The Blacknall Choir would like to share a rendition of the powerful hymn, “Ah, Holy Jesus,” a fitting musical companion for your journey and meditations through Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended,
that we to judge thee have in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by thine own rejected,
O most afflicted!

Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee!
'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee;
I crucified thee.

For me, kind Jesus, was thy incarnation,
thy mortal sorrow, and thy life's oblation;
thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion,
for my salvation.

Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee,
I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee,
think on thy pity and thy love unswerving,
not my deserving.

“Ah, Holy Jesus” by Johan Heermann (1630), trans. By Robert Bridges (1897). Tune Herzliebster Jesu by Johann Cruger (1640). Arrangement by Carolyn Jennings. © 1967 Augsburg Publishing House. CCLI # 1646534.