Mass of Thanksgiving for the Pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI

Thursday, 28 February 2013

 

Entrance	Faith of our fathers
Kyrie	Missa Orbis Factor
Psalm	Ps 1 (Paul Inwood)
Gospel Acclamation	Glory and Praise (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Tu es Petrus (Jacobus Clemens non Papa, c.1510-c.1556)
Sanctus, Acclamation C, Amen	Mass XVIII & Missal tones
Agnus Dei	Mass XVIII & Missa Aeterna Christi Munera (G.P. da Palestrina, 1525-1594)
Communion	Come to Me (Martin Barry/Diane Murden)
Postcommunion	(silence)
Recessional	Full in the panting heart of Rome (words: Joanna Bogle and Fiorella Sultana de Maria)

 

Strictly speaking, by the time our celebration began we were into sede vacante, but the management felt that a few rousing choruses of God bless our Pope would nonetheless give people a needed opportunity to wish Pope Benedict well on the way to retirement. I steered proceedings away from the triumphalism of Cardinal Wiseman’s original version, towards the updated version published in Faith magazine in July 2005.

All the same, it not unexpectedly felt as though relatively few in the congregation were familiar with the tune, which I think is called Wiseman.

2nd Sunday of Lent (Year C, 2013)

Sunday, 24 February 2013

 

Entrance	Remember your mercy (Paul Inwood)
Kyrie	Missa Orbis Factor (chant)
Psalm	Ps 26 (Paul Inwood)
Gospel Acclamation	Glory and Praise (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Domine Exaudi Orationem Meam (Orlande de Lassus, 1532-1594)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Missa Orbis Factor
Agnus Dei	Missa Orbis Factor
Communion	Be still, for the presence of the Lord
Postcommunion	(silence)
Recessional	Immortal, Invisible

 

The Gospel story of the transfiguration today prompted our Communion and recessional hymns. Before that, we sang Lassus’s setting of lines from Ps 101 (102) to echo the words from the responsorial Psalm (26 (27)):

O Lord, hear my voice when I call;
have mercy and answer.

Rite of Election (2013)

Sunday, 17 February 2013

 

Opening Hymn	The Church’s one foundation
Responsorial Psalm	There is one thing I ask of the Lord (Chris O’Hara)
Gospel Acclamation	Glory and Praise (mcb)
Enrolment	How lovely is your dwelling place (Paul Wellicome)
After the Election of the Catechumens	God has chosen me (Bernadette Farrell)
Welcome of Candidates	Always in your presence (Philip Jakob)
After Welcome of Candidates	Love Divine (Howard Goodall) - choir
Prayers of Intercession	Through our lives and by our prayers (John Bell)
Recessional Hymn	Now thank we all our God

 

A smaller gathering than last year’s, but no less happy a celebration. We made a fine sound in Howard Goodall’s Love Divine, I thought, with a choir of just ten.

1st Sunday of Lent (Year C, 2013)

Sunday, 17 February 2013

 

Entrance	Led by the Spirit (Bob Hurd)
Kyrie	Missa Orbis Factor (chant)
Psalm	Ps 90 (Peter Smedley)
Gospel Acclamation	Glory and Praise (mcb)
Preparation of the Gifts	Emendemus in Melius (William Byrd, 1540-1623)
Sanctus, Acclamation C, Amen	Missa Orbis Factor & English Missal tones
Agnus Dei	Missa Orbis Factor
Communion	Not on bread alone (Psallite)
Postcommunion	(silence)
Recessional	Guide me, O thou great redeemer

 

Unlike the Sanctus and Agnus Dei of Missa Orbis Factor, the Kyrie has a simple and memorable melody which seems to engage our singing assembly well. First time through, some people were thrown by the non-repetition in the last pair of Kyries, but (writing a couple of weeks later) that doesn't seem to have troubled anyone in subsequent weeks.

Ash Wednesday (2013)

Wednesday, 13 February 2013

Entrance	O God, I seek you (Marty Haugen)
Psalm	Ps 50 (Stephen Dean)
Gospel Acclamation	Glory and Praise (mcb)
Imposition of Ashes	Lord, Cleanse my heart (Psallite)
Sanctus, Acclamation C, Amen	Missa Orbis Factor & Missal tones
Agnus Dei	Missa Orbis Factor
Communion	Miserere Mei (Antonio Lotti, c.1667-1740)
Recessional	Our Father, we have wandered

 

A Latin chant setting as usual for Lent. This year we're going back to Mass XI (Missa Orbis Factor), which we last sang four years ago. In the past, we've done the Kyrie and Sanctus from Mass XI, coupled with the Agnus from Mass XVIII, but the fact that we've sung the latter in English during Advent for the last two years seemed a good excuse to add the Agnus from Mass XI to our repertoire this time round. It's beautiful, but fairly challenging for a singing assembly, with little of the repetition that makes other chant settings a bit easier to assimilate. I'm hoping our assembly will have mastered it by the time we get to Holy Thursday.

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2013)

Sunday, 10 February 2013

 

Entrance	Come, ring out your joy (arr. Martin Foster)
Kyrie	Belmont Mass (Christopher Walker)
Gloria	Psallite
Psalm	Before the angels (Daniel Bath)
Gospel Acclamation	Wright
Preparation of the Gifts	Lord of All Hopefulness (Laurence Caldecote) – choir
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Belmont Mass
Agnus Dei	Belmont Mass
Communion	Come to me (Martin Barry/Diane Murden)
Postcommunion	O Quam Suavis (Willam Byrd, c.1540-1623)
Recessional	Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty

 

The entrance antiphon O come, let us worship God gave us our opening song. The first reading, from Isaiah, told of the angels crying out Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, which prompted the final hymn. Our two items at Communion reflected the two antiphons in the Missal: the hungry he fills with good things, and Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. And for the responsorial Psalm Before the angels I will bless you, O Lord we had Daniel Bath’s bright and uplifting setting in African Gospel style.

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, 2013)

Sunday, 3 February 2013

 

Entrance	Save us, Lord our God (Christopher Walker)
Kyrie	Belmont Mass (Christopher Walker)
Gloria	Psallite
Psalm	Ps 70 (Sebastian Wolff)
Gospel Acclamation	Advent Gospel Acclamation (Andrew Wright) with chanted verse
Preparation of the Gifts	The Beatitudes (Bob Chilcott)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Belmont Mass
Agnus Dei	Belmont Mass
Communion	If there is this love (Martin Barry & Diane Murden)
Postcommunion	The Lord bless you and keep you (John Rutter)
Recessional	All my hope on God is founded

 

Today’s second reading from 1 Corinthians ended with the words

These are three things that last:
faith, hope and love;
and the greatest of these is love.

The second verse of If there is this love is based on the same text. The piece was originally written to accompany the washing of feet on Holy Thursday, and the refrain and three of the verses (including the text from 1 Corinthians) are taken from the Missal antiphons proper to the rite. We omitted the first verse with its direct reference to foot washing; the remainder of the song served well as a Communion processional song centred on the theme of divine love.