More on the "voice" in hymnody

My first commandment for choosing songs for singing at Mass is "Is it focused on God?". After all, the first commandment in the bible and catechism is “I am the LORD your God—you shall have no other gods before me.”

The protestant reformer John Calvin wrote at least one true thing: The human heart is a factory for idols. And the greatest idol in the modern age is the self. The Achilles Heel of the vernacular liturgy which arose from the post-Vatican II reforms (celebrated by a priest facing his “audience”, and even sometimes with the people facing one another around a central “table”) is this: it is frightfully easy (and almost irresistibly tempting) to transform it into an event that is “about us” or which “celebrates our community” rather than which is “about God” and which “celebrates our Maker and Redeemer”.

The rite of the Mass itself (when followed faithfully) is fairly resistant to this temptation. But parishes have been given virtually free reign to chose whatever songs they wish to sing during the liturgy, and these songs often undermine the true focus and intention of the Christian worship.

Therefore we ask of any song we intend to sing: Is it a song about or addressed to God (rather than a song about or addressed to ourselves)?

Two types of song focusing on God:

a) Songs of prayer: are songs addressed to God which may express adoration, petition or thanksgiving. One should be able to use such a hymn as a prayer when the text is taken without the music. Gather is not highly endowed with good examples of such hymns in the Eucharistic department.

Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy (GA 73)
Lord, to whom shall we go (GA 189)

b) Songs of praise: are songs addressed to “others” (the assembled congregation? the world?) proclaiming the attributes, words and actions of God (sometimes in the form of a story) and calling them to join in our worship (sometimes as an exhortation).

Taste and see the goodness of the Lord (GA 33)
Let all mortal flesh keep silence (GA 190),
An upper Room Did Our Lord Prepare (GA 187),
Gift of finest Wheat (GA 191)
Christians, let us love one another (GA 206)

On the other hand there are songs that focus upon ourselves rather than God. These songs are very unhealthy spiritually and liturgically, because they are a type of idolatry.

Song of the Body of Christ (GA 200)
Bring forth the Kingdom (Marty Haugen, GA 478)

Some songs, though addressed to God, are almost entirely about who we are and what we are doing—telling God what marvellous folk we are, rather than praising him for his salvation.

Gather us in (GA 526)

Worst of all are songs that put God’s/Christ’s words to us in our mouths to be sung as songs to him. Such songs are liturgically dysfunctional. We sing to God/Christ, pretending to be God/Christ singing to us. These are likely to have resulted from the fact that the Council encouraged new compositions to be written based on the Scriptures. The biblical passages which are most appealing are those in which God/Christ addresses his people with words of promise. The problem is that the composers have failed to internalise and represent these passages as songs of praise or prayer as our response to God for these gracious promises.

Our Supper Invitation (GA 202)
I am the Bread of Life (GA 204)
Take and Eat (GA 198)
Take and Eat (GA 201)
Eat this Bread (Taize, GA 205)

Some of these songs could be easily be converted into prayers by addressing them to God or into praise by addressing them to others.

eg. I am the bread of life could be

You are the bread of life
whoever comes to you shall not hunger,
all who believe in you,
they shall live forever,
they shall live forever.

OR

He is the bread of life
whoever comes to him shall not hunger
if you believe in him
you shall live forever,
you shall live forever.

eg. Eat this bread could be:

Eat this bread, drink this cup, come to him and never be hungry.
Eat this bread, drink this cup, come to him and you shall not thirst.

If the chorus addresses God, but the verses are written in the ‘voice’ of God rather than the people, it may be preferable to have the people sing the chorus only and a cantor or soloist to sing the verse, thus acting as God addressing the assembly.

eg. Taste and See God’s Love (GA 203).

Note that some songs (especially psalms) in Gather Australia have been altered to fit the demands of so-called “non-sexist” language. In extreme cases, this means avoiding the masculine pronoun for God. Since this is difficult to do in songs of praise which speak to others about God, many have been altered from songs of praise addressed to others to songs of prayer addressed to God. This changes the function of the song.

The Magnificat (GA 15)

We do sometimes use songs that are addressed as prayers to Mary and the Saints. This is acceptable—but such songs are not “worship” or “adoration”, but acts of veneration.

Asperges (Sprinkling) Hymn

I wrote this while I was music director at Our Lady's in Ringwood. I can't really claim to be the composer or writer, as the music is one of my favourites (which I have used before) and the words are straight from the missal. But the final thing works quite well.

To be sung to THAXTED by Gustav Holst
15.15.15.15.15.15

R. Like a deer for running waters I long for you, my God.
My heart and soul are thirsting for God, the living God.

V. I saw water flowing eastwards from God’s holy sanctuary,
flowing down through the desert in a river to the sea.
It gave healing and salvation to everyone who came
and with shouts of “Alleluia”, God’s praises were proclaimed.

R. Like a deer for running waters I long for you, my God.
My heart and soul are thirsting for God, the living God.

V. You will sprinkle me with hyssop, O Lord, and make me clean,
you will wash me with water and I’ll be white as snow.

R. Like a deer for running waters I long for you, my God.
My heart and soul are thirsting for God, the living God.

Changes at the Cathedral

Well, we have a new dean at St Patrick's Cathedral, Fr Gerard Johnson. With the changes in the Presbytery, come changes to the usual "Friday Lunchtime Sung Mass". Dr Cox, the Cathedral Capelmeister, has appointed yours truly as a "Reserve Cantor" for the Cathedral, and has also determined that rather than having regular Friday sung masses, we will, from now on, observe this custom on weekdays which are Solemnities or Feasts.

A new program has been established, which brings the settings for the ordo and the psalmody into line with what is used on Sundays. Most of it is new to me as a Cantor, although I am familiar with it as a mass-goer-in-the-pew. I was as nervous as all get out last Friday for "The Triumph of the Cross", cantoring (unaccompanied) with Gregorian tones before a new dean and with the Capelmeister in the pews checking out how well it all went.

As an idea of what we do, we are using Proulx's responsive English version of the Missa de Angelis Gloria, and the Latin Agnus Dei from Mass XVIII. The psalm settings are Dr Cox's--and utilize the NRSV rather than the Grail.

No hymns at this stage...

Next Lunchtime Missa Cantata will be for the Feast of St Matthew, this Friday at 1pm.

Lutheran Worship Resources

Over a number of years toward the end of my ministry in the Lutheran Church of Australia, I worked as manager of the "Lutheran Worship Resources" project. All these resources are now available on-liine on the LCA website. They are useful in all kinds of ways, but are an excellent source of hymn suggestions for each Sunday. They use the Revised Common Lectionary, which is not always the same as the Roman one.

Herzlich Lieb: "Lord Jesus, let your angels come"

Here is a song that I wish to be sung at the Committal at my funeral. It is the third verse from Martin Schalling's hymn "Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, O Herr" (LH 385), as reworked by the LCA's Hymnody Dept. I sang it at my grandmother's funeral.

Lord Jesus, let your angels come,
when I must die, to bear me home,
my soul to heaven taking.
My resting body safely keep
secure in gentle painless sleep,
till earth's last great awaking.
Then raise me, Lord, that I may be
with you in joy, and always see,
O Son of God, your glorious face,
my Saviour, and my fount of grace.
Lord Jesus Christ,
O grant to me, grant this to me,
I'll sing your praise eternally.

Baptismal version of Liebster Jesu (Dearest Jesus)

Catholics are generally familiar with the German hymn "Blessed Jesus, at Thy Word". It is a hymn for the beginning of worship (an "Entrance Hymn" -- or, as some would call it today "a Gathering Song" -- uuh) by Tobias Clausnitzer (d. 1684), and translated by the great Catherine Winkworth.

Not so well known to Catholics, but well known to Lutherans (because of the general custom to have baptisms during the Divine Service) is the longer, baptismal version of the same hymn, also written by Clausnitzer, and also translated by Catherine Winkworth.

Interestingly, in the German, both hymns begin the same way: "Liebster Jesu, wir sind heir", so I don't know why Catherine decided to translate them differently. Perhaps she didn't. Maybe it was hymnal editors that made "Dearest" (which is the best translatin of Liebster) into "Blessed).

I give the version of this baptismal hymn that is in the Australian Lutheran Hymnal here, because it includes a verse (verse 4) that clearly teaches baptismal regeneration in infants. Another version (see here) appears to be more common in America and was included in the Lutheran Book of Worship (187) and in Together in Song (480).

Interestingly I came across this eucharistic version of the hymn, attributed to Clausnitzer, but said to be "adapt­ed by George R. Wood­ward. George obviously did a fair bit of "adapting", because I can find no German original in my old hymnbooks to match it. Quite nice though.

Any way, here is the Australian Lutheran version of Clausnitzer's baptismal hymn:

1. Dearest Jesus, we are here,
Gladly Thy command obeying;
With this child we now draw near
In accord with Thine own saying
That to Thee it shall be given
As a child and heir of heaven.

2. Yea, Thy word is clear and plain,
And we would obey it duly:
"He who is not born again,
Heart and life renewing truly,
Born of water and the Spirit,
Can My kingdom not inherit."

3. Therefore hasten we to Thee,
In our arms this infant bearing;
Let us here Thy glory see
Let this child, Thy mercy sharing,
In Thine arms be shielded ever,
Thine on earth and Thine forever.

4. Wash it, Jesus, in Thy blood
from the sin-stain of its nature;
Let it rise from out this flood
clothed in Thee a new-born creature;
may it, washed as Thou has bidden,
in Thine innocence be hidden.

5. Now unto Thy throne we send
prayers that from our heart proceeded.
Let them unto heaven ascend,
let our warm desires be heeded!
Write the name we now have given,
Write it in the book of heaven.

Interestingly, while the Entrance Hymn version is three verses (plus doxology) in both the original and the English, the original baptismal version has (in good German Lutheran style) SEVEN verses -- in which verse 4 given above is an accurate translation of the original verse 4, and verse 5 is actually verse 7. Here are the other verses and my rough translations. Metrical versions might follow:

5. Mache Licht aus finsterniß
setz es aus dem Zorn zur Gnade,
Heil den tiefen Schlangenbiß
durch die Kraft im Wunder-Bade,
laß hier einen Jordan rinnen,
so vergeht der Aussatz drinnen.

Make light shine in darkness,
set it out of (your) wrath into your grace,
heal the deep serpent-bite,
through the might of the wonder-bath,
let here a Jordan flow,
thus the [Aussatz (Leper?!)] passes inside.

6. Hirte, nimm dein Schäflein an,
Haupt, mach es zu deinem Gliede,
Himmels-Weg, zeig ihm die Bahn,
Friede-Fürst, schenk ihm den Friede,
Weinstock, hilf, daß diese Rebe
auch im Glauben dich umgebe.

Shepherd, take your little lamb,
Head, make it to your member,
Heaven's Way, show it the road,
Prince of Peace, give it peace,
Vine-Stock, help, that this vine
also in faith to embrace you.

This is the one often appearing as Verse 4 in American versions of the hymn. That verse is there given as:

Gracious Head, Thy member own;
Shepherd, take Thy lamb and feed it;
Prince of Peace, make here Thy throne;
Way of Life, to heaven lead it;
Precious Vine, let nothing sever
From Thy side this branch forever.

Music at Perth CYM (Catholic Youth Ministry)

A friend wrote in to report what is happening in Perth with regard to the Wednesday night Holy Hours. Here's what he had to say:

Always interesting to read your blog(s)! Thought you might be interested in what I have a supporting role in - a friend of mine over here is the choir master for St John's Pro-Cathedral, Perth's Latin Mass HQ (where yours truly "executes" the chant as part of the schola cantorum - we try and do the full Gregorian propers), but furthermore he does stretch as far as providing music for the some of the Wed. 6.30 Holy Hours for Perth CYM... I get roped in to sing alongside him.

Since we have Adoration, obviously we sing the "O salutaris" at the moment of Exposition, "Tantum ergo" before the Benediction, and at Reposition "Adoremus" & Ps 116 as per usual. But my friend is adventurous - we began with a favourite hymn of his, "Be still my soul" (with the tune by Sibelius), which we've now used several times, and people seem to like it (I just checked and found it's an old Lutheran hymn, so I guess you know it), and later on sang a plainchant setting of the Litany of the Sacred Heart (another time, we did the Litany of Loreto). We use a data projector to (not perhaps exactly tastefully) throw the (English) words on the chapel wall, for the benefit of those present. We finished with "Hail Holy Queen" (sometimes we do the Salve instead), after Benediction and Reposition.

Very pleasantly, and unexpectedly, during a lull in proceedings, one of the CYM guys, sang a solo - "Into your hands", "Save us Lord" and the Nunc dimittis from Compline. Just as most "progressives" would be horrified to know, the many obviously rapt and prayerful young people - and how unusual for Catholics, as many men as women, if not slightly more of the former! - seem to really like such Latin and sacral English fare. How good, too, that we have Fr John Reilly, a Perth priest officially long retired - he's nearly 80 - but who is a gifted confessor and spiritual director, who exposes the Bl Sacrament, gives Benediction, yet spends most of the adoration time in hearing confessions of the young. As usual, the old and young are (a) glad to be together, (b) glad not to have Baby Boomers around - oops, sorry, David, I guess you're honorary Gen X! [No, I'm the real McCoy--born in 1966]

If I can persuade him, I think "Lord enthroned in heavenly splendour" would make a fine hymn for Eucharistic Adoration; I prefer to sing it to "St Helen".

BTW, this month at the "Pro" we've been concluding all Sunday Masses with that beaut hymn "Crown him with many crowns", which has proved unexpectedly popular with the congregation. it's such a nice hymn I'm going to presume to quote it to you, since doubtless you're humming the tune already!

Who would not be moved in that very holy evangelical way at such true exclamations as:

"Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee, / And hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity." ...

"All hail, Redeemer, hail! For Thou hast died for me; / Thy praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity."

Not to forget a good Catholic focus, Incarnation and Marian:

"Crown Him the virgin’s Son, the God incarnate born, Whose arm those crimson trophies won which now His brow adorn; Fruit of the mystic rose, as of that rose the stem; The root whence mercy ever flows, the Babe of Bethlehem."

But perhaps most moving is the image of Christ's all-gloious wounds, outshining the sun, at whose dazzling effulgence the highest seraphim do veil their eyes:

"Crown Him the Lord of love, behold His hands and side, Those wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified. No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight, But downward bends his burning eye at mysteries so bright."

Trusting that you enjoy the odd email,

In Christ, etc.

Here are my comments:

"Be still my soul" (with the tune Finlandia by Sibelius) is an excellent hymn and an excellent tune. There is a paraphrase of the Nunc Dimittis by Rae E. Whitney in Together In Song (733) to this which you might be interested in using on these occasions--very appropriate for that time of day:

Lord God, you now have set your servant free,
to go in peace as promised in your word;
my eyes have seen the Saviour, Christ the Lord,
prepared by you for all the world to see,
to shine on nations trapped in darkest night,
the glory of your people, and their light.

"That beaut hymn", "Crown him with many crowns" should be known much better by Catholics. It is a great Ascension hymn! Often I hear "Protestant Hymns" poo-pooed by Catholic traditionalists. If only they knew... Orthodox Protestant hymnody can sometimes be far more Catholic than the stuff that masquerades as "Catholic liturgical song" these days.

Please feel welcome to write to me with your musical experiences and advertising where good music can be found.

Singing in the Cathedral

Well, we had another sing-song at Mass today at 1pm in St Patrick's Cathedral. I used a setting for Psalm 116 that had been written by my good friend David Goedecke for my daughter's baptism many moons ago. Here it is (click on the image for larger picture):

I think it went down okay--but I do finally seem to have attracted the attention of the Cathedral Capellmeister. Rather than call for an end to this impromptu singing, he suggested (very politely) that since he is in charge of the music in the Cathedral he should determine what psalm settings are used. His suggestion? His own Gregorian settings. That way, he said, there will be some uniformity as to the settings used for the psalms in the Cathedral.

I am more than happy to comply, for two reasons: First, as he says, he is in charge of Cathedral music, and second, his settings are very good. There is a third reason: it will save me time searching for a setting to use each Friday morning. And a fourth reason ("no-one expects the Spanish Inquisition") is that I am glad he didn't just say "quit it".

However, his settings use the NRSV rather than the Grail. I agree with him that the Grail is horribly inaccurate (it amuses me that the Holy See disapproves of the NRSV for inaccuracies when the Grail is more of a paraphrase than a translation). He calls the Grail a "Humpty dumpty sat on a wall" translation--refering to the "dumpty dumpity dumpty dump" rhythm.

And some of the settings of the responses--though beautiful--are a little tricky to learn and repeat after only one hearing, especially if you don't have the music in front of you.

Nevertheless, I take his intervention as an endorsement for continuing the tradition of 1pm lunchtime sung masses on Fridays in Melbourne at St Patrick's Cathedral. Come and have a sing-a-long with us!

World Youth Day Song: "Receive the Power"

Sorry that it has been so long since I posted on this blog. I guess no-one reads it anyway, so you probably didn't miss me.

Anyway, while I was on holiday, the text of the World Youth Day song "Receive the Power" was finally revealed, and your correspondent was, well, frankly, under-whelmed.

You can see a video-clip and hear the song on the World Youth Day page and download the text and the music from here. Here's the text:

1. Every nation, every tribe,
come together to worship You.
In Your presence we delight,
we will follow to the ends of the earth.

Chorus
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Receive the Power, from the Holy Spirit!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Receive the Power to be a light unto the world!

2. As Your Spirit calls to rise
we will answer and do Your Will.
We’ll forever testify
of Your mercy and unfailing love.

Chorus

Bridge
Lamb of God, we worship You,
Holy One, we worship You,
Bread of Life, we worship You,
Emmanuel, we worship You.
Lamb of God, we worship You,
Holy One, we worship You,
Bread of Life, we worship You,
Emmanuel, we will sing forever.

Chorus

Now before I go any further, I should point out that I don't particularly want to cross swords with my one time catechist and cherished friend, Bishop Anthony Fisher, who has written a masterful "theological reflection" on the song. But I will say that I wish that the song he describes in this reflection had been written rather than the one with which we are actually faced. I will get to Bishop Anthony's reflection in a minute. Let's look at the text.

Those of you who have visited this blog before have seen my "criteria" for assessing the value of a Catholic liturgical song or hymn (if not, click here and read them). Let's run the WYD song through some of these criteria:

1) Is it focused on God?Is it a song about or addressed to God rather than a song about or addressed to ourselves?

Yes, there is a strong focus on God. The song borrows heavily from the style common in evangelical/pentecostal circles, and hence is strong on "adoration" (which is worship addressed in the second person to God, as opposed to "praise" which is when we address others about the great things God has done, speaking about God in the third person). There is some lack of clarity ast to which person of the Holy Trinity we are addressing--something which only becomes clear in the "bridge" (we are addressing the Son, Jesus Christ), but at least it is a song about God addressed to God rather than about ourselves.

At least, this is the case in the VERSES. Catholic readers of this blog will be very familiar with that schizophrenic scourge of Catholic liturgical song: the song in which we pretend to be God singing to us (for an example, see the text of "Come as you are"). A slight variation is the song in which the verses are God singing to us and the chorus is us singing to God (eg. "Here I am, Lord"). "Receive the Power" falls into the latter trap. The verses are addressed to Christ, but the chorus is Christ addressing us. Bishop Anthony seems to think this is a good thing: He says:

In the chorus the Risen Christ addresses the young people of the world ...In the verses the young people respond

Only the Risen Christ isn't singing the chorus to us--we are singing it to ourselves. The old schizophrenia enters by the back doors...

2) Is it true? Does it express the Catholic faith? Is what it says about God true? Is what it says about us (and others) true? Does it name God truthfully? Does what it says agree with the Catholic faith?

Well, it's true enough. There are nice phrases in the bridge, reminiscent of the Gloria in Excelsis. But there isn't much here tht you could really build a theology on, is there? There's a lot of hints, but rather than explicitly conveying a particular theology, you really have to have your theology well formed beforehand (as Bishop Anthony certainly does) to be able to read into it all the "depths of meaning" to which it may hint (as Bishop Anthony certainly does in his reflection).

3) Is it singable?Can it be sung without accompaniment? Does it avoid difficult timing? (eg. strange or inconsistent rhythms, notes tied over bars etc.) Does it have a memorable melody?

Um. No. My guess: everyone will have completely forgotten this song by the time the next WYD comes around. Moreover, I predict that it will never, ever, ever be included in any Catholic hymnal or collection of liturgical songs. Ever. It is too slow, too "quiet", nowhere near rousing enough for a "anthem". No strong beat or rhythm. Lots of "oohs" and "oh yeahs" that have no place at all. It's a soloist's song--which is, I guess, why they have Guy Sebastian singing it. It isn't a congregation song. God knows how a crowd of 500,000 or so are going to sing it. What they will get is 500,000 people watching Guy Sebastian sing it and cheering and clapping--but as if for a performance rather than joining in. And can you really imagine Papa Benny joining in singing this one??????????

4) If the text is not a scriptural or liturgical text, does it have dignity as poetry apart from the music?
Does is avoid trite or clichéd language, bad English, inverted word order? If the text is liturgical or scriptural, does it accurately represent the original text?

Well, Bishop Anthony thinks one of its strong points is that it is "scriptural". But there is a lot more to a song being truly "scriptural" than simply cutting and pasting phrases from scripture and setting them to music. Christian Hymnody in the past--Catholic and Protestant and Orthodox--has always been "scriptural", but has been the result of meditation upon scripture, of the author of the song internalising scripture and then returning it God as adoration or praise.

5) Does the song have lasting merit? Does it show every indication that it will continue to be used? Will teaching the song be a lasting investment? ie. will it be of use for their future spiritual/communal worship lives? Indicator: is the song often included in independently edited hymnbooks and collections of songs?

I have already indicated that I think the answer to all these questions is a resounding "NO".

As I said above, I wish the song that was written was the song that Bishop Anthony describes in his "theological reflection". I think he is being incredibly charitable to this piece of music. It isn't awful. It's passable. But that's just the point. It's here today, but tomorrow it will have passed. Surely Australia could have come up with something better?

Music Program for Ascension Sunday

At my local parish, I am leading music this Sunday. Here is my intended program. Keep in mind that I have no accompaniment (volunteers will be gladly accepted!).

Entrance Song: Clap your hands all you peoples (John Bell, TIS 29, Wild Goose Publications)

Psalm 47 (46): God mounts his throne to shouts of joy, to shouts of joy (Text: Grail, Tune: Christopher Wilcock, Source: Psalms For Feasts and Seasons (Collins Dove)

Gospel Acclamation: (using the same music as the antiphon for the psalm) Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Go and teach all people my gospel.
I am with you always, until the end of the world.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Offertory: Recorder Music (my voice on its own can get a bit monotonous after a while--so I am told, anyway...)

Eucharistic Prayer: Glastonbury Mass (an “echo” Mass setting) (Setting: Christopher Walker)

Communion: Alleluia, Sing to Jesus (Text: W. C. Dix, Tune: Hyfrydol, Source: Together in Song 517; no copyright) In my opinion, you can't have Ascension without this hymn.

Recession: Hail Redeemer, King divine (Text: Patrick Brennan) The single best known Catholic hymn in Australia (discounting "Come as you are"). Again, they might not like traditional hymns in my parish, but be blowed if our kids should grow up not knowing this old classic.

John Bell's Songs

Over on my usual blog (Sentire Cum Ecclesia) there is a discussion of John Bell's theology/ideology and his songs. Some commentators felt a little less positive than me about the merits of his songs and have given several caveats--especially about "Will you come and follow me" and "Sing Hey for the Carpenter).

Yes, all these caveats I share. Nevertheless his songs are not universally awful and and his poetry is regularly brilliant even if you don't agree with his sentiments. Especially clever is the way in which he uses traditional folk tunes that are very singable (compared to your average Haugen or Haas composition anyway).

I like (and I give Together in Song references):

+ "In you, O Lord, I found refuge" TIS 19 (A version of Psalm 31, and one of the only tunes I know to which the Hail Mary can be sung)

+ "Just as a lost and thirsty deer" TIS 26 (a version of Psalm 42, and a brilliantly plaintive tune)

+ "Clap your hands all you nations" TIS 29 (a good one for Ascension, a version of Psalm 47)

+ "Sing to God with joy and gladness" TIS 92 (a version of psalm 147)

+ "No wind at the window" TIS 287 (An annunciation hymn to a traditional irish tune)

+ "Christmas is coming" TIS 289 (An Advent Wreath lighting song--great for the kids)

+ "Who is the baby an hour or two old?" TIS 325 (a good Christmas carol)

+ "Pull back the viel" TIS 326 (A Christmas/Easter song that is a little bit daring, but not heretical, and has a terrific tune)

+ "Funny kind of night" TIS 329 (I don't recommend the words, which are a bit "funny", but the tune is tops and I have arranged the proper words of the Gloria in Excelsis to it -- email me if you want the full score -- for Christmas eve which works a treat)

+ "God beyond glory" TIS 678 (quite a good wedding hymn)

Then, of course, there are those that I wouldn't go near with a 40 foot barge pole, such as "She sits like a bird" TIS 418, a Pentecost Hymn that images the Holy Spirit in feminine form. Just too heterodox for words (It's a great tune, though.)

Interestingly, Together in Song has neither "Will you come and follow me" nor "Sing Hey for the Carpenter".

Music programme for 2nd Sunday after Easter

The readings for the 2nd Sunday after Easter ("Low Sunday") are always the same: focusing on our Lord's appearance to St Thomas. Over the past few years I have settled on a the following programme for this day which works well in your average parish:

Entrance (and Recessional) Song: Alleluia, Alleluia, give thanks to the Risen Lord (Donald Fishel © Word of God)

Gloria: Taize setting. Taize doesn't have a full setting of the Gloria, but I use the ostinato response "Gloria I" with verses I have set to music for "Miserere Mei" from Psalm 24(25). (See Music from Taize Vol. I).

Psalm 118 (117): Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love is everlasting! (Setting by Howard L. Hughes, ©1984 WLP, published in Psalms and Ritual Music: Music for the Liturgy of the Word, Year C)

Gospel Acclamation (to the tune: O Filii et Filiae):
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
How blest are they who have not seen,
and yet whose faith has constant been,
for they eternal life shall win. Alleluia.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Offertory: Now the Green Blade rises

Communion: O Sons and Daughters

Psalm 18 (17) : In my distress I called to the Lord, and he heard my voice (Friday in 5th Week of Lent)

Here is my setting of the response for the Psalm for today, which I will be leading in St Patrick's Cathedral here in Melbourne.

Singing at Mass on 4th Sunday in Lent Year C

I'm on the roster again this week in my local parish. All inspired by Sacramentum Caritatis, imagining Gregorian Chant and music fitting for the great mystery of the Mass, I now have to come down a notch or two to the real world.

So, here's what I've chosen for Mass on Sunday and why:

1) Opening Song: Hosea (Gather Australia 213, by Gregory Norbet).

Yep, I know that chosing this one breaks just about all my own personal rules for chosing a parish repertoire--especially the rule about not using songs that have Us pretending to be God singing to Us. So why have I chosen it? It's well known, it was used by the group on the roster last week, it fits with the readings.

2) Psalm: Psalm 34 (33) "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord" (setting by Fr Chris Willcock SJ).

This one is an Australian classic. It is a very dignified, simple and noble settiing.

3) Gospel acclamation: Bernadette Farrell's "Praise to you, O Christ our Saviour", chorus and verse.

4) Offertory song: "Lord, to whom shall we go?" by Michael Herry (As One Voice Vol 1, no. 6)

I like Herry's stuff. It is as good as Taize. Again, simple and dignified. This one is Eucharistic and picks up the themes in both the Old Testament reading and the Gospel.

5) Eucharistic Setting: Christopher Walker's Glastonbury Mass (Published in Music for the Mass, vol. 1 by Geoffrey Chapman)

This is a simple responsive setting, which works well given that I have no accompaniment. By the way, our new priest has decided that we should really have only three parish mass settings at the most. I tend to agree. Just which three will he chose and on whose advice though? It would be a good exercise to see what three readers of this blog would choose. If I had my own way? I would see to it that the parish knew at least one simple Gregorian setting (similar to that which is printed in our missals). Then probably the Jubilee Mass or Mass Shalom, since these are just about universal in Australia. And then it would be by popular vote which came next.

6) Communion Hymn: "Taste and See God's Love for us" (Deidre Browne and Kevin Lenehan, Gather Australia 203)

This is a Eucharistic repeating refrain with verses sung over the top. I agree with those who believe that the communion hymn should be simple for folk to be able to sing as they are processing to receive communion.

7) Amazing Grace.

Yes, go ahead, groan. Its not my favourite hymn either, but it is a favourite of lots of folk, and (get this) we NEVER sing classical style hymns at my local parish. So I am sneeking this one in at the end just for the sake of singing something that's more than 40 years old. I am sure that Pope Benedict did not have this hymn in mind when he was talking about the 2000 year old patrimony of the Church's music, but it's there anyway. And it fits with the story of the prodigal son. By the way, we change the second line from "a wretch like me" to "and set me free".