On Eagle's Wings

This beloved and well-known hymn is based on Psalm 91, the weekly psalm for Sunday Compline in the Liturgy of the Hours. Because of this association with the day’s ending and its textual themes of faith, healing, hope, trust, refuge, and resurrection, this piece is especially suitable for the penitential season of Lent, the anointing of the sick, and funerals. Poignant suspensions, a fluid harmonic shift to the parallel minor in the verse, and a rising sequence in the refrain musically depict these various topics.