3rd Sunday of Lent (Year B, 2012)

Sunday, 11 March 2012

 

Entrance	O God, thy people gather
Kyrie	Mass XVII
Gloria	(none)
Psalm	Ps 18 (Geoffrey Boulton Smith)
Gospel Acclamation	Glory and Praise (mcb)
Prayers of Intercession	Lord, in your mercy (John Bell)
Preparation of the Gifts	Adoramus Te Christe (Antonio Lotti, 1667-1740)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass XVII
Agnus Dei	Mass XVII & Missa super Laudate Dominum (Orlande de Lassus, 1532-1594)
Communion	Give us, Lord, a new heart (Bernadette Farrell)
Postcommunion	(silence)
Recessional	Christ triumphant, ever reigning

 

Today’s second reading, from 1 Corinthians, speaks of the madness and foolishness of preaching a crucified Christ instead of miracles and wisdom. Christ driving out the money changers from the Temple perhaps also acts with apparent folly and madness, and obliquely foretells the crucifixion, in the words Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up. Lotti’s antiphon sings of the cross bringing about the redemption of the world, and our final hymn also touched on the same image:

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

The entrance antiphon included the words

I will pour clean water upon you
and cleanse you from all your impurities,
and I will give you a new spirit, says the Lord.

We had Bernadette Farrell’s setting of the same text from Ezekiel. Its verses, shifting restlessly through flat and sharp keys, are a challenge, but our cantor Aimée Presswood carried them off with utmost competence and conviction.