Christmas Music of the Day #9 - Be Thou My Vision, by Nathan Pacheco
I fell in love with this hymn several years ago when watching a television show, "Judging Amy". One of the characters was singing it at the beginning of the show, and it sounded so hauntingly beautiful that I couldn't erase it out of my mind. In normal times when we are attending church, I often play it for prelude.
This is an old hymn. According to hymnary.org, "According to mythology, when St. Patrick was a missionary in Ireland in the 5th century, King Logaire of Tara decreed that no one was allowed to light any fires until a pagan festival was begun by the lighting of a fire on Slane Hill. In a move of defiance against this pagan ritual, St. Patrick did light a fire, and, rather than execute him, the king was so impressed by his devotion that he let Patrick continue his missionary work. Three centuries later, a monk named Dallan Forgaill wrote the Irish poem, “Rop tú mo Baile” ("Be Thou my Vision), to remember and honor the faith of St. Patrick. Forgaill was martyred by pirates, but his poetry lived on as a part of the Irish monastic tradition for centuries until, in the early 20th century, Mary Elizabeth Byrne translated the poem into English, and in 1912, Eleanor Hull versified the text into what is now a well-loved hymn and prayer that at every moment of our lives, God would be our vision above all else.
https://hymnary.org/text/be_thou_my_vision_o_lord_of_my_heart
Is it a Christmas song? No, not really. But the music and its message is something that draws me to Christ. And, Nathan Pacheco's version is just gorgeous.
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