1st Sunday of Lent (Year A, 2011)

 

Entrance	Led by the Spirit (Bob Hurd)
Kyrie	Mass XVII
Psalm	Ps 50 (Stephen Dean)
Gospel Acclamation	Praise to you, O Christ (James Walsh)
Preparation of the Gifts	Emendemus in Melius (William Byrd, 1540-1623)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass XVII
Agnus Dei	Mass XVII
Communion	Not on bread alone are we nourished (Psallite)
Recessional	Lead us, heavenly Father, Lead us

 

We introduced the Sanctus and Agnus Dei of Mass XVII last year, and this year we’re adding the Kyrie. A major traffic snarl-up meant that our principal celebrant arrived very late, and this gave us longer than usual to run through items with the congregation before the start of our celebration. So the chant items felt fairly secure by the time we sang them during the Mass.

From Psallite, Not on bread alone are we nourished adapts the text of the Communion antiphon from Matthew 4:4, setting it to the tune Picardy (Let all mortal flesh keep silence), with the voices in the refrain in canon, interspersed with chanted verses from Psalm 18(19). I thought it was a very effective setting, succeeding in establishing an atmosphere of prayer, while being readily accessible to our willing singing assembly.