| 1 Lord, who throughout these forty days for us didst fast and pray, teach us with Thee to mourn our sins and close by Thee to stay. |
4 And through these days of penitence, and through Thy passion-tide, forevermore in life and death, O Lord, with us abide. |
| 2 As Thou with Satan didst contend, and didst the vict’ry win, O give us strength in Thee to fight, in Thee to conquer sin. |
5 Abide with us, that so, this life of doubts and joy and pain, an Easter of unending joy we may attain at last. |
| 3 As Thou didst hunger and didst thirst, so teach us, gracious Lord, to die to self, and so to live by Thy most holy word. |
Amen. |
| 1 Forty days and forty nights Thou wast fasting in the wild; forty days and forty nights tempted, and yet undefiled. |
4 So shall we have peace divine: holier gladness ours shall be; round us, too, shall angels shine, such as ministered to Thee. |
| 2 Should not we Thy sorrow share and from worldly joys abstain, fasting with unceasing prayer, strong with Thee to suffer pain? |
5 Keep, O keep us, Savior dear, ever constant by Thy side; that with Thee we may appear at the’eternal Eastertide. |
| 3 Then if Satan on us press, Jesus, Savior, hear our call! Victor in the wilderness, grant we may not faint or fall! |
Amen. |
| 1 Take up your cross, the Savior said, if you would My disciple be; take up your cross with willing heart, and humbly follow after Me. |
3 Take up your cross, heed not the shame, and let your foolish pride be still; the Lord for you accepted death upon a cross, on Calvary’s hill. |
| 2 Take up your cross, let not its weight fill your weak spirit with alarm; Christ’s strength shall bear your spirit up and brace your heart and nerve your arm. |
4 Take up your cross, then, in Christ’s strength, and calmly every danger brave: it guides you to abundant life and leads to victory o’er the grave. |
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| Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, 1090-1153. Translated by Sir Henry Williams Baker, 1821-1877. |
Passion Chorale (1601), Hans Leo Hassler 1564-1612 Harmonization by J.S. Bach, 1685-1750. |
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| 1. O sacred Head surrounded By crown of piercing thorn! O bleeding Head, so wounded, Reviled and put to scorn! Death’s pallid hue comes o’er Thee, The glow of life decays, Yet angel hosts adore Thee, And tremble as they gaze. |
2. I see Thy strength and vigor All fading in the strife, And death with cruel rigor, Bereaving Thee of life; O agony and dying! O love to sinners free! Jesus, all grace supplying, O turn Thy face on me. |
| 3. In this, Thy bitter passion, Good Shepherd, think of me With Thy most sweet compassion, Unworthy though I be: Beneath Thy cross abiding For ever would I rest, In Thy dear love confiding, And with Thy presence blest. |
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