ASCENSION DAY HYMN SHEET

The Catholic Church and Personal Parish of Our Lady of Walsingham with Saint Cuthbert Mayne

THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD DWSM Propers & Readings p. 633 THE INTROIT HYMN HAIL the day that sees him rise Alleluya. !

Glorious to his native skies; Alleluya!

Christ, awhile to mortals given, Alleluya !

Enters now the highest heaven! Alleluya !

There the glorious triumph waits; Alleluya !

Lift your heads, eternal gates! Alleluya !

Christ hath vanquished death and sin; Alleluya!

Take the King of glory in. Alleluya !

See the heaven its Lord receives, Alleluya !

Yet he loves the earth he leaves: Alleluya !

Though returning to his throne, Alleluya !

Still he calls mankind his own. Alleluya!

See! he lifts his hands above; Alleluya!

See! he shows the prints of love: Alleluya!

Hark! his gracious lips bestow Alleluya !

Blessings on his Church below. Alleluya !

RESPONSORIAL PSALM God goes up with shouts of joy; the Lord goes up with trumpet blast.

OFFERTORY HYMN Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendour, First-begotten from the dead, Thou alone, our strong defender, Liftest up thy people’s head.

Alleluya, Jesu, true and living Bread!

Here our humblest homage pay we; Here in loving reverence bow; Here for Faith’s discernment pray we, Lest we fail to know thee now.

Alleluya, Thou art here, we ask not how.

Though the lowliest form doth veil thee As of old in Bethlehem, Here as there thine angels hail thee, Branch and Flower of Jesse's stem.

Alleluya, We in worship join with them.

Paschal Lamb, thine Offering, finished Once for all when thou wast slain, In its fullness undiminished Shall for evermore remain, Alleluya, Cleansing souls from every stain.

Life-imparting heavenly Manna, Stricken Rock with streaming side, Heaven and earth with loud hosanna Worship thee, the Lamb who died, Alleluya, Risen, ascended, glorified!

COMMUNION HYMNS O King enthroned on high, Thou Comforter divine, Blest Spirit of all truth, be nigh And make us Thine.

Thou art the Source of life, Thou art our treasure store; Give us Thy peace, and end our strife For evermore.

Descend, O heavenly Dove, Abide with us alway; And in the fullness of Thy love Cleanse us, we pray.

Solo: ONCE in royal David's city Stood a lowly cattle shed, Where a mother laid her baby In a manger for his bed: Mary was that Mother mild, Jesus Christ her little Child.

He came down to earth from heaven Who is God and Lord of all, And his shelter was a stable, And his cradle was a stall: With the poor and mean and lowly, Lived on earth our Saviour holy.

And our eyes at last shall see him Through his own redeeming love, For that Child so dear and gentle, Is our Lord in heaven above: And he leads his children on To the place where he is gone.

Not in that poor lowly stable, With the oxen standing by, We shall we see him: but in heaven, Set at God's right hand on high, Where like stars his children crowned, All in white shall wait around.

REGINA CAELI Joy to thee, O Queen of Heaven. Alleluia!

He whom thou wast meet to bear. Alleluia!

As he promised hath arisen. Alleluia!

Pour for us to God thy prayer. Alleluia!

Rejoice and be glad of Virgin Mary. Alleluia!

For the Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Let us pray.

O God, Who by the Resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, hast brought joy to the world: grant we beseech Thee, that through his Mother the Virgin Mary, we may obtain the joys of eternal life. Through the same Christ, our Lord. Amen.

REFLECTION ON THE ASCENSION Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven which occurred on the 40th day after Easter.

In the Liturgy it narrates of the episode of the final departure of

Jesus from his disciples (cf. Lk 24: 50-51; Acts 1: 2, 9); but it is not an abandonment, because he remains always with them with us but under a new form. St Bernard of Clairvaux explains that Jesus' Ascension into Heaven is accomplished in three steps: "The first is the glory of the Resurrection; the second is the power to judge; and the third is sitting at the right hand of the Father" (Sermo de Ascensione Domini 60, 2: Sancti Bernardi Opera, t. vi 1, 291, 20-21). Such an event is preceded by the blessing of the disciples, whom he prepares to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, in order that salvation is proclaimed everywhere. Jesus himself says to them: "You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you" (cf. Lk 24: 47, 49).

The Lord draws the gaze of the Apostles our gaze toward Heaven to show how to travel the road of good during earthly life. Nevertheless, he remains within the framework of human history, he is near to each of us and guides our Christian journey: he is the companion of the those persecuted for the faith, he is in the heart of those who are marginalised, he is present in those whom the right to life is denied. We can hear, see and touch our Lord Jesus in the Church, especially through the word and the sacraments.

The Lord opening the way to Heaven, gives us a foretaste of divine life already on this earth. A 19th-century Russian author wrote in his spiritual testament: "Observe the stars more often.

When you have a burden in your soul, look at the stars or the azure of the sky. When you feel sad, when they offend you... converse... with Heaven. Then your soul will find rest" (N. Valentini L. Zák [editor], Pavel A. Florenskij. "Non dimenticatemi. Le lettere dal gulag del grande matematico, filosofo e sacerdote russo, Milan 2000, p. 418). I thank the Virgin Mary, whom I was able to venerate at the Shrine in Fatima in these past days, for her maternal protection during the intense pilgrimage to Portugal. To her, who watches over the witnesses of her beloved Son, let us address our prayer trustingly.

Extract from Pope Benedict Ascension Day 2010