The Body and Blood of the Lord

22 June 2014

Entrance	We come as guests invited.
Penitential Rite	At the table of the Lord (Collegeville)
Gloria	At the table of the Lord (Collegeville)
Psalm 147	O praise the Lord (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	(Murray)
Preparation of Gifts	Love bade me welcome (Vaughan Williams)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missal
Lamb of God	Nores (mtgf)
Communion Antiphon	Whoever eats my flesh (mtgf)
Communion	Come, Christ's beloved (mtgf)
Final	Alleluia, sing to Jesus

O sacrum convivium was in the background today. Towards the end of Vaughan Williams' setting of Herbert's poem the choir enter softly with the chant — so I did sit and eat. If I remember correctly the chant is also used towards the end of Elgar's The Kingdom which is written just a few year's before the Five Mystical Songs. The chant is also used for the melody of the refrain of my setting of Come, Christ's beloved.

For the antiphon, for a change, the verses were taken from Wisdom — you gave your people the food of angels — one appreciates the Grail psalter in its absence. The length of the lines meant it felt as though we were singing anything, possibly a weather report. Indeed, a good consequence of our regular chanting in parts was that we pause for the sense instinctively together. So lesson is, yes it is good to vary the verse text but make sure it is singable.

The Most Holy Trinity

15 June 2014

Entrance	God, whose almighty word
Penitential Rite	At the table of the Lord (Collegeville)
Gloria	At the table of the Lord (Collegeville)
Canticle: Daniel 3	To you glory and praise (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	(Murray)
Preparation of Gifts	Loving Creator (Niles arr. Bell)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missal
Lamb of God	Nores (mtgf)
Communion Antiphon	(mtgf)
Communion	God beyond all names (Bernadette Farrell)
Final	Holy God, we praise thy name

In a similar way to the beginning of Lent, the end of the Easter Season has a complete change of Mass parts. Something simpler for the Summer. I have wondered about moving on from the Missal chants but there were no strong candidates. We sing them accompanied and it is good to hear a shared unison with the congregation.

The litany form of today's canticle seemed effective - a shame that it is the only time such a form occurs on a Sunday.

Loving Creator was a late change from our usual item at this point. We used the Wild Goose arrangement but i was surprised that this is a melody that exists in a number of arrangements and versions of the text.

Pentecost

8 June 2014

Entrance	Come down, O love divine
Gloria	Mass of Wisdom (Steven Janco)
Psalm 103	Send forth your Spirit (mtgf)
Sequence	Come, O Spirit, Lord divine (chant/mtgf)
Preparation of Gifts	Spirit of God (Bernadette Farrell)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Mass of Wisdom (Steven Janco)
Lamb of God	Lux et origo (mtgf)
Communion Antiphon	They were all filled (mtgf)
Communion	Spirit of God within me (Michael Joncas)
Final	Christ be our light

We had a brief discussion about whether Michael Joncas' melody for the Dudley Smith text Spirit of God within me is a good tune. Down Ampney (the tune of Come down, O love divine is obviously a model with a similar flattened seventh. I think it has greater rhythmic flexibility but my stumbling block is always the last 3 notes — 3 repeated high D flats. Not that high but not that comfortable for a hymn tune.

The Ascension of the Lord

1 June 2014

Entrance	Praise him as he mounts the skies
Penitential Rite	Lux et origo (mtgf)
Gloria	Mass of Wisdom (Steven Janco)
Psalm 46	Our God goes up (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Celtic (O'Carroll/Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	Christ the glory (Lalouette)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Mass of Wisdom (Steven Janco)
Lamb of God	Lux et origo (mtgf)
Communion Antiphon	Behold I am with you (mtgf)
Communion	O Rex gloriae (Marenzio)
Final	Lord, you give the great commission

Is this the only time at Sunday Mass that a lay person proclaims the words of Jesus in a reading? I am not sure why that particularly struck me this morning but it did.

A feast of many dimensions: our preacher touched on sorrow (are we left in sorrow here) which has never been my felling, more trumpet blast. It is harder to bring out the cosmological, eschatological dimensions. Actually the first hymn does some of this - I just find Llanfair a not too exciting tune - a pond of deflated 'Deck the halls'.