During the season of Lent, FaithND will provide meditations on this season of preparation through musical offerings from the many Notre Dame choirs and sacred music ensembles. Songs will be featured on Ash Wednesday, each Tuesday and Saturday of Lent, and every day of Holy Week through the Octave of Easter.

The Vocare Ensemble, Notre Dame-Newman Centre Dublin – The Newman Vocare Ensemble consists of musicians and choristers at Newman’s University Church on St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin, Ireland. The University stewards Newman University Church and has now founded the Notre Dame – Newman Centre for Faith and Reason.

This simple phrase, “Abba, forgive!” draws us into the penitential nature of the season of Lent. We know intuitively that reconciliation is a deeply personal encounter between the individual and God but this song helps us to see that divine forgiveness is also fundamentally connected to communal reconciliation and repentance for our collective, structural sinfulness. The piece asks for forgiveness for “the hatred which divides us, nation from nation… family from family,” evoking the deep divisions that exist in our culture. It also references global issues such as “the greed which spoils our labors and lays waste the gentle earth” and “our blindness and indifference to those without land and home.” As we reflect on this moving piece, how can we become more aware of our need for collective repentance and social transformation in this season of Lent?

(Lyrics)
Abba, forgive! Forgive us of our failings!
Pour out your mercy, and heal our shattered souls!
We all have sinned and come short, have come short and fallen.
Abba, forgive! Abba, forgive!
We all have sinned and faltered,
Come short of God’s glory!
Abba, forgive! Abba, forgive!
Be kind to one another, tender and forgiving!
Abba, forgive! Abba, forgive!
Abba, forgive! Forgive us our failings!
Pour out your mercy, and heal our shattered souls!
The hatred which divides us,
Nation from nation,
Abba, forgive! Abba, forgive!
The hatred which divides us,
Family from family,
Abba, forgive! Abba, forgive!
Be kind to one another, tender and forgiving!
Abba, forgive! Abba, forgive!
Abba, forgive! Forgive us our failings!
Pour out your mercy, and heal our shattered souls!
The greed which spoils our labors,
And lays waste the gentle earth,
Abba, forgive! Abba, forgive!
Our blindness and indifference
To those without land and home.
Abba, forgive! Abba, forgive!
Be kind to one another, tender and forgiving!
Abba, forgive! Abba, forgive!
Abba, forgive! Forgive us our failings!
Pour out your mercy, and heal our shattered souls!

Text and music: Steven C. Warner, copyright © 1998 World Library Publications, a division of GIA Publications, Chicago, IL. All rights reserved.

For more songs, please visit Songs of Notre Dame: A Lenten Offering