It was most-probably written by American, Roman Catholic and at-the-time Glenmary Home Mission sister, Germaine Habjan (b 1943). [ref and ref but see here for information about another possibility: if you know any more, please leave a message in the Comments box near the bottom of the page.
It was published in
Alleluia! Amen, but no other publications have been located.
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Examples
Small group with piano - possibly the original recording
Singer, unaccompanied
Instrumental - organ, with words on-sceeen
Lyrics
His peace he gives to us.
His peace he leaves with us.
Not for us alone,
But that we might give it again,
To all.
The man who looks for God in the depth of his heart
Will find a hidden quiet
That nothing can disturb or take away.
The man who sees his life as an open door
Through which all men might come to receive and give again
Will know true peace.
The man whose joy it is to discover the world
And meet the eyes of God in the beauty that is his
Will sing of peace.
The man who knows that God has prepared him a home
For all eternity
To rejoice and to be free
Will have true peace.
This 'peace' is the ' heavenly peace' that is referred to in the hymn Silent Night. God is inner rest, tranquillity and poise. Within Eastern traditions, the peace that meditation brings, the sense of oneness within and without. Peace, sleep, meditation or poise-- it is all heavenly. In The Rime if the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge writes, ' he sleepeth best who loveth best'..
ReplyDeleteI have a very old photocopy of this from a hymnal where this was hymn number 9. Not sure what hymnal it was.
ReplyDeleteThe lyrics of the refrain end with the line:
"But that we might give it again to all men."
This maintains the rhyme with "again" and "men".
I'm currently going through the old Praise to God parish hymn book from Australia and found this hymn attributed to Sister Deidre Browne of "Come As You Are" fame. I suspect an error by the editor of the hymnal when he was transcribing the sheet music..
ReplyDelete