(A song for my sister Mary Ruth)
I originally set this song to the words of Psalm 31, and dedicated the song to my sister, Mary Ruth. My sister died at the age of 42 years on August 10, 1997. For 25 years she suffered from Crohn’s disease. She had multiple surgeries, multiple hospital stays, and, in spite of her chronic illness worked all but the last ten years of her life as a cardiac Occupational Therapist. She got her Master of Arts in Education, and was working on a Doctorate at the time of her death. She traveled all of Europe and a great deal of the South Pacific, camped in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota, with the aid of her best friends and travel companions who were doctors. In her 42 years of life she accomplished more than I will ever accomplish during my lifetime.
I composed the setting of this psalm when I was the Liturgy and Music director of St Hubert Catholic Community, and used it at the Good Friday liturgy, at which Psalm 31 is the responsorial psalm. When my sister died in 1997, I put the music for this psalm away, thinking that it would never ever be used again in liturgy.
Last year, about this time, I was going through a lot of the music I composed for choir, and came across this song for my sister. I decided to recompose it, reimagine it as a piano composition. While the body of the sung response and verse is intact within the song, I added an introduction to the songs, which I have used as a bridge between the verses, and as a coda (ending) for the song.
I have placed the psalm text below. Note, that while the psalmist acknowledges that his enemies are plotting his death, his ultimate trust remains in God who will save him. I think I have captured this in the music.
Psalm 31
¹ In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;
do not let me ever be put to shame;
in your righteousness deliver me. ²
Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.
³ You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,
⁴ take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
for you are my refuge.
⁵ Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.
⁶ You hate those who pay regard to worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.
⁷ I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love,
because you have seen my affliction;
you have taken heed of my adversities,
⁸ and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
you have set my feet in a broad place.
⁹ Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and body also.
¹⁰ For my life is spent with sorrow,
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,
and my bones waste away.
¹¹ I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
a horror to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street flee from me.
¹² I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
I have become like a broken vessel.
¹³ For I hear the whispering of many— terror all around!—
as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.
¹⁴ But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.”
¹⁵ My times are in your hand;
deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
¹⁶ Let your face shine upon your servant;
ave me in your steadfast love.
¹⁷ Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord,
for I call on you; let the wicked be put to shame;
let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.
¹⁸ Let the lying lips be stilled that speak insolently
against the righteous with pride and contempt.
¹⁹ O how abundant is your goodness
that you have laid up for those who fear you,
and accomplished for those who take refuge in you,
in the sight of everyone!
²⁰ In the shelter of your presence
you hide them from human plots;
you hold them safe under your shelter from contentious tongues.
²¹ Blessed be the Lord,
for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
when I was beset as a city under siege.
²² I had said in my alarm, “I am driven far from your sight.”
But you heard my supplications when I cried out to you for help.
²³ Love the Lord, all you his saints.
The Lord preserves the faithful,
but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily.
²⁴ Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for the Lord.
