Lux alma, Jesu

Light of the anxious heart

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal

Lux alma, Jesu, mentium,
Dum corda nostra recreas,
Culpæ fugas caliginem,
Et nos reples dulcedine.
Quam lætus est, quern visitas!
Consors paternse dexteræ,
Tu dulce lumen patriæ,
Carnis negatum sensibus.
Splendor paternæ gloriæ,
Incomprehensa caritas,
Nobis amoris copiam
Largire per præsentiam.
Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Qui te revelas parvulis,
Cum Patre et almo Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula.

Light of the anxious heart,
Jesus, Thou dost appear,
To bid the gloom of guilt depart,
And shed Thy sweetness here.
Joyous is he, with whom,
God’s Word, Thou dost abide;
Sweet Light of our eternal home,
To fleshly sense denied.
Brightness of God above!
Unfathomable grace!
Thy presence be a fount of love
Within Thy chosen place.
To Thee, whom children see,
The Father ever blest,
The Holy Spirit, One and Three,
Be endless praise addrest.

Author: St. Bernard (1091-1153). Meter: Iambic dimeter. Translation by Cardinal Newman. There are eight translations. Liturgical Use: Hymn for Lauds on the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. This hymn is a cento from St. Bernard’s Jesu dulcis memoria. First line of Original Text: Amor Jesu dulcissime.

“O Jesus, Thou loving light of souls, when Thou dost refresh our hearts, dispel the darkness of sin, and fill us with sweetness.” Lux: Ego sum lux mundi (John 8, 12).
“How happy is he whom Thou visitest! Thou compeer at the right hand of the Father, Thou sweet light of heaven, imperceptible to the senses of the flesh.” The things denied to fleshly sense are hinted at by St. Paul, who was taken up to the third heaven: Quod oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit, quæ præparavit Deus iis, qui diligunt ilium (I Cor. 2, 9).
“O brightness of the Father’s glory, incomprehensible love, by Thy presence, bestow upon us the fullness of Thy love.” Splendor: Christ is the brightness of the Father’s glory (Cf. Heb. 1, 3). This line was borrowed by the compilers of the cento in 1568, and was retained by the revisers under Urban VIII, 1632. It is the first line of Hymn 12.