23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

 

Entrance	All people that on earth do dwell
Kyrie	Kyrie Eleison from Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Gloria	Missa Ubi Caritas
Psalm	O that today (Chris O’Hara)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Alleluia
Preparation of the Gifts	Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Sanctus, Acclamation B, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Missa Ubi Caritas
Communion	Like the Deer (mcb)
Postcommunion	Sicut Cervus (G.P. da Palestrina, 1525-1594)
Recessional	Love divine, all loves excelling

 

As usual for this Sunday in the year we were joined by members of Province No. 1 of the Catenian Association, which made for a large and willing singing (and speaking) assembly. We made our first full use of the new translation of the Order of Mass, and all seemed to go well. In general it seemed that the sung responses were more successful than the spoken ones, the notes on the page (for the assembly as well as the choir) forcing people to pay attention to the words too. In contrast, with the spoken responses it seemed that concentration was flagging by the end of Mass, so that plenty of instances of and also with you crept in by the time we responded a final time to the Lord be with you. But our gradual implementation of the new texts has been proceeding smoothly since Easter, and today’s experience suggested that this will continue.

The second reading today spoke powerfully of the commandment to love, and both our recessional hymn and our song at the preparation of the gifts tied in with this. The latter fitted nicely with our Lord’s words in the Gospel too: where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them, which found echoes in Bob Hurd’s rendition of the ancient hymn:

The love of Christ joins us together;
let us rejoice in him,
and in our love and care for all
now love God in return.

In true communion let us gather;
may all divisions cease
and in their place be Christ the Lord,
our risen Prince of Peace.

May we who gather at this table
to share the bread of life
become a sacrament of love,
your healing touch, O Christ.

Today’s responsorial psalm (94(95)) had the words

For he is our God and we
the people who belong to his pasture,
the flock that is led by his hand.

and we sang similar words paraphrased from Ps 99(100) in Vaughan Williams’s stirring Coronation arrangement of our opening hymn.

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

Sunday, 21 August 2011

 

Entrance	The Church’s one foundation
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Alleluia
Preparation of the Gifts	Praise to the Lord, the almighty
Sanctus & Acclamation, Amen	Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood)
Communion	Eat this bread (Taizé)
Recessional	Now thank we all our God

 

A glimpse of our summer fare, when the choir’s on holiday. The accompaniment was a mixture of organ and piano, there was a cantor for the verses during communion and the celebrant (Fr Anthony) supplied sung dialogues at the Gospel and in the Eucharistic Prayer.

The opening hymn tied in with the words from the Gospel reading: I will build my Church. The hymn at the preparation of the gifts and the recessional hymn both took up the image from the first verse of the responsorial psalm:

I thank you, Lord, with all my heart,
you have heard the words of my mouth.
Before the angels I will bless you.
I will adore before your holy temple.

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

Sunday, 31 July 2011

Entrance	All who hunger, gather gladly
Kyrie	Kyrie for 3 voices adapted from Byrd (mcb)
Gloria	Mass of the Most Sacred Heart (Jacob Bancks)
Psalm	The eyes of everyone (mcb)
Gospel Acclamation	St Agatha Alleluia (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Cantique de Jean Racine (Gabriel Fauré, 1845-1924)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood)
Agnus Dei	Take and Eat (Michael Joncas & Gary Daigle)
Communion	Come to me and drink (Bob Hurd)
Postcommunion	Panis Angelicus (César Franck, 1822-1890)
Recessional	Now thank we all our God

 

For the Gospel story of the feeding of the five thousand (“to say nothing of women and children”) we sang our opening hymn, and gave Panis Angelicus another outing. The first reading, from Isaiah, addressed the thirsty as well as the hungry, so we sang Bob Hurd’s Come to me and drink, with verses from Psalm 41(42).

Gremlins in the preparation of the people’s booklet meant we had one last unscheduled outing for the Gathering Mass in its old form, including a final sing through the words Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. I’m glad we had one last encounter.

The choir’s on holiday in August. I think we (including our singing assembly) are ready for the change to the new Missal translation when we come back in September. Musically speaking, all that will be new then will be the sung dialogues, and hopefully the fact of singing them will make the words And with your spirit feel less strange than saying them, for a while at least.

Mass at the Lichtentaler Pfarrkirche, Vienna : 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

 

With choir numbers dwindling as the summer holidays approach, and yours truly in Vienna for a (day-job) conference, we allowed ourselves a Sunday off. We’re back for one more Sunday Mass next weekend, before we break for August. At the Cathedral, the plan was to try a congregation-only setting of the new Missal text, in the form of Paul Inwood’s Gathering Mass. I wonder how they got on?

In Vienna, I went to Franz Schubert’s parish church, where they were celebrating the 300th anniversary of the chapel of St. Anne, the oldest part of the church building, and so the 300th anniversary of the parish itself. The music, accompanied by organ and a splendid brass ensemble, was Michael Haydn’s Deutsche Messe - the prototype German or Austrian Singmesse, in which the people sing hymns loosely based on the Mass Ordinary, in place of the Missal texts themselves.

In the days long before the liturgical renewal was dreamt of, these songs would have been sung while the priest got on with the real business of the Mass. I suppose they represented a more “full, conscious and active” mode of participation than was otherwise available to participants in the Low Mass. But now, might they be an obstacle to participation rather than an aid to it? Wikipedia has this to say:

The Betsingmesse became obsolete with the liturgical reform introduced after the Second Vatican Council and with the introduction of vernacular liturgy in the celebration of the Missa cum populo. The tradition of carrying out parts of the liturgy in the form of German songs that are not necessarily a German rendering of those parts of the liturgy: e.g., by a “Song at the Gloria” or a “Song at the Sanctus”, however, has been retained in many parishes, even if it is regarded critically by liturgists and is not supported by the official documents as part of the modern Roman rite.

The singing, it has to be said, was strong and reverent.

Mass with Archbishop Charles Dufour

Wednesday of Week 16 in Ordinary Time (Year I, 2011)
20 July 2011

 

Entrance	Thou whose almighty Word
Kyrie	Kyrie Eleison from Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Psalm	Ps 144: How good is the Lord (mcb)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Alleluia
Preparation of the Gifts	Oculi Omnium (Charles Wood, 1866-1926)
Sanctus, Acclamation 1, Amen	Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood)
Agnus Dei	Take and Eat (Michael Joncas/Gary Daigle)
Communion	Take and Eat (Michael Joncas)
Postcommunion	Panis Angelicus (César Franck, 1822-1890)
Recessional	Guide me, O thou great redeemer

 

We joined with Archbishop Charles Dufour – an old seminary friend of Fr Tony’s, en route home from receiving his pallium in Rome – to celebrate his appointment to the see of Kingston, Jamaica.

To accompany the first reading from Exodus 16, telling the story of manna in the desert, we had two settings of the words The eyes of all creatures look to you, and you give them food in due time, in the responsorial psalm, and in Charles Wood’s serene and simple choir piece. Panis Angelicus and the our final hymn were on the same theme too.

The Gospel was the parable of the sower again. We sang about it obliquely, in our opening hymn:

Hear us, we humbly pray,
and where the Gospel day
sheds not its glorious ray,
let there be light.

Fr Tony drew the threads together in his homily: the spread of the Gospel is at the core of the mission of any bishop.

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2011)

 

Entrance	O God, thy people gather
Kyrie	Kyrie for 3 voices adapted from Byrd (mcb)
Gloria	Mass of the Most Sacred Heart (Jacob Bancks)
Psalm	O Lord, you are good (mcb)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Mode 2 (Plainchant)
Preparation of the Gifts	All that is hidden (Bernadette Farrell)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Agnus Dei	Holy Family Mass (John Schiavone)
Communion	There is a longing in our hearts (Anne Quigley)
Postcommunion	For the beauty of the earth (John Rutter)
Recessional	Thanks be to God (Stephen Dean)

 

In today’s second reading we heard:

when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means

which led us to Anne Quigley’s There is a longing in our hearts. The Gospel reading had these words:

I will speak to you in parables and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world

and this gave us Bernadette Farrell’s All that is hidden.

The Communion antiphon, finally, was

The Lord keeps in our minds the wonderful things he has done. He is compassion and love; he always provides for his faithful.

John Rutter’s irresistible For the beauty of the earth is a joyful hymn in praise of this providence.

Ordination to the Priesthood of Paul Blackburn and Andrew Starkie

Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

 

Entrance	Praise to the Holiest
Kyrie	Kyrie Eleison from Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Gloria	Missa Ubi Caritas
Psalm	My soul rejoices (Owen Alstott)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Alleluia
Litany of the Saints	Chant
Illustrative Rites	Veni Creator Spiritus (chant, with vv 2 & 6 by T.L. de Victoria, 1548-1611)
Kiss of Peace	If ye love me (Thomas Tallis, c.1505-1585)
Preparation of the Gifts	Ave Maria (Edward Elgar, 1857-1934)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Gathering Mass (Paul Inwood)
Agnus Dei	Missa Ubi Caritas
Communion	The Almighty works marvels for me (Peter Jones)
Postcommunion	Ave Verum Corpus (William Byrd, c.1540-1623)
Recessional	Hail Queen of Heaven

 

For this special occasion we had a good mix of music, from plainchant to Peter Jones. Hail Queen of heaven and the Gathering Mass are both guaranteed to raise the roof, and didn’t disappoint. For the latter, with Paul Inwood’s kind permission, we used the as-yet unpublished version revised for the new Missal translation. I led the assembly through the changes to the Sanctus before the start of Mass, and perhaps it was a first moment of catechesis for those from parishes where the significance of the impending changes on what we sing at Mass hasn't yet featured on the radar.

My good work was undone by the massed ranks of the clergy, who weren’t present for the run-through, and belted out the old version without looking in their service booklets. If it was a teaching moment, the lesson was that we can expect chaos for a while yet.