In the First Reading, from Jeremiah, God says of the new covenant, “I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts. … All, from the least to the greatest, shall know me, says the Lord, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.”

What leaps into my mind is the wonderful song, “These Words,” with evocative music by Tom Löwenthal and powerful text by the great Dutch poet Huub Oosterhuis, translated by Tony Barr with James Hansen (published in the Netherlands. OCP is the U.S. agent).

You can find it in the songbook Wake Your Power, if you’re lucky enough to have (or can borrow) a copy. This is a unison setting with a wonderful Jewish flavor, that develops Deuteronomy 6:4ff: “Keep these words ... in your heart.” The song ends with the promise, “Your life will bloom and bear fruit like a tree planted by the stream. Hear, O Israel.”

Every major publisher has one or more setting of John 12:24, “Unless a grain of wheat shall fall … ” My favorite is Bernadette Farrell’s OCP song with that title, perhaps because it doesn’t resolve, musically, until the final ending. Even then, I’ve used it without the final ending as a subtle sign that the song—and for Christians, its challenge—always continues. It’s imprinted on our spiritual DNA, and written in our hearts.