“May I Receive You (unplugged)”
“May I Receive You (studio)”
“May I Receive You (keyboard)”
Above are links to the versions of the song that is the subject of this article.
Good Friday. As we await with great longing the inestimable privilege to receive Our Savior in Holy Communion this Easter; may this song help us to prepare to do so worthily.
I was inspired to write the song on February 17, 2020, after attending Mass and while a private low Mass was being offered on a side altar. This was exactly one month before attendance at Mass and reception of Holy Communion was ceased by the Vatican on March 17, 2020. I could never have known this would happen in the Church.
Many times I’ve received inspired songs, but only rarely is it an all-in-one reception. That was true of “Jesus”, “Peter the Rock”, “This is My Body”. I received this song right there as Mass was going on, pretty much in its entirety.
It was flowing from my prayer of that moment. I was just so filled with gratitude for the opportunity to receive What Christ gave us with such love on Holy Thursday. The prayer I had used to prepare before Mass was filling my mind, plus, the penitential, awe-filled, hesitant approach typified in the Psalm that begins Mass, and then The magnificent prologue of John 1 used as the Last Gospel.
Here is the prayer upon which the first verse is based:
The absolute wonder of the Greatest Gift, like the heavenly manna of the desert, flowed through my heart as I versified this prayer. Can all my past sins really be wiped away? my deliverance from evil be complete like Magdalene? And the rest of the song flowed from The First Psalm & the Last Gospel:
And furthermore I sensed that years of teaching about Sacraments, Mass, the Eucharist and the Scriptures had culminated in this song; it means more than I could say here.
Here are the lyrics:
“May I Receive You”
by Mark A. Lajoie 2020
Chorus: May I receive You! May I receive You!
To You, my Lord, O glorious King
I want to come to You so I may now receive
To honor You, to better me
Because it’s what You want and what you have ordained
(Blessed be Your Name forever!)
I want to come to You like Magdelene
So You’ll deliver me from evil and from sin
So I can live as one with You
So neither life nor death can part my soul from You
Chorus: May I receive You! May I receive You!
Your Mountain high, Your holy Hill
Unto the altar in Your Temple by Your will
May I receive You, O Holy One?
Enclose within myself Your Presence, Precious Son?
For this You came and I was made
For this You tabernacled. For this You have stayed
So in the dark the Light may shine
So we may eat the bread, drink waters that bring life
So I am Yours…and You are mine
CHORUS repeated:
I will go into God, the God of my gladness and joy! I will play upon the harp. From Your blessed hands and from Your Heart, this is what I’ve always wanted from the start.
I quickly did an ad hoc version in order to save and remember it. A couple of years later, I recorded some tracks for it. I have created an “unplugged” version with just my voice & guitar. Mike helped me with a keyboard-enhanced version, and then Josh took it into his skilled hands and made a studio version.
This song professes how deeply receiving the Risen Christ, and the full value of His Sacrifice on the Holy Cross, is the right & privilege of all believers to receive in this vale of tears to help bring us safely to the age of ages. He Himself has so ordained, and appointed His Apostles and their successors to so provide.