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Reflection on Ash Wednesday (in accord with the Coptic Church Calendar as observed at All Saints’ Anglican Cathedral, Zamalek, Cairo)
with Choral Music (from the Sound Archive of the Choir of the Church of the Advent Boston)
Opening Antiphon:
Thou hast mercy on all things, O Lord, and hatest nothing which thou hast created: and winkest at man’s iniquities, because they should amend, and sparest all men, for they are thine, O Lord, thou lover of souls…..
Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.
(from the Missa “Emendemus in melius”
by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina c. 1525–1594)
The Hymn:
O Kind Creator bow thine ear….
Audi benigne Conditur (attributed to St Gregory 540-604 AD)
Tune: St Venantius
Reflection by The Revd Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff
Psalm 51: Miserere mei Deus
to the setting by Gregorio Allegri (c 1582–1652)
“Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness
according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences…..”
(Solo quartet heard in this:
Elise Groves, soprano; Camila Parias, soprano;
Caroline Nielson, mezzo; & Henry Clapp, baritone.)
Miserere mei, Deus: secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.
Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum, dele iniquitatem meam.
Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea: et a peccato meo munda me.
Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco: et peccatum meum contra me est semper.
Tibi soli peccavi, et malum coram te feci: ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis, et vincas cum judicaris.
Ecce enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum: et in peccatis concepit me mater mea.
Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti: incerta et occulta sapientiae tuae manifestasti mihi.
Asperges me hysopo, et mundabor: lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.
Auditui meo dabis gaudium et laetitiam: et exsultabunt ossa humiliata.
Averte faciem tuam a peccatis meis: et omnes iniquitates meas dele.
Cor mundum crea in me, Deus: et spiritum rectum innova in visceribus meis.
Ne proiicias me a facie tua: et spiritum sanctum tuum ne auferas a me.
Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui: et spiritu principali confirma me.
Docebo iniquos vias tuas: et impii ad te convertentur.
Libera me de sanguinibus, Deus, Deus salutis meae: et exsultabit lingua mea justitiam tuam.
Domine, labia mea aperies: et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam.
Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium, dedissem utique: holocaustis non delectaberis.
Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus: cor contritum, et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies.
Benigne fac, Domine, in bona voluntate tua Sion: ut aedificentur muri Ierusalem.
Tunc acceptabis sacrificium justitiae, oblationes, et holocausta: tunc imponent super altare tuum vitulos.
HAVE mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness : according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences.
2 Wash me throughly from my wickedness : and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my faults : and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight : that thou mightest be justified in thy saying, and clear when thou art judged.
5 Behold, I was shapen in wickedness : and in sin hath my mother conceived me.
6 But lo, thou requirest truth in the inward parts: and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly.
7 Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean : thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness : that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Turn thy face from my sins : and put out all my misdeeds.
10 Make me a clean heart, O God : and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence : and take not thy holy Spirit from me.
12 O give me the comfort of thy help again : and stablish me with thy free Spirit.
13 Then shall I teach thy ways unto the wicked : and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou that art the God of my health : and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness.
15 Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord : and my mouth shall shew thy praise.
16 For thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it thee : but thou delightest not in burnt-offerings.
17 The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit : a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt thou not despise.
18 O be favourable and gracious unto Sion : build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with the burnt-offerings and oblations : then shall they offer young bullocks upon thine altar.
Postlude: Vater unser im Himmelreich, BuxWV 219
Dietrich Buxtehude (1637–1707)
Music — by kind permission of the Revd. Douglas Anderson, Rector of the Church of the Advent and Mark Dwyer, D. Mus., The Director of Music, Andrew Scanlon, FAGO, Assoc. Organist & Choirmaster