Sunday, September 19, 2010

Getting in the Mood

The ride to the chapel for the midnight adoration takes me about twenty minutes. Time enough to have a coffee; time enough to calm my mind, time enough to prepare me for time with my God. Unfortunately, some nights it is also time enough to worry. Last night was one of those nights. Plans for the book, am I doing enough; next steps for the jobs class and website – maybe I should do more; the book review, was I fair, or too fair; the finance meeting on Monday, are we ready to incorporate? The balls were bouncing around in my brain, as I drove through the dark night.

Fortunately, sometimes within all this clutter, there is still room for my mind to remember where I am and where I am going, and Whom I am going to see. Then, to get my mind in the proper mood, I often put some beautiful love songs in the CD player, savoring the words, and imagining they are Jesus and I, beginning our conversation for the night, telling each other of the love we feel.

These are a couple of my favorites. I put the woman’s words in italics, and duets in bold. (The words and songs are from a CD titled: Michael Crawford performs Andrew Lloyd Webber.) I pray that, perhaps, these words might also inspire you, to prepare you for your conversations with He who so much wants to love us, and to have us love Him.


All I Ask of You

No more talk of darkness, forget these wide-eyed fears,
I’m here.
Nothing can harm you; My words will warm and calm you.
Let Me be your freedom; let daylight dry your tears.
I’m here with you beside you, to guard you and to guide you.

Say You’ll love me every waking moment.
Turn my head with talk of summertime.
Say You need me with You now and always
Promise me that all You say is true; that’s all I ask of You.

Let Me be your shelter; let Me be your light.
You’re safe.
No one will find you.
Your fears are all behind you.

All I want is freedom, a world with no more night.
And You, always beside me, to hold me and to hide me.

Then say you’ll share with Me one love, one lifetime.
Let Me lead you from your solitude.
Say you need Me with you, here beside you.
Anywhere you go, let Me go too.
Love Me, that’s all I ask of you.

Say You’ll share with me,
One love, one lifetime.
Say the word and I will follow You
.

Share each day with me,
Each night, each morning.


Say You love me…,

You know I do.

Love me, that’s all I ask of you.
Anywhere you go let me go too.
Love me, that’s all I ask of you.



The First Man You Remember

Other pleasures, and I’ve known many,
Afternoons in warm Venetian squares.
Pleasures old and new, can’t compare with you.
You amaze me; where did you come from.
You do things champagne could never do
Crystal winters, crimson summers, other pleasures,
I would trade them all for you.

I want to be the first man you remember.
I want to be the last one you’ll forget.
I want to be the one you’ll always turn to;
I want to be the one you won’t forget.
May I be first to say you look delightful;
May I be first to dance you round the floor.
The very first to see your face by moonlight,
The very first to walk you to your door.

Well, kind Sir, I’d be delighted.
There is nothing I would rather do.


What could be a sweeter memory
Than sharing my first dance with You.

I want to be the first man you remember
The very first to sweep me off my feet.
I want to be the one you always turn to.
The first to make my young heart miss a beat.

Sailing off in the night, on a silver lake,
Taking more from this life than I ought to take.
Other pleasures, I would trade them all for you.

I want to be ….
The one you won’t forget.

4 comments:

  1. Beautiful lyrics, truly a prayer! And what a wonderful way to settle your mind and prepare your heart for a time of adoration!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Really, really nice. I can't relate too much to the music but I know all about the driving in the night to adoration. H and I are members of the Nocturnal Adoration Society and we're on the rotating schedule for the 10:00 pm until 6:00 am time slot. Are you? The blessed Sacrament is exposed on the First Friday of every month. So we may have the 10-11pm, or the 1-2am, where ever our rotation brings us. Oct. 1st we have the 1-2am slot. The ride in the lateness of the night is part of it, as is the quietness and usual lack of anyone else there but us. At that time of the night I'm not thinking of work or really much of anything but Him.. Now when I do 5-6pm every Thursday at my own church its much different. Straight from work with everything still running around in my head. Near the end of Adoration I'm usually calm, and by then it's time to go. Sorry for being long.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My parish has adoration 24/7, with two adorers scheduled every hour. I remember when it was set up, the diocese said it would never work in a parish with only 600 families. We've proved them wrong on many things. My scheduled hours are Tuesday at midnight, and Saturday from midnight to 2AM. I'm also a late night sub; anything after mom goes to bed, usually NLT 10PM, but most people are regular and rarely need subs, or just leave their partner alone.

    I'm a hopeless romantic relative to the songs, and I guess many things. I've been meaning to update my profile to put in all the stuff everyone else has on favorites, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You are a true trooper when it comes to the late night hours. Our parish has a little less than 400 families, plus I don't think there is any place to set up the chapel; our Church is fairly old and small. Our adorers are all Secular Franciscans, strange, but it just happened that way. k

    ReplyDelete