We’re marking the Feast of the Assumption of Mary with hymns including Immaculate Mary and Mō Maria. It’s an especially important time for New Zealand Catholics as St Mary of the Angels Church in Wellington is dedicated as the National Shrine to Mary, Mother of God, Assumed into Heaven.
Ko Hāta Maria, te Matua Wahine o te Atua (Holy Mary, Mother of God). Artist: Damien Walker (2021). Commissioned by NZCBC. Photo: Damien Walker/NZCBC
SONG: KA WAIATA
Artist: New Zealand Youth Choir 1996, Karen Grylls (dir)
Words/Music: Richard Puanaki
Recording: Trust MMT 2016
Maria
Ka waiata ki a Maria
Hine i whakaae
Whakameatia mai
Te whare tangata.
Hine pūrotu
Hine ngākau
Hine rangimārie
Ko te whaea
Ko te whaea
O te ao
SONG: HAIL, QUEEN OF HEAVEN, THE OCEAN STAR
Artist: Choirs of the Diocese of Leeds
Words/Music: Father John Lingard/Trad
Hail, Queen of Heav'n, the ocean Star,
Guide of the wand'rer here below!
Thrown on life's surge we claim thy care,
Save us from peril and from woe.
Mother of Christ, Star of the sea,
Pray for the wanderer, pray for me
O gentle, chaste, and spotless Maid,
We sinners make our prayers through thee
Remind thy Son that He has paid
The price of our iniquity.
Virgin most pure, Star of the sea,
Pray for the sinner, pray for me.
Sojourners in this vale of tears,
O thee, blest Advocate, we cry,
Pity our sorrows, calm our fears,
And soothe with hope our misery.
Refuge in grief, Star of the sea,
Pray for the mourner, pray for me.
And while to Him who reigns above,
In Godhead One, in Persons Three,
The source of life, of grace, of love,
Homage we pay on bended knee;
Do thou, bright Queen, Star of the sea.
Pray for thy children, pray for me.
SONG: PRAISE TO THE HOLIEST IN THE HEIGHT
Artist: The Sixteen, Harry Christophers (dir)
Words/Music: St John Henry Newman/Richard Runciman Terry
Recording: Coro COR16191
Praise to the holiest in the height,
And in the depth be praise;
In all his words most wonderful,
Most sure in all his ways.
O loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight
And to the rescue came.
O generous love! that he, who smote,
In man for man the foe,
The double agony in man
For man should undergo.
And in the garden secretly,
And on the cross on high,
Should teach his brethren, and inspire
To suffer and to die.
Praise to the holiest in the height,
And in the depth be praise;
In all his words most wonderful,
Most sure in all his ways.
SONG: FIRMLY I BELIEVE, AND TRULY
Artist: Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, Richard Marlow (dir), Christopher Allsop (organ)
Words/Music: St John Henry Newman/William Boyce
Recording: Coro COR16191
Firmly I believe and truly
God is three, and God is one;
And I next acknowledge duly
Manhood taken by the son.
And I trust and hope most fully
In that manhood crucified;
And each thought and deed unruly
Do to death, as he has died.
Simply to his grace and wholly
Light and life and strength belong,
And I love supremely, solely,
Him the holy, him the strong.
And I hold in veneration,
For the love of him alone,
Holy church as his creation,
And her teachings are his own.
Adoration aye be given,
With and through the angelic host,
To the God of earth and heaven,
Father, son and Holy Ghost.
SONG: MŌ MARIA
Artist: Students and staff from Te Kura Taumata o Panguru, members of the Panguru community, Mina Pomare-Peita (director)
Words/Music: Bishop Jean-Baptiste Pompallier
Recording: Private 2021
Mō Maria aianei,
ō tātou waiata,
kia kaha rā tātou,
kia nui te aroha.
Aroha ki te Atua
Aroha ki a Maria
i te Rangi,
te whenua
āke tonu, āke tonu.
Āmene.
[For Mary now
our songs
let us be strong
let there be great love.
Love God
love Mary
in Heaven
and on earth
for ever and ever.
Amen.]
SONG: IMMACULATE MARY
Artist: Choirs of the Diocese of Leeds
Words/Music: Father Jean Gaignet/Trad
Recording: Herald HAVPCD 397
Immaculate, Mary! Our hearts are on fire.
That title so wondrous fills all our desire!
Refrain:
Ave, Ave, Ave Maria
Ave, Ave, Ave Maria.
We pray for our Mother, the Church upon earth.
And bless, sweetest Lady, the land of our birth.
Refrain:
In grief and temptation, in joy, or in pain
we’ll seek thee, our Mother, nor seek thee in vain.
Refrain:
In death’s solemn moment, our Mother, be nigh;
as children of Mary, help us when we die.
Refrain:
To God be all glory, and worship for aye,
and to God’s Virgin Mother, an endless Ave.
Refrain:
SONG: PSALM 46: GOD IS OUR HOPE AND STRENGTH
Artist: Choir of Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, Catherine Palmer (dir), Bill Ives (organ)
Words/Music: Psalm 46/Martin Luther
Recording: Marquis
God is our hope and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be moved,
And though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea.
Though the waters thereof rage and swell,
And though the mountains shake at the tempest of the same.
The rivers of the flood thereof shall make glad the city of God:
The holy place of the tabernacle of the most highest.
God is in the midst of her therefore shall she not be removed:
God shall help her and that right early.
The heathen make much ado and the kingdoms are moved:
But God hath shewed his voice, and the earth shall melt away.
The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our refuge.
O come hither and behold the works of the Lord:
What destruction he hath brought upon the earth.
He maketh wars to cease in all the world:
He breaketh the bow, and knappeth the spear in sunder,
And burneth the chariots in the fire.
Be still then and know that I am God:
I will be exalted among the heathen, and I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be:
World without end. Amen.
SONG: PRAISE TO THE LORD, THE ALMIGHTY
Artist: Choir of Westminster Abbey
Words/Music: Joachim Neander trans Catherine Winkworth/Anon
Recording: Priory 706
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation.
O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation:
All ye who hear,
brothers and sisters draw near,
praise him in glad adoration.
Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth
shelters thee under his wings, yea, so gently sustaineth:
hast thou not seen
all that his people have been
granted in what he ordaineth?
Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
surely his goodness and mercy here daily attend thee:
ponder anew
what the Almighty can do,
if with his love he befriend thee.
Praise to the Lord, who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
biddeth them cease,
turneth their fury to peace,
whirlwinds and waters assuaging.
Praise to the Lord, who when darkness of sin is abounding,
who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
sheddeth his light,
chaseth the horrors of night,
saints with his mercy surrounding.
Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath come now with praises before him!
Let the Amen
sound from his people again:
gladly for aye we adore him.
