29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B, 2009)

Entrance	When I survey the wondrous cross
Kyrie	Kyrie Litany (Bob Hurd)
Gloria	Mass of the Creator Spirit (Ed Nowak)
Psalm	May your love be upon us (Daniel Bath)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of the Gifts	The Servant King (Graham Kendrick)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Missa Ubi Caritas (Hurd)
Agnus Dei	Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion	Father, if this cup (Stephen Dean)
Postcommunion	O Lord, support us (John Henry Newman (1801-1890) & Maurice Besly (1888-1945))
Recessional	Christ triumphant, ever reigning

Today's readings speak of Jesus the suffering servant, who “did not come to be served but to serve”, and whom, in the shocking words of Isaiah’s prophecy, the Lord was pleased to crush with suffering.

Several of our musical selections dealt with this image: the third verse of Christ Triumphant runs

Suffering Servant, scorned, ill-treated, victim crucified!
Death is through the cross defeated, sinners justified.

and Graham Kendrick’s The Servant King made the same connection. Stephen Dean’s Father, if this cup has verses from the same chapter of Isaiah (chapter 53).

We sang Maurice Besly’s setting of the famous prayer often attributed to Cardinal Newman. In rehearsal I asked choir members who had heard of Besly, and who had heard of Newman? The respective answers, of course, were almost no-one and almost everyone. This, indirectly, was the key to performing the piece - understating the simple homophonic chant-like musical setting, in order to let the words of the prayer come to the fore, in their calm, even serene declaration of dependence on God’s loving protection. Sung at Communion, it echoed the same dependence found in the Communion antiphon and today’s Responsorial psalm, both taken from Psalm 32(33): May your love be upon us O Lord, as we place all our hope in you.