Blessed JHNewman

While my parents were here last week, we went to a concert at our church by a choir in Louisiana who had come to town to raise money for their trip to Ireland. They sang a setting of “Lead, Kindly Light,” Newman’s poem, perhaps the same setting that was sung on the Titanic shortly before it sank.




While in college, I worked as a research assistant for a professor who was a Newman scholar. I wonder if perhaps she was in England this weekend for his beatification. The lovely coda to her story is that recently she was married, after at least ¾ of her allotted 4 score years, to a widowed colleague from the same department. I imagine them eating tea and scones at some little inn in Oxford after the beatification, enjoying delightful, scholarly conversations.

The lyrics from Newman's poem:

Lead, Kindly Light

"Lead, Kindly Light, amidst th'encircling gloom,

Lead Thou me on!

The night is dark, and I am far from home,

Lead Thou me on!

Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see

The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus,

nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on;

I loved to choose and see my path;

but now lead Thou me on!

I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,

Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!

So long Thy power hath blest me,

sure it still will lead me on.

O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent,

till the night is gone,

And with the morn those angel faces smile, which I

Have loved long since, and lost awhile!

Meantime, along the narrow rugged path,

Thyself hast trod,

Lead, Savior, lead me home in childlike faith,

home to my God.

To rest forever after earthly strife

In the calm light of everlasting life."