Erwin Cabucos simply describes this hymn he has written as “a song about being kind.” I think it is somewhat more than that, being suitable for a Second Rite of Reconciliation or during Lent.
Inspired by Laudato Si, Erwin Cabucos has written a hymn in praise of creation.
The verses have basically the same tune but there are lots of little variations to watch out for. It might need a cantor there, but the refrain at least is for all to sing. He is expanding my vocabulary – I did not know “unharming” was a word – I looked it up and it is.
This song from Erwin Cabucos celebrates Australia’s only saint, St Mary Mackillop. He includes her best known statement, “never see a need without doing something.” It’s always good to have local Australian hymns about Australian subjects, as we are bombarded with songs that have the perverse Northern Hemisphere point of view – ie all Christmas and Easter songs with the the wrong seasons implied and about saints from far away in time and space.
The sheet music makes perfect sense but was a struggle for my meagre skills. The song is in F and like any sensible person, he suggest guitarists play it Capo 3 in D, and so only includes the chord symbols in D. Then he has put the vocal line on a bass clef meaning I had to transpose in two directions at once – I hope it came out right. I always think it is best to have both the real chords and the capoed chords, as many keyboard players improvise the left hand based on the guitar chords. It is hard to know what to do with a melody line that goes very low, it looks much neater on the bass clef, but again many basic musicians, like me, really only look at the treble.
I made two backings because I wondered if it would work better and be less frenetic in a swung rhythm.
1 St Mary of the Cross, may we also see Christ,
Like how you raised the dignity of the poor, Australia wide.
You have faith, tender yet tough, may we show your fortitude.
Like how you stood for love and hope that made way for common good.
Chorus
Pray for us to never see a need without doing something.
Pray for us that God will be with us in our lives.
Pray for us to be resilient in our tumultuous times.
May we show your courage here and everywhere for Christ.
2 You have faith grounded and deep, may we also see the Lord,
Like how you felt his presence through prayers and his Word.
May we show your kindness, and overcome our apathy.
Respecting peoples and cultures, new and old, so many.
Chorus
3 You have faith so passionate, may we also work for love,
As carers for this sacred home of all creatures great and small.
Like your devotion to St Joseph and Jesus’ mother Mary.
Erwin Cabucos has given as a song for Adoration and Communion.
I like the well expressed sentiment in the third verse and the courage to sing the word “perplexed” in a hymn. He again uses a skipping sort of rhythm in the verses that opens out into a more expansive melody in the chorus.
The opening line of the chorus strikes me as oddly phrased. It could be “You are life in the world” or “You are the life of the world”, but “You are life of the world” offends the pedant in me.
This is a sung prayer of invocation to the BVM to intercede in times of illness, written by Erwin Cabucos from Queensland, Australia.
My Presbyterian upbringing has left me with many things: a belief that any psalm can be made metrical if mangled enough, that any sermon less than an hour is a gift from God and an ongoing difficulty with Marian hymns.
That said, this is a sung prayer that will appeal to many, in fact Erwin says it is the most popular song he has written, based on You Tube views.
My backings have a different feel to Erwin’s, mine just scream Band in a Box, but you can sing along to my backing or his minus one to learn the song.
Verse 1 O Blessed Mother here I shall fall Into your grace of loving embrace I long to be cured of my ailment Take me to the healing of Christ
Refrain O Mother Mary, please pray for me That Jesus’ mercy will sanctify me May His light and warmth come upon me And my illness will fade away
Verse 2 O Blessed Mother here I do stay Into your arms of comfort and care Take my prayer to the Breath of God May I be healed in the Name of the Lord
Refrain O Mother Mary, please pray for me That Jesus’ mercy will sanctify me May His light and warmth come upon me And my illness will fade away
Verse O Blessed Mother here I do pray Into your hands my longing will lay Through your intercession of your children’s prayers May I be bathed with His abundant grace
Refrain O Mother Mary, please pray for me That Jesus’ mercy will sanctify me May His light and warmth come upon me And my illness will fade away
The is a song for the Procession of the Gifts from Erwin Cabucos. He provides four verses, which either covers a very long procession, or means you can choose the most appropriate verses for each liturgy. I reckon the first two verses would be enough for most Sundays.
I like the way the verses skip into the more expansive chorus.
With a lot of Dave McGregor songs left to do and new Emmanuel Worship coming out, I’ll be doing a lot of Queensland music for a while.
Erwin Cabucos is an Australian songwriter who writes great songs that have liturgical uses, in this case, obviously, for sending forth. He asks us to to be the face of Christ as we take our faith into the world. He is inspired by Matthew 28 for his text.
The line “all nations and peoples” might be better with a longer “all” and moving “nations” and “peoples” over the bar lines to take the emphasis off the “-tions” and “-ples” syllables. While he is certainly not the only song writer guilty of it, it might also be better to have verses with less variation to trip us up.
He likes hard keys too! This one is in B so Capo 2 for us guitarists and swearing for keyboard players.
Following on from John Burland, I have some more, recent Australian music. Happily, Erwin Cabucos has sent me a few more of his songs. I don’t know what I was expecting – it certainly wasn’t this. I love this song – we may have just found the Henry Mancini of Australian Catholic music … and Hank didn’t write his own lyrics.
I am always telling myself to be more grateful, so now I have a song for that. If you use a thanksgiving hymn in your liturgies you have a new one to consider.
I’m not sure if I am grateful for him putting it in the key of Eb minor though. We guitarists will just go Capo 1 as he suggests in the sheet music, but have a thought for the poor keyboard players with six flats plus accidentals.
My backing has slightly different feel to his, so you can sing along to this or Erwin’s own minus one. I let BIAB improvise some horns for the intro and instrumental verse.
1 We have today, to choose to see the bright things
and count the best they can bring
to us, from the One, who provides.
2 We have the past, we can leave behind
and move on from what could have been,
to learn, from those, that can remind.
Chorus
We thank You, Lord, for all the blessings
You’ve given us, every single day.
The life we lead, the moments we live,
We take in every happy way.
The air we breathe, the home we create,
The care we get from friends and family.
The love we share with people who are dear,
You especially.
3 We have tomorrow, to hope and wish and plan for,
This one isn’t by John Burland but he has recorded it and it is on YouTube with the other songs from We Follow Jesus, so we’ll call it a bonus cover song.
The song is by by Matt Maher, Daniel Carson, Matt Maher, Christy Nockels, and Jesse Reeves. I love the bridge with its time signature changes.
The sheet music can be purchased here. The sheet music version I found on the net is a performance piece with a wide vocal range.
I did a backing because I couldn’t find where I’d already blogged it, but kept thinking it was familiar. Turned out I had looked at it but it was buried in one of my Fiona Dyball deep dives.
This backing is a bit different to the other one I made. The text is here.
Burland starts with the chorus, which is a good choice. He is also less whiney than Matt Maher.
I've worked my way through the As One Voice books and other collections making backings on Band in a Box to help me (& you if you're interested) learn new songs for church. This is aimed at churches and musicians that own the collections but haven't exploited them fully. If you don't have them they are certainly worth buying. This site is educational, nonprofit and designed to enhance the commercial prospects of songwriters. This site does not distribute copyrighted sheet music.
Disclaimer
Any opinions expressed here are personal views and not the responsibility of any Church.
All music backings posted are created by myself and the intention is for them to be used to learn the songs. If any copyright holder wishes me to cease publicising and promoting their wares and directing people to where sheet music can be legally purchased please let me know.
Mason’s “Mass of Glory and Praise”
To access my backings for Paul Mason's mass go to Feb 2011 in the archive.
