21st Sunday n Ordinary Time

26 August 2012

Entrance	Firmly I believe
Penitential Rite	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Gloria	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Psalm 33	Taste and see (Stephen Dean)
Gospel Acclamation	(Murray)
Preparation of Gifts	How can I repay (mtgf)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missal (ICEL)
Lamb of God	Lamb of God 9 (mtgf)
Communion Antiphon	Whoever eats my flesh (mtgf)
Communion	One in body (Christopher Walker)
Final	Alleluia, sing to Jesus

We might have begun with Bernadette Farrell's Your words are spirit but we had a more credal statement. I could not think of a setting of Lord, to who shall we go or at least one that would work for us - but that might have been a stronger beginning.

I have been happier with this 'mini-season' this year, more so than in the past. One factor was the use of the Communion Antiphon, which echoed the gospel and provided a musical connecting thread over the weeks. I am not sure how well it was picked up, this stills seems to me to be the musical challenge to a liturgical sensibility. This week I wanted a sense of summation and thought Psalm 115 might provide a suitable text. I had originally considered Stephen Dean's setting but as we are unaccompanied at the moment it's chromatic wanderings were perhaps a little risky. I wrote a close harmony setting which I think we may use again.

This sense of a conclusion was behind using both the Walker at Communion and final hymn.

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

19 August 2012

Entrance	Of the glorious Body telling
Penitential Rite	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Gloria	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Psalm 33	Taste and see (Stephen Dean)
Gospel Acclamation	(Murray)
Preparation of Gifts	Wisdom has built herself a house (Bob Hurd)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missal (ICEL)
Lamb of God	Lamb of God 9 (mtgf)
Communion Antiphon	I am the living bread (mtgf)
Communion	Taste and see (Michael Joncas)
Final	Love is his word

This was one of those Sundays, perhaps due to the weather, when we began the Opening Hymn with a small congregation which managed to grow by the time it was completed. I was struck that both opening and closing hymns were more explicitly linked to the Last Supper this week — if it was design it may be because the Gospel mentions both eat and drinking this week.

Wisdom has built is based on the first reading and the verses based on John 6 — thanks to Philip Jakob at NNPM for a reminder of this lovely piece. I had left behind the full music for the Communion antiphon (the music of the antiphon was on the service sheet), so true to its design we could adapt another weeks. I thought this a vindication of its design that we could adapt though suspect the sings would have had preferred the full copy.

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

12 August 2012

Entrance	Let all mortal flesh keep silence
Penitential Rite	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Gloria	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Psalm 33	Taste and see (Stephen Dean)
Gospel Acclamation	(Murray)
Preparation of Gifts	Ave verum (Josquin)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missal (ICEL)
Lamb of God	Lamb of God 9 (mtgf)
Communion Antiphon	The bread that I will give (mtgf)
Communion	Bread of life (Bernadette Farrell)
Final	O Bread of heaven

There was a couple present who had were celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary - having been married in the chapel. Though I did consider if there was anything obvious and suitable which linked the marriage with today's Liturgy of the Word nothing came to mind. Though it is lovely to have the visitors, and it sounds somewhat mean, but my general view is that the ongoing celebration of Sunday takes precedence. Today it was the unfolding of John 6.

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

5 August 2012

Entrance	All who hunger
Penitential Rite	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Gloria	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Psalm 77	The Lord gave them bread (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	(Murray)
Preparation of Gifts	Panis angelicus (Franck)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missal (ICEL)
Lamb of God	Lamb of God 9 (mtgf)
Communion Antiphon	I am the bread of life (mtgf)
Communion	I received the living God (arr. Proulx)
Final	Guide me, o thou great Redeemer

'Men ate the bread of angels' - so it seemed appropriate to sing about the bread of angels. As an aside the text Panis Angelicus comes from the Sequence for Corpus Christi Lauda Sion.

As an experiment over the next few weeks, while we hear John 6, we will sing the Communion Antiphon with suitable psalm verses. I having been looking at ways of simply setting the antiphon texts so that they could be easily sung using a common formula over a number of weeks. It is one way of connecting this series of Sundays.

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

28 July 2012

Entrance	Gather us in
Penitential Rite	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Gloria	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Psalm 144	You open wide your hands (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	(Murray)
Preparation of Gifts	Jesus, you are the bread (Bernadette Farrell)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missal (ICEL)
Lamb of God	Lamb of God 9 (mtgf)
Communion	Bread of life from heaven (Marty Haugen)
Final	God is love, his the care

I was away again this week and Mass was actually at 6pm on Saturday evening due to the Olympic Cycle races which closed all the surrounding roads. When I am away I go through the list of choices with those who will be singing and in some cases where something maybe less well know offer some alternatives - this is in part to give them some flexibility on the day.

This week we begin the reading of John 6 which is inserted into Mark's Gospel or Year B. The place it is inserted follows on from the preceding week of Mark and at the end Mark follows on - this is to say that this is less a tangent than an interlude. With the focus on the 'bread of life' it makes planning quite difficult, I think. If ever there is a time when you can use something one week and discover that it would be better next - this is it.

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

22 July 2012

Entrance	I heard the voice of Jesus
Penitential Rite	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Gloria	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Psalm 22	The Lord is my shepherd (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	(Murray)
Preparation of Gifts	Shepherd me, O God (Marty Haugen)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missal (ICEL)
Lamb of God	Lamb of God 9 (mtgf)
Communion	Christ our peace (Marty Haugen)
Final	Lord of all hopefulness

I was away this weekend (at NNPM) and the following (holiday) but our singers were happy to continue. Though they are perfectly competent they say they get a good response from the congregation who pity them for being abandoned!

Chrst our peace is simple song by Marty Haugen which unites the Ephesians text with verses suitable for communion.