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Spiritual songs > Our Lord Jesus Christ >

O Jesus, Lord, we ask you to bless us

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This hymn to the Sacred Hear of Jesus Christ borrows its melody from the Bortnyansky composition, Kol slaven naš.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart is a medieval and early modern Latin devotion which became popular in our church in the mid-20th century, but with the later recovery of Eastern Catholic traditions, this devotion is much less common in our churches. See this article in the Catholic Encyclopedia for more information about the devotion itself.

For the Slavonic version of this hymn, see Blahoslovi vs’ich, Isuse milyj.

Sources

Two verses with music were included on page H-4 of the 1970 collection, Byzantine Liturgical Chant, as one of nine hymns for Holy Communion. The English translation was credited to Fr. William Levulic. The source of the second verse is unclear; it appears to be a rough translation of Kol slaven naš.

Fr. William Levkulic printed English and Slavonic versions (text only) on page 152 of his The Divine Liturgy: A Book of Prayer (1978). The second verse in both English and Slavonic appears to be a modified form of Kol slaven naš, with the same basic sense of the text. The second verse in Slavonic is directed to the Son, but the English translation is directed to the Father. Because of this, the second English verse (which is well known in our parishes) willl be appended to So great is God, the English setting of Kol slaven naš.