WORLD WITHOUT END June 19, 2020

There is this song by the Gregorians I used to have LSS about, “World Without End”, and it is directly lifted from the Word today, Psalm 66 and in the apostle Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 3 verse 21.  It amplifies the word in that the Latin lines exhort people to praise GOD and to speak well of and bless His Name. And the consequences if we fulfill these duties along with giving our lives to and living for Him are--yes, we partake of an eternal life full of peace, joy and grace.

Because it is a chant, it sounds rapturous, and there is an almost mystical and surreal quality to it, but in a few minutes, it does cause one to think about what is the real meaning of life and what we could do to understand, accept and live it.

Every day we are bombarded by challenges and problems, we are overcome by our fears and insecurities, and we try our best to survive and ensure that we and our loved ones will live for another day, and hope that in the future, life will be better and freer for us.  But we mustn’t lose hope and think that this is all there is.  For indeed, we only need to dig deep into our souls and remember the words of the Teacher in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that, “…He has put eternity in our hearts…”, even if it is only He who knows everything from beginning to end.

A few colleagues and some of my aunts say they do not watch the news anymore because every day there is just bad news, what with the continuing rise of CoViD-19 cases.  “When will this all end?”, they say.  “When will we go back to life before all these things happened?”  “Will we ever get through these sane, whole, healthy and safe?”

Maybe they and we should remember that according to the words of our Lord in the gospel of Matthew chapter 24 verse 35 that, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My [His] words will never pass away”.  We have hope in His promises, we have assurance in His words.

Let us review the line-by-line English translation of this song (also from Psalm 66):

WWOE (LATIN)                                                

ENGLISH                                

JUBILATO DEO / OMNIS TERRA       

  MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE UNTO THE LORD, ALL YE LANDS

ALLELUJA-ALLELUJA                         

  PRAISE GOD, PRAISE GOD

PSALMUM DICITE / NOMINI EJUS     

  SING FORTH THE HONOR OF HIS NAME

ALLELUJA-ALLELUJA                         

  PRAISE GOD, PRAISE GOD

REFRAIN:

IN A TIME, IN A PLACE, FULL OF JOY AND FULL OF GRACE

EVERY TOWN, EVERY LAND, IS A WORLD WITHOUT END

ENEMIES BECOME MATES, AND THE WHOLE WORLD CELEBRATES

NOW UNITED WE STAND, IN A WORLD WITHOUT END

DATE GLORIAM / LAUDI EJUS           

  MAKE HIS PRAISE GLORIOUS

ALLELUJA-ALLELUJA                         

  PRAISE GOD, PRAISE GOD

JUBILATO DEO / GLORIA PATRI       

  MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE UNTO THE LORD,

  GLORY BE TO THE FATHER

ALLELUJA-ALLELUJA                         

  PRAISE GOD, PRAISE GOD

We may never get to go back to life before, and we will definitely never become who we were before all these trials and tribulations came our way. But we can set our hearts at rest, because the GOD who was there since before the beginning of time, will be there with us in the future, and will eventually welcome us to His eternal plan and place for us—a world (and a life) without end.