letters of Blessed Jordan to Blessed Diana, who were separated by distance and their vows. I think they may have been healthier and happier together. Allegorising obviously sexual works like the Song of Songs is an unfortunate part of the Catholic Church’s historical treatment of women as either virgin or whore.

I get this song’s use in a marriage liturgy, but my understanding the religious life is limited and its use for Religious Profession and a Mass for Religious has me head scratching.

You are so deeply engraven in my heart

That the more I realise how truly you love me from the depths of your soul,

The more incapable I am of forgetting you

And the more constantly you are in my thoughts.

For your love of me moves me more profoundly

And makes my love for you burn more strongly,

Burn more strongly, burn, burn for you.

I hear my beloved!

See how he comes leaping on the mountains,

Bounding over the hills.

[Rpt and stop at “burn for you”]

In the absence of any recordings of Mason’s song, how about:

INXS singing for another tragic Diana:

This is Paul Mason’s setting of the Pentecost Sequence attributed to Robert II, King of France and translated by Edward Caswell.

This is another fantastic melody and it is frustrating not be able to hear his proper arrangement anywhere. You can buy the sheet music in the collection, Hymns and Spiritual Songs Vol 1 at Liturgical Song.

I made a version nonetheless:

1 Holy Spirit, Lord of Light,
From the clear celestial height
Thy pure beaming radiance give.
Come, thou Father of the poor,
Come, with treasures which endure;
Come, thou Light of all that live!

2 Thou, of all consolers best,
Thou, the soul’s delightful guest,
Dost refreshing peace bestow;
Thou in toil art comfort sweet;
Pleasant coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.

3 Light immortal, Light divine,
Visit thou these hearts of thine,
And our inmost being fill:
If thou take they grace away,
Nothing pure in us will stay;
All our good is turned to ill.

4 Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour thy dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.

5 Thou, on us who evermore
Thee confess and thee adore,
In thy sevenfold gifts, descend:
Give us comfort when we die;
Give us life with thee on high,
Give us joys that never end.

This is another fine Paul Mason song that has come from a specific parish but has wide applicability. It is a gathering song, a song for Gifts, a Communion song and even a Recessional. In his usual style he notes twenty-seven liturgies for which it is especially appropriate – not for nothing is Paul Australia’s favourite liturgy nerd!

He notes:

“We Are Called” is energetic and uplifting, based on the texts of the prayer, vision and mission of the Cathedral parish (Lumen Christi) in the Diocese of Wollongong, called to be bearers of Christ’s love, called to reveal the light of Christ to the world.

It is available as a single sheet, or in the essential collection, Hymns and Spiritual Songs Vol 1.

I’m not sure my backing is quite the “passionately” he was looking for.

Refrain

We are called to be bearers of Christ’s love.
We are called to reveal the light of Christ to the world.
Merciful God, merciful God,
You have called us out of darkness into light,
The light of Christ.

1 May the gifts that we share help in building up the Body of Christ,
The Body of Christ.
Help us to reveal Christ’s love to the world through all we say and do,
All we say and do.

2 May the Spirit of Trith strengthen us, help us bear witness to your Word,
Witness to your Word.
Feed us at the Table of the Eucharist to give light to the world,
Light to the world.

© 2021 Paul Mason Published by Liturgical Song www.liturgicalsong.com

Angela Gorman wrote this song for the Episcopal Ordination of George Kolodziej, the Bishop of Bunbury. The collection, Hymns and Spiritual Songs Vol1, contains Paul Mason’s piano arrangement. It is available at Liturgical Song.

If you aren’t installing a Bishop it serves for commissioning generally and as a recessional. The tune is bugging me because it sounds so reminiscent to something that I just can’t place – I don’t think it’s “Stranger on the Shore”, I think its another hymn.

I can’t find a recording on the internet, and my backing might be a little easy listening:

Refrain

May the Lord bless you. May the Lord keep you.

May the Lord’s face shine upon you. May the Lord look kindly.

May he look graciously. May the Lord give you his peace.

1 May you rest in the shelter and the shadow of his wings.

May the lord be your refuge and strength.

May his faithfulness shield you whenever fear is near.

May you live in the light of his love.

2 May promise of blessing fill your heart with fervant hope

As you walk through the challenges of life.

May God’s call deep within you inspire all your works,

Bringing comfort and calling you to serve.

© 2025 Angela Gorman Published by Liturgical Song www.liturgicalsong.com

This is a processional song from Paul Mason, which has wide applicability across many liturgies. Really – he lists 38 celebrations for which it is particularly appropriate. He also notes it is based on passages from every gospel, four of Paul’s letters, James and 2nd John.

It is available in the collection, Hymns and Spiritual Songs Vol 1, and also as a single sheet where you can see the text in their preview.

I can’t find any recordings so I have no idea of what style is intended. Probably not this:

The collection Hymns and Spiritual Songs Vol 1, available at Liturgical Song, contains this Marian gem from Fiona Dyball.

I’ve already blogged this here, but I’ve made yet another variation on a backing:

This one is available as a single sheet and you can see the lyrics in their preview there.

This is delightful Confirmation song suitable for young people, but I can’t see why it could not be used at all ages. It was written by Paul Mason and is available in the collection Hymns and Spiritual Songs Vol 1 at Liturgical Song.

Mason says:

My first liturgical music composition, “Open Our Eyes,” was written for confirmation celebrations at St Anthony’s Parish Glenhuntly in 1993. It is a lively song, to which children easily relate in the context of their confirmation.

I made a backing to sing along to learn it.

1 We open our eyes to the face of God.

Wonder in awe at the risen Christ.

Brightness in tongues from the Holy Ghost!

Open our eyes to the Lord.

2 We open our ears to the Word of God.

Strengthen our faith in your Kingdom come.

Knowledge and reverence will be as one!

Open our ears to the Lord.

Bridge 1

Let the Spirit come to be your guiding light.

Remove doubt; make our judgment right.

3 We open our minds to the light of God.

Wisdom and courage begin and grow,

Dealing the darkness a deadly blow.

Open our minds to the Lord.

Bridge 2

God, these cherished gifts you’ve given me to day.

I hope and pray that I may be worthy.

4 We open our hearts to the love of God.

With understanding and honesty,

Love gives us hope for our destiny.

Open our hearts to the Lord.

Open our eyes to the Lord.

© 1993 Paul Mason Published by Liturgical Song www.liturgicalsong.com