Jesus, the Very Thought Is Sweet (20th Anniversary Remastered Edition) | The Tabernacle Choir

“Jesus, the Very Thought Is Sweet” (20th Anniversary Remastered Edition) by The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square

Stream on your preferred platform!
https://tabernaclechoir.ffm.to/consid...

Get it on vinyl!
https://bit.ly/3HCRFht

Follow The Tabernacle Choir
   / thetabernaclechoir  
  / thetabernaclechoir  
  / thetabernaclechoir  
  / thetabchoir  

Music: Mack Wilberg
Text: Bernard of Clairvaux, trans. by J.M. Neale

Mack Wilberg composed “Jesu, the Very Thought Is Sweet” in 1998 on a commission for the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Des Moines, Iowa. The text, originally a Latin hymn by the 11th-century monk Bernard of Clairvaux, is more widely known in Edward Caswall’s translation, “Jesus, The Very Thought of Thee.” This alternate translation is by John Mason Neale, a 19th-century Anglican scholar and hymn-writer best remembered for translating (also from Latin) the hymn texts “All Glory, Laud and Honor” and “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” In setting the familiar expressions of this text, Wilberg gradually enriches the musical texture, beginning with unison verses at the start before expanding to rich harmony with descant for the conclusion and a sumptuous orchestral postlude.

(Lyrics)
Jesu, the very thought is sweet;
In that clear Name all heartjoys meet;
But O than honey sweeter far
The glimpses of His Presence are.

No word is sung more sweet than this;
No name is heard more full of bliss;
No thought brings sweeter comfort nigh,
Than Jesus, Son of God most high.

Jesu, the hope of souls forlorn!
How good to them for sin that mourn!
To Them that seek thee, I how kind!
But what art thou to them that find?

Jesu, thou sweetness, pure and blest,
Life’s Fountain, Light of souls distress’d;
Surpassing all that heart requires,
Exceeding all that soul desires,

No tongue of mortal can express
No letters write its blessedness,
Alone who hath thee in his heart
knows, loves of Jesus, what thou art.