PSALM OFFERING 10 OPUS 5 – Abba, Yeshua, Ruah (For Trish Flannigan)
This music, along with all of Opus 5, was composed during the Spring and Summer of 1994. Psalm Offerings 1 through 8 from this Opus were composed as gifts to my ordination brothers and sisters, Psalm Offering 9 was composed as a gift to Dr. Dolore Rockers OSF, and Abba, Yeshua, Ruah was composed for the ordination Mass and dedicated to Trish Flannigan, the “10th member” of my ordination class. Trish was the administrative secretary for Diaconal Formation and the Deacon Council of the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis. She is one of the most remarkable women I have known in my life. The institutional Church has a way of devaluing and using employees, and, sadly, Trish ended up being harshly treated by the Archdiocese. Instead of rewarding her for all her hard work and care she devoted to the diaconate, she was pretty much cast aside by Archbishop Flynn, and for peace of mind, heart and soul, left the ministry she loved.
The original version of this Psalm Offering was a choral hymn for 4 part choir and soloist, and was sung at the Preparation of the Gifts during the ordination Mass by a large “festival” choir comprised of many men and women from the parishes of the deacons being ordained, and under the direction of Dan Westmoreland. What is presented here is the hymn “recomposed or revoiced” for piano. What differentiates this version from the choral piece is the bridge that separates the three verses, and closes the piece as a Coda.
This adaptation was not as easy as one might think. What may work for voice, does not always translate well into instrumental piano. The text of the verses greatly enhance the vocal version. Without the text, it required much effort and thought to have just melody express the religious content of the original. What you hear is my best effort in doing this.
Abba, Yeshua, Ruah are the Aramaic and Hebraic words for Father, Jesus, Spirit, respectively. The use of the words, albeit in a foreign language, was my attempt to make the text express the true nature of the Trinity without the usual gender assignments we use in the English language, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This is the text for the hymn:
Abba, Abba.
May we be dwellings of Your holy love,
the love which You grace all below, above.
May we be dwellings of Your holy peace,
the peace for which all souls search and seek.
You loved so much that You sent Your Son.
Only in You can we leave as one.
Dwell in us Abba, so that all may feel
the touch of Your love and your peace-filled will.
Yeshua, Yeshua.
May we be servants of you, Eternal Word,
servants of you, Compassionate Word.
O may we seek you among the very least,
inviting all to our Abba’s feast.
You loved so much that You gave Your life.
You conquered our death so that we may rise.
O loving Jesus, may our bodies be,
Your living body for all to see.
Ruah, Ruah.
O Holy Spirit, come and make us whole,
enflame our hearts, our minds, our souls.
Inspire our actions, our fears relieve
so we may give to others what we’ve received.
Vessel of hope on our world outpoured.
Your healing breath our lives restore.
Infuse our lives now with your holy gifts
So in You, source of love, we may always live.
Abba, Yeshua, Ruah.
(c) 1994 and 2018, Robert Charles Wagner OFS. All rights reserved.
