15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

10 July 2011

Entrance	Unless a grain (Bernadette Farrell)
Penitential Rite	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Gloria	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Psalm 64	Some seed fell on rich soil (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	(A G Murray)
Preparation of Gifts	Parable (M D Ridge)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missal (ICEL)
Lamb of God	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Communion	As seed for the sowing (Collegeville Composers Group)
Final	God, whose almighty word

The second week of new texts. Partly because I am animating the new settings, something I do not do just for the sake of it, it is noticeable that people are reaching for their Mass sheets. This is a good sign of a willingness to participate but also retrospectively how well people have know our current settings often without recourse to the Mass sheet. The Missal chants seemed less stark this week I am not sure why.

Today is a good example of how the Lectionary adds layers of meaning — though I think the layers make more sense if you know the gospel from the beginning and hear the rest of the word through that text. Though the gospel contains a quotation from Isaiah it is a different passage we hear in the first reading. The psalm takes a different perspective — though the response is taken from the Gospel (or Luke's version for the pedant). The idea of rain as heaven's river brimming over is a wonderful image. For the gospel it suggests that we grow through God's grace. The ideas of growth were present in the second reading as well — the groans of creation.

I am aware that I think of some hymns as opening hymns and some as closing. I am not sure what affects this judgement. It is not the OT -> NT that Stephen Dean sometimes suggests. I guess I think that some are better at drawing people in and others at sending them out. The reason for these thoughts was the choice of God, whose almighty word which I think we have always sung as an opening hymn. Unless a grain of wheat seemed also an appropriate choice; it added the dimension of the Paschal Mystery to the parable. It would seem even less suitable as a closing hymn — I am aware that I don't think cantor/choir verses work at this end (though I think congregation sang through this morning). I a fond of Parable by M D Ridge - it is definitely worth the effort. I do wonder what occasion inspired the original conjunction of texts; my guess is something an end of term or graduation.