My Master, See, the Time Has Come: Meaning, History, and Theology
"My Master, see the time has come"
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Story
My Master, See, the Time Has Come is Frank Quinn’s metrical paraphrase of Simeon’s Nunc dimittis in Luke 2:29–32. It celebrates fulfilled promise, peaceful release, and Christ as salvation and light for the nations, and is sung in both Methodist and Roman Catholic traditions.
Overview
My Master, See, the Time Has Come is a metrical paraphrase of the Nunc dimittis, Simeon’s song in Luke 2:29–32. Rather than being a missionary hymn, it gives a poetic voice to the aged Simeon at the Presentation of Jesus: God’s promise has been fulfilled, salvation has been seen, and the promised child is confessed as light for the nations and glory for Israel.
The hymn’s spiritual movement is from fulfilled waiting to peaceful release. Simeon’s readiness to depart is not resignation but the calm that follows recognition of God’s faithfulness. The text therefore works especially well at the Presentation of the Lord, during Christmas or Epiphany worship, and in evening prayer, where the biblical canticle has long served as a prayer of completion and trust.
Pastorally, the hymn joins personal peace with a universal vision of salvation. The singer does not stop with individual consolation: the child Simeon receives is God’s saving light for peoples beyond Israel. That combination of promise, peace, Christological confession, and outward-looking hope gives the hymn a compact but substantial theological range.
Historical Background
The text is a modern English metrical paraphrase of the Nunc dimittis, the canticle spoken by Simeon in Luke 2:29–32 after he receives the infant Jesus in the Jerusalem temple. Its author was Francis Currier “Frank” Quinn, O.P. (1932–2008), a Dominican priest, liturgical theologian, and church musician whose career was devoted to the study and practice of Christian worship. The exact date on which Quinn wrote the paraphrase has not been established in the sources consulted, so the composition year is left unset rather than guessed.
The hymn is documented in late twentieth-century Catholic and Protestant worship. The United Methodist Hymnal of 1989 includes it as hymn 226 and identifies Luke 2:29–32 as its scriptural basis. That hymnal pairs the text with MORNING SONG, a common-meter American tune that circulated in early nineteenth-century tunebooks. The same text also entered Australian Roman Catholic repertory; Catholic Worship Book II prints a three-stanza form and uses it for the Canticle of Simeon in connection with the Presentation of the Lord and Night Prayer.
The United Methodist setting is musically distinct from Quinn’s authorship. MORNING SONG appeared anonymously in John Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second in 1813 and is also known as CONSOLATION or KENTUCKY HARMONY. Hymnological sources attribute the melody to Elkanah Kelsay Dare, but that attribution is not secure: an earlier 1812 source credits Lucius Chapin, while an 1816 source named a “Mr. Dean,” sometimes interpreted as a printing error for Dare. Because the composer cannot be stated with confidence, no composer is forced into the structured contributor data.
Charles H. Webb, who was incorrectly identified in the uploaded record as the composer, served instead as the harmonizer of the MORNING SONG setting used in The United Methodist Hymnal. Hymnary dates that harmonization to 1988 and records its 1989 United Methodist Publishing House copyright. This is an important distinction: Webb shaped the hymnal’s harmonic presentation, but he did not write either Quinn’s text or the historical melody.
The Australian Catholic tradition demonstrates that the text is not tied to a single tune. A 2025 St Patrick’s Cathedral Melbourne service sheet prints the Catholic Worship Book II version with BANGOR, a common-meter melody from William Tans’ur’s eighteenth-century repertory. The contrast between MORNING SONG and BANGOR illustrates the normal hymnological separation between text and tune: Quinn’s paraphrase can travel across traditions while retaining its identity as a setting of Simeon’s biblical song.
The text remains copyrighted. Contemporary hymnals and church publications explicitly credit Frank Quinn and continue to require permission for the words. Since Quinn died in 2008, the text is still protected under the ordinary life-plus-fifty term used in the Philippines and the life-plus-seventy framework applicable to many modern authored works in the United States. The copyright status of the separate historical tunes does not alter HymnInfo’s text-only public_domain field.
Biblical Foundations
The hymn is directly based on Luke 2:29–32 rather than merely borrowing a general biblical theme. In the temple, Simeon recognizes in Jesus the fulfillment of God’s promise and responds with a prayer of peaceful dismissal. The canticle holds together three ideas that govern Quinn’s hymn: fulfilled promise, salvation seen in Christ, and light reaching beyond Israel to the nations.
The language of light and worldwide salvation reaches back into Isaiah. Isaiah 49:6 speaks of God’s servant as a light to the nations so that salvation may reach the ends of the earth, while Isaiah 42:6–7 connects that light with covenant, liberation, and release from darkness. Luke’s canticle deliberately echoes this prophetic vocabulary, presenting Jesus within Israel’s scriptural story while opening the horizon toward all peoples.
Acts 13:47 shows how the early church continued to read the Isaianic promise missionally. Paul and Barnabas apply the language of light to the Gentiles to the church’s proclamation of salvation. That later Christian use does not turn Quinn’s hymn into a missionary call-song, but it clarifies the outward scope already present in Simeon’s confession: the salvation recognized in the child Jesus is intended for the nations.
Verse Explanation
The hymn begins with Simeon’s readiness for peaceful dismissal after a period of waiting. The focus is not on death for its own sake, but on the completion of a divine promise: Simeon can let go because he has witnessed what God pledged to reveal.
The next movement turns from Simeon’s personal peace to the public meaning of what he has seen. Salvation is presented as something prepared for peoples beyond the immediate scene in the temple, and the biblical image of light links Israel’s hope with God’s purpose for the nations.
Some published forms, including the current Catholic Worship Book II form, add a concluding Trinitarian doxology. That stanza shifts from the biblical speaker to the worshiping church, answering Simeon’s canticle with praise of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The United Methodist presentation is shorter, so editions should not be silently combined into a hybrid text.
Theological Reflection
At the center of the hymn is Christological fulfillment. Simeon’s peace rests on the conviction that God’s promise has become visible in Jesus. Salvation is not treated as an abstract principle or private feeling; it is encountered in the person of the child presented in the temple.
The hymn also expresses a theology of faithful waiting. Simeon’s long expectation reaches its goal not through human achievement but through God’s fidelity. His readiness to depart in peace becomes a model of Christian trust: life can be released to God because God has kept the divine word.
A further theme is the universal reach of grace. Luke’s language holds Israel’s glory and the nations’ enlightenment together rather than setting them against one another. The hymn therefore invites worshipers to see salvation as rooted in God’s covenant history with Israel and at the same time offered outward to the peoples of the world.
In versions that include Quinn’s concluding doxology, the response to the canticle becomes explicitly Trinitarian. The saving work recognized in Christ is gathered into praise of the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit, placing Simeon’s song within the church’s continuing worship.
Church Impact
The hymn’s documented circulation crosses denominational lines. It appears as number 226 in The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), where it is indexed for Christmas, Epiphany, evening prayer, salvation, and metrical canticles. That placement situates the text not as a general mission hymn but as a sung form of Simeon’s biblical prayer.
Roman Catholic use is also documented in Australia. Catholic Worship Book II includes the text in its Night Prayer material and among music for the Presentation of the Lord. St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne used it as a post-Communion or recessional hymn for Candlemas in February 2025, showing that the text remains part of living liturgical practice.
These appearances demonstrate repertorial circulation rather than proving how frequently every congregation sings the hymn. Its particular strength is liturgical precision: it gives churches a metrical version of the Nunc dimittis that can function at the Presentation, during the Christmas–Epiphany cycle, or at evening prayer, while different traditions are free to pair the text with different common-meter tunes.
Musical Notes
The United Methodist Hymnal pairs Quinn’s text with MORNING SONG, also known as CONSOLATION or KENTUCKY HARMONY. It is a common-meter tune (8.6.8.6) from the early American sacred-music tradition. Hymnary records the tune in John Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second (1813) and notes an earlier 1812 appearance. The melody’s authorship is disputed: later tradition attributes it to Elkanah Kelsay Dare, but the earliest cited source credits Lucius Chapin, and an 1816 source named “Mr. Dean.” For that reason, the tune should be described as attributed rather than assigned to a secure composer.
In The United Methodist Hymnal, MORNING SONG appears in F minor with a 1988 harmonization by Charles H. Webb. Webb’s contribution is therefore a harmonization, not the composition of the historical melody. The harmonization is separately copyrighted by The United Methodist Publishing House, illustrating why musical rights must be kept distinct from the text-only public_domain flag.
The hymn also circulates with other tunes. Catholic Worship Book II uses BANGOR, a common-meter melody associated with William Tans’ur’s Harmony of Syon (1734). This alternate pairing reinforces the independence of Quinn’s text from any one musical setting. Because the represented text is copyrighted, HymnInfo does not reproduce its lyrics or add ChordPro material here.
Application
- Practice patient trust by remembering that Christian hope rests on God’s faithfulness rather than on immediate results.
- Use the Nunc dimittis as an evening prayer of release, entrusting completed work and unfinished concerns to God.
- Receive Christ’s salvation as both personal consolation and good news whose light extends beyond one community or nation.
- At the Presentation of the Lord, connect Simeon’s recognition of Jesus with the church’s confession of Christ as light for the nations.
- When singing the hymn, distinguish the enduring biblical text from the different tunes and harmonizations through which churches have received it.
Discussion Questions
- Why is Simeon able to speak of peace after seeing the child Jesus?
- How do Luke 2 and Isaiah connect salvation with the image of light for the nations?
- What is gained when a biblical canticle is sung as a metrical hymn rather than only read or chanted?
- How does the hymn hold together Israel’s story and God’s purpose for all peoples?
- Why is it important to distinguish a hymn text, its tune, and a later harmonization when studying church music?
Teaching Tips
- Read Luke 2:25–32 before singing so the congregation hears the hymn as Simeon’s canticle rather than as a generic call to service.
- Compare Luke 2:32 with Isaiah 49:6 and Isaiah 42:6–7 to trace the biblical background of the light-for-the-nations imagery.
- Explain the liturgical use of the Nunc dimittis in evening prayer and at the Presentation of the Lord.
- When teaching the music, identify whether the congregation is using MORNING SONG, BANGOR, or another common-meter tune instead of assuming one universal setting.
- Use the distinction between the historical melody and Charles H. Webb’s later harmonization to teach how hymn texts, tunes, and arrangements can have separate authorship and copyright.
Sources
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Hymnary.org — The United Methodist Hymnal 1989, hymn 226
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Hymnary.org — My Master, See, the Time Has Come text authority
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Hymnary.org — MORNING SONG tune authority and attribution history
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National Association of Pastoral Musicians — Frank Quinn, OP, Pastoral Music, December 2008
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Valparaiso University — Frank Quinn, Made, Not Born: The Church As Baptismal
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St. Louis Post-Dispatch via Legacy — Francis Currier Quinn obituary
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St Patrick’s Cathedral Melbourne — The Presentation of the Lord music sheet, CWB II 227
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The Methodist Church in Singapore — The Song of Simeon and UMH 226
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World English Bible Classic — Luke 2
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World English Bible Classic — Isaiah 42
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World English Bible Classic — Isaiah 49
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World English Bible Classic — Acts 13
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U.S. Copyright Office — How Long Does Copyright Protection Last?
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Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines — Copyright
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