Reason to love the Catholic Church # 7,044
Not only is my favorite, favorite patriotic hymn in the Catholic hymnal --(I fell in love with this hymn when I sang it in the Alps at age 15 on a German/USA youth exchange program) BUT my priest happily explained today that "This is My Song" comes from a larger piece called "Finlandia", a national celebration of Finlad against Russian occupation in 1899. Wisdom and Music Theory all rolled into one. Thank you Father Brennan!
This is my song, O God of all the nations
A song of peace for lands afar and mine
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine
My country's skies are bluer than the ocean
And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine
But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
and skies are every where as blue as mine
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations
A song of peace for their land and for mine
This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth's kingdoms;
Thy kingdom come; on earth thy will be done.
Let CFhrist be lifted up till all shall serve him,
And hearts united learn to live as one.
O hear my prayer, thou God of all the nations
Myself I give to thee; let thy will be done.
Check out the full symphony "Finlandia" on You Tube
