A hymn for First Vespers of Sunday

As evening gathers and we cross the quiet threshold into the Lord’s Day, this hymn turns toward Kildare, where a rekindled flame continues to shine as a sign of welcome, justice, and hope. Once extinguished under pressure and rekindled in our own time, it stands not for Brigid herself, but for Christ’s steadfast fire—tended today by the Brigidine Sisters with the same courage and hospitality that shaped their foundress.

Praying with the readings that lead us into Sunday—their call to renewal, their summons to walk Christ’s path with open hands and willing hearts—the hymn listens for the gentle ways grace moves through Irish landscape and Irish witness: rushes leaning in the wind, peat beneath heather, river‑paths through stony ground, salmon strength, linnet flight, and the quiet resilience of Kildare’s night.

This hymn is offered as an evening light: a companion for First Vespers, a reflection on discipleship and welcome, and a tribute to those who tend Christ’s fire with gentleness and resolve.

O Christ, who calls on holy ground

1.
O Christ who calls on holy ground,
Where rushes lean and curlews sound,
Speak now Your name in whispered grace,
And mark our hearts as sacred place.

2
Not ours the glory, ours the trust—
Like peat beneath the heather’s crust;
Your breath, O God, the living wind,
That shapes the hills where saints have sinned.

3.
Teach us to love with open hands,
As river-paths through stony lands;
To serve with joy, to cling to good,
Like hawthorn bright in springtime wood.

4.
When burdens rise, and roads grow steep,
And Christ’s own cross is ours to keep,
May salmon’s strength and linnet’s flight
Give courage for the coming night.

5.
And Brigid, whose long-tended flame
Was quenched by power and foreign claim,
Now tends anew Christ’s living light—
A steadfast fire through Kildare’s night.

6.
So keep us true to Christ’s command,
To lift the cross with willing hand;
And may her fire of welcome shine
Where love is real, and hearts align.

Hymn information

First line: O Christ, who calls on holy ground
Text: Michael McFarland Campbell
Metre: LM
Tune: Christ triumphant
Theme: Proper 17 Year A, St Brigid’s Fire
Scripture: Exodus 3:1-15; Psalm 115; Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-28
NDH-0337

© Michael McFarland Campbell. 2026. 
Permission granted for local church or parish use with attribution. Not for commercial reproduction.