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Part one: REQUIEM AETERNAM ‘the yearning' OUT OF THE DEEP Psalm 130
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine
Out of the deep I cry to Thee
Lord, listen to my prayer
Father, come, attend to me
I am in despair
Lord have mercy on your servant
for I am cold and lost without you
If you, O Lord, should number sin
then who could ever stand?
But forgiveness rests with thee
righteous in your hands
that you may be feared, O Father
In the hearts of every man
My soul is waiting for the Lord
and in His word I hope
more than a watchman for the morning
more than a watchman for the dawn
more than this my soul is waiting
waiting for the Lord,
waiting for the Lord,
waiting for the Lord.
WILL THE WAITING BE LONG?
I am speaking to you, the one they forced
from the playground
and from the street, from the house where
you lived and from your childhood room.
As you suffer, I suffer, and my nights are
sleepless too.
I swear to you, I do not kick the football like
before, I do not sing the way I did.
I have locked up my bicycle, and I have
locked up my smile.
I have locked up my games and my childish
jokes as well.
Will the waiting be long? I do not want to
grow old while still just a child,
and I fear for you that, in the wait, the place
of your birth will soon be forgotten.
Therefore,my friend, welcome to my place.
We will share the sea, and the beauty of a
summer evening.
We will enjoy the singing of the birds and do
our homework together.
Nemanja, 11, Sutomore, former Yugoslavia
REQUIEM AETERNAM
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine
requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine
Lord, grant them eternal rest
Lord, grant them eternal rest
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine
requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine
Lord, grant them eternal rest
Lord, grant them eternal rest
Thou shalt have praise in Zion, Oh God
and homage offered to Thee in Jerusalem
Hear my prayer
"I see the world being turned
into a wilderness,
I hear the gathering storm,
I feel the suffering of millions,
which will destroy us all
yet, if I look into the heavens,
I think it will come right,
that this cruelty, too, will one day end."
Anne Frank 15
"We are only children.
We did not cause this pain,
but we want to stop this madness.
We want to start again
Like Anne Frank fifty years ago,
we wait each day for peace.
She didn't live to see it....
Oh will we, will we,.?"
Students from a fifth-grade class in
Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Hear my prayer, hear my prayer,
hear my prayer, hear my prayer
"I belong to a tradition that believes that
the death of a single child is a blemish on
creation"
Elie Wiesel, July 1988 Part two: KYRIE ELEISON ‘lord, have mercy' KYRIE ELEISON (Part one)
Kyrie, Kyrie, eleison, eleison
Kyrie, Kyrie, eleison, eleison
Christe, Christe, eleison, eleison
Christe, Christe, eleison, eleison
Mercy, Mercy, Lord have mercy,
Lord have mercy on us
Mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have
mercy, Lord have mercy on us
Kyrie, Kyrie, eleison, eleison.
HOW DID I BELIEVE IN YOU?..
"It strikes me that all the birds have gone
from Lebanon.They could not stand the
noise of the war any longer... even the Spring
is sad here... no-one sings anymore... grownup
people are so stupid.When I ask why
they fight they do not answer me. I wish
they would throw their weapons into the sea
and that we could all sing songs together...."
Bilal Amhaz, 12, Lebanon
What can I say to you when there is
nothing but this darkness and your silence?
How did I believe in you, my God when there
is nothing but this darkness and your silence?
Where are you since you have forsaken my
heart? Are you lonely, like me?
Lonely, wandering through the earth,
weeping with the tears of your children.
I am a fool for talking to the emptiness
I cry out in the night but you do not listen
No one comes.
What can I say to you when there is
nothing but this darkness and your silence?
"My father was hit by shrapnel. He died
immediately. I miss him so much...
deep down I have really lost faith in adults...
recently I was walking in the garden near our
house when bullets suddenly started flying all
around me... and after that there was a
bomb attack. Just like that.
Adel Assaad, 12, Lebanon
I DREAM OF PEACE
In the silence between the bombs....
I dream
In the stillness before the guns....
I dream, I dream of peace
In the hunger and the cold....I dream
Far away from home....I dream
I dream of peace
Beside my father's picture I am weeping
At each nightfall his soft footfall
Still comes to me as I am sleeping....
I am sleeping....
As our mothers search for bread...
I dream
For the wounded and the dead....
I dream, I dream of peace
In the terror of each night....I dream
As my brother leaves to fight....I dream
I dream of peace
In the ruins of my land I am hiding
Smoke in the air floats like a prayer
And now in the dark I am gliding....
I am gliding....
Stop the fighting, stop the war
Do not hurt us anymore
Stop the hatred, stop the pain
Let me be a child again
Stop the shells, stop the planes
Stop everything that kills and maims
Drown your weapons in the sea
Send my Daddy back to me
In the rubble of my street
there are flowers
Which strangely grow - I do not know
Where I can find such healing powers....
healing powers....
When will we be at peace?
When will we be at peace?
When will this madness cease?
When will this madness cease?
I dream of peace
I dream of peace Part three: DIES IRAE ‘the burning anger' ‘Here in this carload
I am Eve
with Abel my son
if you see my other son
Cain son of man
tell him I...'
Dan Pagis
‘The earth will reveal the blood shed on her
She will cover her slain no longer
Hide, Oh people, the Lord He burns
with anger
Where are you? Where are you?
Where are you?
Dies Irae, dies illa
This day, this day of wrath
Solvet saeclum in favilla
Shall consume the world in ashes
Teste David cum Sybilla
As foretold by David and Sibyl
Quantus tremor est futurus
What trembling there shall be
Quando Judex est venturus
When the Judge shall come
Cuncta strictus discussurus
To weigh everything strictly
What have you done? What have you done?
Your brother's blood cries out to me from
the ground.
Now you are under a curse and driven from
the ground,
which opened its mouth to receive your
brothers blood from your hand.
You will be a restless wanderer on the earth,
for dust you are and to dust you shall return.'
Liber scriptus proferetur
The written book will be brought forth
In quo totum continetur
In which all is recorded
Dies Irae, dies illa
This day, this day of wrath
Solvet saeclum in favilla
Shall consume the world in ashes
Teste David cum Sybilla
As foretold by David and Sibyl
Quantus tremor est futurus
What trembling there shall be
Quando Judex est venturus
When the Judge shall come
Cuncta strictus discussurus
To weigh everything strictly
RECORDARE JESU PIE
Recordare Jesu pie
Remember gentle Jesus
Quod sum causa tuae viae:
That I am the reason for your time on earth
Ne me perdas illa die..
Do not cast me out on that day.
Quarens me, sedisti lassus:
Seeking me,You sat down wearily
Redemisti crucem passus:
Redeemed me on the cross of suffering
Tantus labor non sit cassus.
Such travail should not be in vain.
Ingemisco, tanquam reus:
I groan, like the sinner that I am
Culpa rubet vultus meus:
Guilt reddens my face
Supplicanti parce Deus.
Oh God spare the supplicant.
Ingemisco, tanquam reus:
I groan, like the sinner that I am
Culpa rubet vultus meus:
Guilt reddens my face
Supplicanti parce Deus.
Oh God spare the supplicant.
Save me, fount of mercy.
Save me, fount of mercy.
Qui Mariam absolvisti,
You who absolved Mary
Et latronem exaudisti,
And hearkened to the thief
Mihi quoque spem dedisti.
Have given hope to me as well.
Inter oves locum praesta,
With your sheep give me a place
Et ab haedis me sequestra,
And separate me from the goats
Statuens in parte dextra.
Let me stand at Your right hand.
Oro supplex et acclinis,
Bowed down in supplication I beg you,
Cor contritum quasi cinis,
My heart as though ground to ashes,
Gere curam mei finis.
Help me in my last hour.
Oro supplex et acclinis,
Bowed down in supplication I beg you,
Cor contritum quasi cinis,
My heart as though ground to ashes,
Gere curam mei finis.
Help me in my last hour.
Save me, fount of mercy.
Save me, fount of mercy.
Save me, fount of mercy.
Save me, fount of mercy. Part four: OFFERTORIO ‘the naming' FEAR
Today the ghetto knows a different fear,
close in its grip, death wields an icy scythe.
An evil sickness spreads a terror in its wake
the victims of its shadow weep and writhe.
Today a father's heartbeat tells his fright
and mothers bend their heads
into their hands.
Now children choke
and die with typhus here,
a bitter tax is taken from their bands.
My heart still beats inside my breast
while friends depart for other worlds
perhaps it's better - who can say,
than watching this, to die today....?
No, no, my God, we want to live!
Not watch our numbers melt away.
We want to have a better world.
We want to work - we must not die!
Eva Picková, 12,Terezín.
Died Auschwitz, 1943
THE NAMING
....lost children, lost childhood....
Eva Picková, died Auschwitz December
18, 1943 aged 14 She wrote the poem
‘Fear' knowing she faced her own death
Anne Frank, died Bergen-Belsen
Concentration camp, February 1945,
aged 16 One and a half million Jewish
children were killed in the Holocaust
Maria Coetzee, died Arcadia Camp,
South Africa, July 1901, aged 11 She was a
victim of the first concentration camps set
up by the British during the Boer War
Joan Owen of number 10 Usk road,
London, died January 27, 1944 aged 2 She
was one of thousands of children killed in the
second world war by indiscriminate bombing
Hector Peterson, died Soweto, June 16
1976, aged 7 He was the first of many
children to be gunned down by the state
security police during the school children's
riots.They were protesting about the
compulsory use of Afrikaans
Gaspard Nsengimana, murdered
Rwanda, May 14 1994, aged 8 He was
killed alongside his mother and baby brother
because they belonged to the wrong tribe
Ludvin Omar Valdes, died Guetemala
City,August 1998, aged 17 He was one of
thousands of street children dying or
murdered on the streets of the world's cities
every year
Maura Monaghan, died Omagh,
Northern Ireland,August 15 1998, aged
18 months. Nine children died instantly in a
terrorist bombing. Maura's mother and her
grandmother also died. Maura's mother was
pregnant with twins
Dritan Berisha, died Kosovo, April
1999, aged 10 He was killed with his 13
year old brother, 15 year old sister and their
mother when their car hit a landmine Part five: SANCTUS ‘endless generations' SANCTUS
Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus
Dominus Deus Sabaoth
Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus
Dominus Deus Sabaoth
Holy, holy
Lord God of hosts
Heaven and earth are full of thy glory
Sanctus, sanctus,
Hosanna in excelsis,
Blessed is He who cometh
in the name of the Lord
Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, sanctus,
Heaven and earth are full of thy glory
Heaven and earth are full of thy glory
Sanctus, Sanctus,
Blessed is He who cometh
in the name of the Lord
Blessed is He who cometh
in the name of the Lord
Blessed is He who cometh
in the name of the Lord
ON A NIGHT OF RAIN IN JERUSALEM
The few trees in the yard
moan like a forest,
the thunderous clouds
are heavy with rivers.
The Angels of Peace stand
at the head of my sleeping children
as the trees moan
and the heavy rains pour down
Outside: Jerusalem,
city of the Father's glorious trial
where he bound his son
on one of the hills.
That fire, kindled at dawn,
still burns on the hill,
the rains have not put it out.
What can equal this glory,
this wondrous zeal
alive since that ancient
dawn to this very moment,
for the Mount of Moriah?
The blood of the covenant
sings on in the Father's fervent body,
he is prepared to offer his sacrifice
on the temple mount at dawn.
It is the fire between the sacrificial pieces
It is the fire between the sacrificial pieces
It is the fire between the sacrificial pieces
the sacrificial pieces, the sacrificial pieces
Outside, Jerusalem,
and the moaning of the Lord's trees
cut down by her enemies
in every generation,
clouds are heavy with rain,
lightnings in them and thunders,
which for me, on this night of rain,
are tidings from the mouth of God
to endless generations,
endless generations,
endless generations...
(based on a poem by)
Uri Zvi Greenberg (b.1896)
(Kyrie Eleison, reprise)
Kyrie, Kyrie eleison, eleison
Kyrie, Kyrie eleison, eleison
Christe, Christe eleison, eleison
Christe, Christe eleison, eleison.
NEW COVENANT
Night lay over the earth
when a star appeared.
A mysterious fire.
It was not blinding.
It did not dazzle or attract.
It did not deceive
It did not demand.
It moved through the freezing night
to Bethlehem.
I was one of many who followed.
We stumbled through the centuries.
We came bearing our empty lamps.
Treading an ancient path
through industrial wasteland.
And the shadow of atomic war.
We were 20th century pilgrims
who feared our physical destruction.
But did not know
that a more deadly war was upon us.
For us, the star moved
through the freezing night.
And came to rest over the stable
once again.
Latecomers to Bethlehem,
we knelt and worshipped
at the turn of two millennia.
We wept for our sins.
For the neglect of our souls
and the devastation of our world.
The child reached out to us
in his burning innocence.
For the first time,
we looked into the face of love.
Then we knew our destiny.
It was to illuminate our world.
To open a window into God's world.
CREDO....I BELIEVE
I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
I believe in love even when feeling it not
I believe in God even when he is silent
I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
I believe in love even when feeling it not
I believe in God even when he is silent
I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
I believe in love even when feeling it not
I believe in God even when he is silent
Hear my prayer
I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
I believe in love even when feeling it not
I believe in God even when he is silent
I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
I believe in love even when feeling it not
I believe in God even when he is silent
Hear my prayer, hear my prayer,
I believe, I believe
hear my prayer, hear my prayer
I believe, I believe Part six: AGNUS DEI ‘lamb of God' AGNUS DEI
Agnus Dei,Agnus Dei,
Agnus Dei,Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
Dona eis requiem
Lamb of God,
Who takest away the sins of the world,
grant them, grant them eternal rest.
Agnus Dei,Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
Dona eis requiem
Grant them, grant them eternal rest
Grant us your peace, grant us your peace
Grant us your peace, grant us your peace
Lamb of God who bears the sins of all
the world, Lamb of God have mercy on
our wounded souls
Lamb of God, through whom, one day, all
pain shall cease, Lamb of God have
mercy, grant us your peace
Grant us your peace, grant us your peace
Grant us your peace, grant us your peace Part seven: LIBERA ME ‘deliverance' Our Father
liturgy
On a Sunny Evening:
children from Barracks L318 and
L417,Terezín, aged 10 - 16
A Little Child Shall Lead Them:
adaptation from Isaiah 11
OUR FATHER
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name
thy kingdom come
thy will be done, on earth as it is in
heaven
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us
our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil
For Thine is the kingdom
the power and the glory
for ever,Amen
"Will the waiting be long? I do not want to
grow old while still just a child."
Nemanja
"When I close my eyes, I dream of peace...."
Aleksandar, 14, former Yugoslavia
ON A SUNNY EVENING
On a purple, sun-shot evening
Under flowering chestnut trees
Upon the threshold full of dust
It seems the days are all like these
How the trees flower forth in beauty
Their very wood all gnarled and old
That I am half afraid to peer
Into their crowns of green and gold
The sun has made a veil of gold
So lovely that my body aches
Above, the heavens shriek with blue
Convinced I've smiled by some mistake
The world's abloom and seems to smile
I want to fly but where, how high?
If in barbed wire, things can bloom
Why couldn't I ? I will not die!...
1944, written by children in Barracks
L318 and L 417,Terezín, aged 10-16 years.
A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM
And a child shall find them,
free them, lead them
from the lonely prison of the heart.
There the breath of God is blowing, burning
all that death and hatred tears apart
And the child shall take them, hand
outstretched to guide them
in the way of beauty through the night.
There the power of God is moving, healing
turning blindness into sight
The wolf and the lamb, together are dwelling
the calf and the lion, asleep they lie.
The bear and the kid together are feeding
their young are at play, side by side
And a child shall lead them
to a land of freedom
where darkness is forever turned to day.
Where the world was broken,
wounded, weeping
then a child will kiss the tears away
And a little child will call them, softly
bless them, hold them tenderly.
The earth shall be filled
with the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the mighty sea
The world shall follow, humble, forgiven
no more sorrow, no more sword.
And all creation, that once was groaning
now shall rejoice in the way of the Lord
And a child shall lead them
to a land of freedom
where darkness is forever turned to day.
Where the world was broken,
wounded, weeping
then a child will kiss the tears away
Where the world was broken,
wounded, weeping
then a child will kiss the tears away Part eight: IN PARADISUM ‘a little child shall lead them'
IF I WERE PRESIDENT
Requiem Aeternam, Donna eis Domine,
Requiem Aeternam, Donna eis Domine,
" If I were president,
the tanks would be playhouses for the kids.
Boxes of candy would fall from the sky.
The mortars would fire balloons.
And the guns would blossom with flowers.
All the world's children
would sleep in a peace
unbroken by ‘alerts' or by shooting.
The refugees would return to their villages.
And we would start anew."
Roberto, Pula, former Yugoslavia, aged 10
THE BEATITUDES
Blessed are the poor in spirit
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
Blessed are those who mourn
for they shall be comforted
Blessed are the meek
for they will inherit the earth
Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness
Blessed are the merciful
for they will be shown mercy
Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see their God
Blessed are the peacemakers
for they shall be called ‘sons of God'
Blessed are those who are persecuted
because of righteousness
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
Rejoice and be glad
for great is your reward in heaven
Rejoice and be glad
for great is your reward in heaven
IN PARADISUM
In paradisum deducant te angeli
In tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres
Et perducant te in civitatem
Sanctam Jerusalem
Chorus angelorum te suscipiat
In paradisum deducant te angeli
In tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres
In paradisum deducant te angeli
In tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres
In paradisum deducant te angeli
In tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres
In paradisum deducant te angeli
In tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres
May the angels lead thee
at thy coming may the martyrs receive thee
and bring thee into Jerusalem
May the angels lead thee
at thy coming may the martyrs receive thee
and bring thee into Jerusalem
May the angels lead thee
at thy coming may the martyrs receive thee
and bring thee into Jerusalem
Deep peace of the Running Wave to you
Deep peace of the Flowing air to you
Deep peace of the quiet Earth to you
Deep peace of the Shining Stars to you
Deep peace of the Son of peace to you
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine
Requiem. Requiem.
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