Holy Family

27 December 2009

Entrance	Gaudete
Penitential Rite	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Gloria	Christmas Gloria (Paul Gibson)
Psalm 83	They are happy (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	Coventry Carol ()
Eucharistic Acclamations	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Behold the Lamb (Iona)
Communion	Peace Child (Bernadette Farrell)
Final	Unto us is born a Son ( )

The 2nd edition of the Lectionary - which we have had in UK since early 80's - added for a number of feasts readings for 3 year cycle. Holy Family is one example, Baptism of the Lord another. Due to lack of communication I had prepared to use the year C readings, prepared the Mass leaflet, and even made sure Lectionary was on right page. But the reader began with Ecclesiasticus The Lord honours the father…. The Gospel for year C is not optional - so the psalm fitted with that at least. We also had a whimsical, for want of a better word, Pastoral Letter - which apart from a broad swipe at the 'readings' which could have been any year and a particular reference to Colossians. Better improve methods of communication before the Baptism of the Lord.

This morning we were unaccompanied but everything worked well without accompaniment. In general I find this a Sunday where the season Christmas has greater prominence than the texts of the day in choosing music. I would rather sing Christmas repertoire in its proper season - to me well chosen texts about the finding in the temple would dampen the occasion. Gaudete was a recent addition to the schedule. It was partly there because I had suggested for a liturgy elsewhere and it was suggested that people would not know it. Well they know it in Strawberry Hill and it suited being sung unaccompanied in 3 part refrain and unison verses. In a similar way the Coventry Carol sounded well in the acoustic.

Peace Child is a carol by Bernadette Farrell and text by Shirley Erena Murray. If we had had accompaniment we might have used the arrangement in Go Before Us but instead used the simpler 4 part arrangement in Sounding Glory. This is a useful resource which gathers new hymn texts and settings from OCP's recent publications. Actually seeing Peace Child in the simpler arrangement made we aware of the beauty of the melody - something which I had missed before.