32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

7 November 2010

Entrance	Christ is alive with joy we sing
Penitential Rite	St Gabriel (mtgf)
Gloria	St Gabriel (mtgf)
Psalm 16	I shall be filled (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Alleluia Beati (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	I know my Redeemer (Stephen Dean)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	St Gabriel (mtgf)
Communion	Centre of my life (Paul Inwood)
Final	Love divine

In previous years this Sunday has been Remembrance Sunday and this has, in the past, led to the question about the suitability of the Gospel. I wonder if sometimes, that like the Saducees, our contemporary preoccupations can lead us to miss the point. It is not about marriage, or diet come to that, but eternal life. I hope the opening hymn set this scene and was a reminder that every Sunday is Easter.

I know my Redeemer was a further reflection on this as well as being good 'November fare'. I like the uncomplicated harmony of the refrain and way it expresses an uncomplicated belief in the resurrection. The verse comes in rather quickly after the refrain, too quickly perhaps — a extra 2 beats seems necessary. Otherwise to continue the above it as though the cantor bursts in on simplicity of the assembly with their personal sentiments rather than being seen as extension of the same text.

Centre of my life was a late choice for communion. That God would not leave our souls among the dead seemed to fit in with whole. I did consider a setting of the Emmaus story, based on the Communion antiphon The disciples recognised the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread. But this seems to me to be at too many removes. I suspect that this is part of my ongoing reflection on the antiphons, what they offer and how they 'work'. I can understand the antiphon at this point: as a reflection on Communion, that we are as the disciples recognising Jesus, even that the context of this Sunday pushes that further that this Jesus is the Christ, risen and living, who speaks of the Lord God of Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob and all the scriptures. It is about this phrase which has a context (Emmaus) speaking at this moment (Communion) in this context (32nd Sunday) which I'm not sure is the same as adding a further story to the mix.