Prayer Of St. Ignatius

The song we're uploading today, Prayer Of St. Ignatius, is actually not all that new.  Inspired by St. Ignatius of Loyola's Prayer for Generosity, I wrote this piece before Michael and I began our songwriting collaborations.  I've always thought that St. Ignatius authored some of the most beautiful prayers.  His Suscipe is probably my favorite, but it already has a wonderful musical setting written for it by John Foley called Take, Lord, Receive (if you are not familiar with this classic, check it out here).

The Prayer for Generosity, on the other hand, is certainly a close second and has been a cherished prayer of mine since first hearing it used in a homily during Mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco many years ago.  I find that this simple and succinct plea for guidance and grace to live out the two greatest commandments is useful in all aspects of my life: as a Christian and neighbor to my fellow man, as a husband and father, and even as a professional.  Here is the original prayer:

Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve;
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to ask for reward,
save that of knowing that I do your will.

Looking back on the piece I wrote, I don't think I would be quite brave (or foolhardy) enough today to muddle as much with St. Ignatius' words as I did then.  But that being said, I do think it still holds together pretty well and remains in keeping with the sentiments of the original prayer.  We've used this piece a number of times over the years at IHM both during our capital campaign to raise funds for the new church as well as for stewardship Sundays.

This recording of Prayer of St. Ignatius, which you can hear by clicking on either of the music players on this blog, was a solo effort on my part.  What time Michael and I have had to collaborate this summer has gone into a different project that we hope to be making an announcement about soon.  In the meantime, I recorded this song over the space of a couple months, and so in this very intentionally rare case, you have a chance to hear my piano playing.

My adapted lyrics are posted after the break.

I've Gone Away

Late this past Spring, my family suffered another loss which left us speechless and searching our hearts and minds for answers to how something of this sort could happen to one of us. My niece, Erin was engaged to be married to a wonderful young man, Robert. Most all of the plans were set in place, but for waiting for the shower and for the time to come to send out the invitations for the September wedding. Then, one afternoon in April, Erin came home from teaching school to find a coroner on her doorstep with the tragic news that her beloved 25 year-old Robert had died at work from what we would later discover was a massive heart attack.

Driving home to Illinois for the funeral, I listened to a CD of folk songs arranged for flute and guitar. One of the songs was "He's Gone Away" and it set me to thinking of how these time-tested melodies that reside in our collective unconscious seem to have the power to express our deepest human emotions. Used for generations to express realities far more vast than the circumstances in which those who sang them were living, these melodies can still speak powerfully to us during times when our poor powers of speech fail us.

Coming home from the funeral, awash in feelings of grief that I was neither able to contain or successfully expel from my heart, I returned to "He's Gone Away." Playing it over and over, I felt inspired to write an arrangement of it, using words I could imagine Robert speaking to Erin were he able to communicate with her from his place in the kingdom of heaven. We hold firm to our belief that he lives now in the presence of the Lord and the hosts of heaven; among them, Robert's own grandpa who died not so many months ago and Richard, Erin's dad, who seemed to have found his way back into our lives in the remarkably familiar personality of Robert Connor.

My hope is that these words will comfort and bolster Erin's faith and that of the rest of my family. But perhaps others in circumstances of grief and loss may find inspiration and hope in the midst of their suffering as they search for meaning for love that survives the death of the beloved.

How grateful we are to Jeff Bush for the gifts of heart and vocal prowess that he brings to the singing of this tender piece.

Lyrics are posted below after the break.