Ojibwa Prayer for SATB, Flute, and Piano

The author of the text is unknown, and the language of the Ojibwa Prayer is also known as Chippewa, Saulteaux, Southern Ojibway, and Mississippi Ojibwa.  The prayer was taken from Bishop Frederick Baraga’s Catechism written in the middle 1800’s.

This setting is for SATB, flute, and piano, sets in music the wind of the Great Spirit, the weakness of the many children, the beauty of the sunsets and the many things that the Spirit has made.  The prayer asks for wisdom from the lessons that come from earthly beauty, so when life fades, we come to you.

Partial text:

Oh Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds
And whose breath gives life to ev’ry one, hear me.
I come to you as one of your many children;
Small and weak,
I need your strength and wisdom.

May I walk in beauty,
May my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunsets.