thinking of santiago de compostela

on this feast of st james
the first apostle martyr
we sang at mass this hymn
to the tune from Melchior Vulpius
and lyrics by George K. A. Bell

Christ is the King! O friends rejoice;
Brothers and sisters, with one voice
Let the world know he is your choice
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia

O magnify the Lord, and raise
anthems of joy and holy praise
For all the saints of ancient days.
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia!

O Christian women, Christian men,
All the world over, seek again
The way his faithful followed then.
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia!

So shall God's will on earth be done,
New lamps be lit, new tasks begun,
And the whole Church at last be one.
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia!

i noted the lyrics because they echo my morning reading
looking into the chapter entitled
eternal life in the book by
Henri de Lubac sj
Catholicism
de Lubac insists that the notion of community
alive and working in the early church
was marked by continual prayer
for all the followers of christ
and ultimately for all men and women
that the justice of christ might be realized
in a recognition of unity
this lends itself to the further awareness that
the hammering out of the creeds and
the theology which accompanied all that
was really an effort to assure unity

perhaps the greatest catholic awareness
of the 20th going into the 21st century
has been the importance of mending bridges
building them again
and opening doors of sincerity and charity
for all those living in the spirit of christ
even to those who don't
much of this based on our being reacquainted
with the literature of the first few generations
of believers after the apostles

before the hymn during communion
i recognized a few people in the area around the altar
with whom i have grown uneasy
one might even go so far as to say suspicious
yet i deem to share in the same body and blood

the hymn beckons me on in hope

to walk to the altar with hands out is a way
of making community
not by my design but in openness to
a mystery
far greater than what i know

the title of the Vulpius hymn
is
GELOBT SEI GOTT
beloved of god

who can put a limit on that idea

the apostle james had conceived (or at least his mother did)
of the possibility
of being installed as a high government official
in the kingdom brought about by christ
it was not long until he realized
perhaps after making it to the northwest coast
of what is now spain
that his inclusion in the kingdom
would be ratified by a death much like that
of the one he chose to follow

i like to think that one day i will walk
to santiago de compostela church
and watch the largest
thurifer in the world
swing swing swing