Office Hymns: Matins: Lent

Lent

28

O thou who dost accord us - Summi largitor praemii – Hewett (V)

O thou who dost accord us
the highest prize and guerdon,
thou hope of all our race,
Jesus, do thou afford us
the gift we ask of pardon
for all who humbly seek thy face.

With whispered accusation
our conscience tells of sinning
in thought and word and deed;
thine is our restoration,
the work of grace beginning
for souls from every burden freed.

For who, if thou reject us,
shall raise the fainting spirit?
'Tis thine alone to spare:
if thou to life elect us,
with cleansèd hearts to near it,
shall be our task, our lowly prayer.

O Trinity most glorious,
thy pardon free bestowing,
defend us evermore;
that in thy courts victorious,
thy love more truly knowing,
we may with all thy saints adore.

29

O Kind Creator, bow thine ear  - Audi, benigne Conditor – Lacey (L)

O Kind Creator, bow thine ear
to mark the cry, to know the tear
before thy throne of mercy spent
in this thy holy fast of Lent.

Our hearts are open, Lord, to thee:
thou knowest our infirmity;
pour out on all who seek thy face
abundance of thy pardoning grace.

Our sins are many, this we know;
spare us, good Lord, thy mercy show;
and for the honor of thy name
our fainting souls to life reclaim.

Give us the self-control that springs
from discipline of outward things,
that fasting inward secretly
the soul may purely dwell with thee.

We pray thee, Holy Trinity,
one God, unchanging Unity,
that we from this our abstinence
may reap the fruits of penitence.

30

The glory of these forty days - Clarum decus ieiunii – EH (V)

The glory of these forty days
We celebrate with songs of praise;
For Christ, by Whom all things were made,
Himself has fasted and has prayed.

Alone and fasting Moses saw
The loving God Who gave the law;
And to Elijah, fasting, came
The steeds and chariots of flame.

So Daniel trained his mystic sight,
Delivered from the lions’ might;
And John, the Bridegroom’s friend, became
The herald of Messiah’s Name.

Then grant us, Lord, like them to be
Full oft in fast and prayer with Thee;
Our spirits strengthen with Thy grace,
And give us joy to see Thy face.

O Father, Son, and Spirit blest,
To thee be every prayer addressed,
Who art in threefold Name adored,
From age to age, the only Lord.

31

Jesu, the Law and Pattern, whence - Jesu quadragenariae - ?? (L)

Jesu, the Law and Pattern, whence
Our forty days of abstinence;
Who souls to save, that else had died,
This sacred fast hast ratified:

That so to Paradise once more,
Might abstinence preserv'd restore
Them that had lost its fields of light,
Through crafty wiles of appetite.

Be present now, be present here,
And mark thy Church's falling tear:
And own the grief that fills her eyes
In mourning her iniquities.

O by thy grace be pardon won
For sins that former years have done:
And let thy mercy guard us still
From crimes that threaten future ill.

That by the fast we offer here,
Our annual sacrifice sincere,
To Paschal gladness at the end,
Set free from guilt, our souls may tend.

May this, O Father, through the Son,
For thy blest Spirit's sake be done:
Adored through all eternity,
In Nature One, in Person Three. Amen.