24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B, 2009)

Entrance	Praise to the holiest
Kyrie	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll
Psalm	Ps 114 (McCarthy/Bévenot)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of the Gifts	Let all mortal flesh keep silence
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Eucharistic Acclamations (Bernadette Farrell)
Agnus Dei	Mass of Christ the King (mcb)
Communion	The Blessing Cup (Sue Furlong)
Postcommunion	Lord Jesu Christ, my life and light, BWV 118 (J.S. Bach)
Recessional	My song is love unknown

In today’s Gospel reading from Mark, Jesus – seen the previous two Sundays as teacher and healer – reveals his impending suffering and death. The first reading and the responsorial psalm reflect the starkness of this disclosure. To get the choir in the right frame of mind for rehearsing O Jesu Christ, mein Lebens Licht (in John Rutter’s excellent translation) I pointed to the phrase “I have set my face like flint” in the first reading from Isaiah, to encapsulate the sense of grave steadfastness in Bach’s solemn motet.

Our opening and closing hymn choices too had a Passiontide feel, though Let all mortal flesh at the preparation of the gifts was intended as a more numinous reflection on Christ’s kingship, acknowledged (obliquely) by Peter in the Gospel reading.

A first outing in three years for Bernadette Farrell’s Eucharistic Acclamations (also published as the Mass of Hope). They have the merit of versatility, working well, in my experience, with parish music group resources, as much as in the solemn and stirring arrangement by Paul Inwood for choir and organ, which is how we did them today.