The first “Music as Prayer” hymn

The original orchestration of the music to this hymn was the last piece of music Alison’s father, Tom (co-founder of Watermead), heard before his sudden and unexpected death in 1993. When she first played the music to Fr John and her father, Tom had said the melody was beautiful enough to be “a hymn without words” and Fr John said how it had invoked for him the image of the statue of The Pietà. Within 48 hours Tom had died and a week later that first orchestration became the final piece of music played at his requiem mass, as his coffin was carried from the church by his son, son-in-law and nephews.

The lyrics were written a few months later by Fr John to reflect the suffering of Mary in union with the suffering of Tom’s family, and that of other families he had witnessed, as they watched their loved ones die. Sharing the music at retreats became inspiration for our “Music as Prayer”.

The first recording of this hymn was for the original "Mary our Mother" in 1995 and, although that cassette recording is no longer available, the track has since been digitally transferred to the archive gift recording, "Our Songs Gave Praise”. The track was particularly special as it was recorded by Tom’s family and friends – his daughter, Alison (on the keyboard), his son, Matthew, and daughter, Marian (the soloists), the flautist was his granddaughter, Katherine, and amongst the choir, of which he had also been a member, were his friends and his wife, Doreen. 

Later, Alison re-recorded an instrumental version of the hymn to be used at retreats and this is one of the tracks on our "People of God" CD, released in 2004.