Irish Blessing (PDF download)

Sheet music download: A song version of the traditional Irish blessing ‘May the road rise to meet you’ – by one of the Iona Abbey musicians. Full score.

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rain fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

Philip Fox has been Iona Abbey musician more than a dozen times, filling in for the resident musician when they have been on holiday. Since 1970, he has been a Church of Scotland organist and choirmaster; he is also the founder/conductor of the Lanark & Carluke Choral Union which in 2015 was one of the chosen choirs to sing in New York’s Carnegie Hall, celebrating ‘Martin Luther King day’. On that occasion, he and his choir were also invited by Donald Trump to sing to him at Trump Tower. About the experience, Philip says: ‘We didn’t take any money for this: I just wanted to show him that there are things which go beyond materialism. It was a witness.’ Philip Fox is an associate member of the Iona Community.

3 pages

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