On Thursday 30 April, we were privileged to bless and inaugurate our new pipe organ in a concert of organ, instrumental and choral music. The organ was blessed with a resounding prayer by the Church asking God that He bless “this instrument of the organ, dedicated to Thy worship; and grant that Thy faithful, rejoicing in spiritual canticles upon this earth, may merit to come to eternal joys in heaven.”
The music we experienced on Thursday evening was described by one parishioner as “heavenly”. We are grateful to the parish and guest musicians who took part in the concert by sharing their beautiful talents with us and making music worthy of and to the glory of God.
The concert was recorded and the recordings should be available to listen to in due course. One of the favourite pieces of the evening had to be the penultimate piece on the programme, the Te lucis ante terminum by Henry Balfour Gardiner, sung by our parish choir, asking God to be our “guard and keeper” until “the ending of the day” (audio below).
To paraphrase Pope Benedict XVI: may all who enter our church come to experience “the magnificence of its architecture and its liturgy, enriched by solemn song and the harmony of this new organ, be brought to the joy of faith”.
