O Come, Divine Messiah

 O Come, Divine Messiah

There has never been a time in my life that I have seen so much suffering in families due to children struggling with mental or physical illness. The precious little girl who has had repeated surgeries for brain cancer. The families with teenagers hell-bent to do self-harm. The adult son who prefers living on the streets to taking his head meds. The unborn baby with a frightening growth showing up on sonograms. When I listen to this song, I think of them and long for the day when “hope shall sing its triumph, and sadness flee away.”

I love the version linked above and love that the nuns sing “Sweet Savior, haste!” But most versions have the text pasted below.

O come, divine Messiah;

The world in silence waits the day

When hope shall sing its triumph

And sadness flee away.

Dear Savior, haste!

Come, come to earth.

Dispel the night and show your face,

and bid us hail the dawn of grace.

O come, divine Messiah;

the world in silence awaits

the day when hope shall sing its triumph

and sadness flee away.

O Christ, whom nations sigh for,

Whom priest and prophet long foretold,

Come, break the captive's fetters,

Redeem the long-lost fold.

You come in peace and meekness

And lowly will your cradle be;

All clothed in human weakness

Shall we your God-head see.

Pellegrin, M. l'abbé (Simon-Joseph). (1663-1745)