Today Christians celebrate Palm Sunday, the day when we remember the "triumphal entry" of Jesus into Jerusalem, one week before His resurrection. Some 450-500 years earlier, the Prophet Zechariah had prophesied, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your King is coming to you: He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey". (Zechariah 9:9) Matthew 21:7-9 records the fulfillment of that prophecy: "They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying 'Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! Hosanna in the highest!'" Today our single desire should be to praise Jesus - our risen Savior and conquering King. And that is why I've chosen this week's hymn where each verse ends with "May Jesus Christ be praised!" It is said that this hymn was written by a German author whose name has been lost in time. It first appeared in 1828 in a Roman Catholic hymnal, Catholisches Gesangbuch. That hymnal originated in Wurzburg, on the Main River near Frankfurt. The hymn was translated from German into English by Edward Caswell (1814-1878), a Roman Catholic priest from England. Caswell was the son of an Anglican clergyman, and was himself ordained as an Anglican. He converted to Catholicism in 1847, prior to translating this hymn in 1854. It originally had 28 stanzas but today most hymnals include only four. I trust that the words of this old hymn may be your testimony, from morning to night, may Jesus Christ be praised and honored in all that you do.
1. When morning gilds the skies
my heart awakening cries:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Alike at work and prayer,
to Jesus I repair:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
2. The night becomes as day
when from the heart we say:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
The powers of darkness fear
when this sweet chant they hear:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
3. Let all the earth around
ring joyous with the sound:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
In heaven's eternal bliss
the loveliest strain is this:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
4. Be this, while life is mine,
my canticle divine:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Be this th' eternal song
through all the ages long:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Listen to the words here. LISTEN
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