Last night at my parish of Saint Ann’s in Marietta, GA we held a special Holy Hour. We invited the entire parish, of course, and anyone who wished to attend. We sent out the following invitation:
Please come and share a time of prayer in the presence of our Lord for the healing and hope we seek as a Church in these difficult times. We will share a time of prayer and Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament in the church, seeking the Lord’s compassion, courage and peace, for survivors of abuse and for all who seek the strength and hope that Christ the healer offers His church.
One of the songs we sang together was ‘By Our Love’ by Christy Nockels. I’ve suggested it a few times here on Setting the Tone for other liturgies, but it really seems to speak to these difficult times. Here is the refrain:
The time is now, come church arise!
Love with his hands, see with his eyes.
Bind it around you. Let it never leave you
And they will know us by our love.
Here is a link to the song on CCLI: By Our Love 2009 sixsteps Music, Sweater Weather Music, worshiptogether.com songs, administered by Capitol CMG Publishing.
We will be singing this song at all of our liturgies this weekend during the Preparation of the Gifts. I encourage you to check it out.
And here is a link to the entire prayer service at our parish. There is a lot of silence, quiet prayer, and meditation in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, so the song starts at 31:47. (You can also hear our pastor singing along for the first verse…we forgot to mute his mic!)
It was a simple, yet powerful night, and I just wanted to share the idea of using this beautiful song.
God bless.
—Ed