The Nativity of St John the Baptist

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Entrance	O the word of my Lord
Penitential Rite	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Gloria	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Psalm 138	I thank you, Lord (mtgf/Tamié)
Gospel Acclamation	(Murray)
Preparation of Gifts	You know me, Lord (James Walsh)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missal (ICEL)
Lamb of God	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Communion	The love of the Lord (Michael Joncas)
Final	Blest be the Lord (Bernadette Farrell)

Celebrating a Saint on a Sunday may seem a little random to some - particularly if not a holiday of obligation. I can remember a friend, someone the media would call devout - they went to Mass on Sundays - expressing shock as they had never realised in the ordinary course of the year Saint's days were subsumed by Sundays. Those which may replace Sundays have importance as central to our faith. Today is one of the marking points in the cycle of the incarnation.

The first hymn was taken from the first reading for Isaiah, what was true of Isaiah, and was true of Jeremiah was also true of the last of the prophets - God had called them in the womb. The final hymn filled out the missing part of the Gospel - the Canticle of Zechariah, the Benedictus. The other choices were in part dictated by resources. You know me, Lord is probably less familiar than O God, you search me by Bernadette Farrell. The Walsh setting is a simple dialogue between verses in the minor and major.