This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s
life for one’s friends.
(John 15:12-13)
The passage above
comes from today's Gospel in which the central theme of the readings is about
God's Love. As Christians, we are reminded that this is the one that should
characterize our actions--that we do everything out of love and our model for
this love is none other than Jesus Christ.
We have many songs
in Musica Sacra that pertain to God's love and one of them is Ecce Quam Bonum.
This song speaks about Christian brotherhood as expressed in Psalm 132. It
reminds us that this unity that we have as Christians centered on the love that
Jesus has given to us through the Holy Eucharist. We united ourselves in this
sacrifice of Christ in order to share in the life and be granted the grace from
the Father in heaven in order to imitate his love that Christ has shown us. And
this love is to "lay down one's life for one's friends"--it is not
forced, but offered, not conditional, but pure giving in the spirit of
generosity. Here is the Latin lyrics and it's English equivalent from Psalm
132. (source: Breviary) The rendition sang by Novo Concertante Manila is that composed by Hans Leo
Hassler.
|
Ecce quam bonum,
et quam jucúndum * habitáre fratres in unum.
2 Sicut unguéntum in cápite, * quod
descéndit in barbam, barbam Aaron.
3 Quod descéndit in oram vestiménti
ejus: * sicut ros Hermon, qui descéndit in montem Sion.
4 Quóniam illic mandávit Dóminus
benedictiónem, * et vitam usque in sæculum.
|
Behold, how good
and joyful a thing it is, * for brethren to dwell together in unity.
2 It is like the precious oil upon
the head, * that ran down upon the beard, even upon the beard of Aaron.
3 That went down to the skirts of his
clothing : * like as the dew of Hermon, which fell upon mount Sion.
4 For there the Lord hath
commanded blessing, * and life for evermore.
|
It's truly difficult
to love one's neighbor let alone to the point of laying down your life for
another. But it is a challenge to all of us if we really want to love.
Sometimes I hesitate to share how I feel if it means I'll end up hurting the
other person. And because it is also something that hurts me, I tend to keep
it. What's dangerous about it is that whatever it is that you're hiding, might eat you up or make you isolated from people who could show love to you. Hence, in cases like
these, it is also good to resort to prayer. If there's anybody who'd always be
willing to listen to our cares and
sufferings, that would be Jesus Christ. Because he is the one who loved us
first before he even tried to save us.
No comments:
Post a Comment