What Wondrous Love is This, O my soul, O my soul,
What Wondrous Love is This, O my Soul.
What Wondrous Love is This, That caused the Lord of Bliss,
To bear the dreadful curse, for my soul, for my soul.
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.
As we approach Lent, I find myself already preoccupied—thinking of all the ways to make sure myself and my family keep Lent, Lent. In His Wondrous love God did all of this for me, and I gosh darn better show I’m appreciative. I think about how we like to strip the decorations in our house and place a crown of thorns and purple cloth on our mantel, and how I can’t forget to do that on Ash Wednesday (which is March 5th, I remind myself). I try to decide what devotional to read this year, and if I should make my kids start ones. And when does our new parish hold Stations of the Cross? I need to figure that out so I can be sure we go at least once. And now that I’m in the choir…am I singing all of Triduum? Which Easter Mass will I need to be at? I’m already all consumed to be sure I sacrifice enough and be reverent enough to honor the sacrifice that I have never deserved and will never be reverent enough to be worthy of. And then I hear this song. And I am immediately brought to the foot of the cross and reminded it’s not about my worth. It is about His Wondrous Love for each of us and that to Him, each of us is worth it. Our soul alone is worth it.
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb,
Who is the great I AM,
While millions join the theme, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on.
“While millions join the theme, I’ll sing on.“
We are made for praise and praise of Him. We are made to sing to and of God, not to be crushed under the weight of His sacrifice, but to joyfully, resolutely, passionately lift our voices and praise Him for loving us with such a wondrous love. The rhythm of the song is almost pounding (I often recall the marching of the revolutionaries in the musical Les Miserable). While the first verse leaves me wistful, almost sad, this second verse steals me with courage and a focus to march toward. While keeping Lent reverent and sacrificial is important, it is just as important that we don’t get caught up in being reverent for the sake of being reverent (or reverent for no reason other than that it’s “what we always do”). It is for praise of God and for the Lamb and to bring the millions to the theme.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free, I”ll sing and joyful be.
And through eternity, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on.
And through eternity, I’ll sing on.
After running the gamut of sorrow and despair, to perseverance and courage, we end with joy and freedom. And that is the message of the Resurrection. We feel sorrow and despair on Friday, we need to have perseverance and courage on Saturday and we are given true joy and true freedom on Sunday. While this song truly haunts and challenges me each and every time I hear or sing it, what a beautiful gift it is to remind us all of the true Wondrous Love of Jesus’s Passion, Death and Resurrection.
