Reflection 8: Our Annual Psalm Fest

The Paschal Triduum is the heart and centre of the Church’s faith, a three-day festival of the paschal mystery. It begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday evening, continues with the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, reaches its climax with the Easter Vigil, and concludes, officially, with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday evening. Some folks wonder how we get three days (a Tri-duum [three-days]) out of that.  They look like this:

Day 1: Thursday evening to Friday evening

Celebrations: Mass of the Lord’s Supper

Evening Prayer (only for those who have not participated in the Mass of the Lord’s Supper)

                        Morning Prayer

                        Celebration of the Lord’s Passion    

Day 2: Friday evening to Saturday evening

Evening Prayer (only for those who do not take part in the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion. Many parishes include an evening celebration of the Stations of the Cross; it is not an official liturgy of the church, but a popular devotion).

Office of Readings (The reading from an Ancient Homily appointed for the day is worth everyone’s reflection)

Final rites of preparation for those who will be baptized this evening. Usually celebrated Saturday morning.

Day 3: Saturday evening to Sunday evening

Celebrations:  Easter Vigil     

                        Morning Prayer

                        Masses of Easter Sunday

                        Evening Prayer

The psalm refrains for the Eucharistic celebrations for these three days are:

●      The cup of blessing that we bless is a sharing in the Blood of Christ. (Psalm 116)

●      Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. (Psalm 31)

●      Lord, send forth your Spirit and renew the face of the earth. (Psalm 104 – note that this psalm with the same refrain returns on the last day of the Easter Season, Pentecost)

Or

●      The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. (Psalm 33)

●      Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge. (Psalm 16)

●      Let us sing to the Lord; he has covered himself in glory. (Exodus 15 – an Old Testament canticle). It flows directly after the third reading,  the Exodus event.

●      I will extol you Lord, for you have raised me up. (Psalm 30)

●      With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12 – another Old Testament canticle)

●      Lord, you have the words of eternal life. (Psalm 19)

●      As a deer longs for flowing streams, my soul longs for you, O God. (Psalm 42; 43)

Or

●      Create in me a clean heart, O God. (Psalm 51 – the same psalm with which we began our Lenten journey)

●      Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! (At the Easter Vigil the Solemn Gospel Acclamation has multiple verses drawn from Psalm 118 and all of them are to be sung)

●      This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad. (Psalm 118 – which we have pondered in its paraphrased form, “This Day was Made by the Lord”)

For Reflection:
1. How will you relearn the art of silence?

2. What will you do to reflect on the words of Sacred Scripture proclaimed throughout the Triduum?

Reflection 7: This Is My Body Given For You

Today we have some lovely words for reflection, specifically on the communion procession.

We are invited to experience the Psallite setting of "This Is My Body" published by Liturgical Press. 

Bernadette reflects:

These words are part of most Catholics’ identity, referring, as they do in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) to Jesus’s self giving at the Last Supper and in his passion. How do you give your body?

In the act of singing, we give our body. Song involves our voice, our muscles, our lungs and heart, our throat and mouth … To produce song, we give our bodies. Our ministry is embodied.

Your body is given for? For Christ’s body, the church, and through it and with it and in it, to Christ; and through him and with him and in him, to God.

Whose body is given? Whose blood is poured out? It is Christ’s and ours. Christ’s body is given for the life of the world. Christ’s blood is poured out for the life of the world. We are incorporated into his body by baptism, and we are more deeply incorporated into his body in each celebration of the Eucharist. Just how does that work?

And then we explore the purpose of the Communion Chant (Song)

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal says: “While the Priest is receiving the Sacrament, the Communion Chant [Song] is begun, its purpose being to express the spiritual union of the communicants by means of the unity of their voices, to show gladness of heart, and to bring out more clearly the ‘communitarian’ character of the procession to receive the Eucharist. The singing is prolonged for as long as the Sacrament is being administered to the faithful.” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal with Canadian Adaptation, 86.) 

The communion song becomes a kind of audible sacrament that lets us hear the unity that the Spirit forges as we share in Christ’s body and blood. We are made more deeply one. We can’t see that: we don’t get all “stick together” – but our voices sound together: the music makes us one and proclaims that we are one: “one bread, one body, one Lord of all, one cup of blessing that we bless. And we though many, through the earth, we are one body in this one Lord.” (“One Bread, One Body,” by John Foley © 1978.) This is why a solo piece or a piece for choir alone is not appropriate for communion: it is the whole assembly that is formed more deeply into Christ’s body, a unity that is made audible by all singing together.

For Reflection

Identify examples from your own life, your family, parish and community life, of “being given” and being “poured out.”

Reflection 6: Treasures at the back of Catholic Book of Worship III

Reflection 6 of our Annual Musicians Retreat considers the canticles (biblical songs located outside of the Psalter) found at the back of Catholic Book of Worship III.

660 – Blessed Be the God of Israel (Luke 1: 65-79), the Canticle of Zechariah

674 – 678 Various settings of the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), the Canticle of Mary

680 – Lord God, You Now Have Set Your Servant Free (Luke 2: 29-32), the Canticle of Simeon.

683 – All Power Is Yours (Revelation 19:1-7)

684 – Bless the Lord (Daniel 3: 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)

685 – Splendour and Honour (Revelation 4:11, 5:-10, 13)

687 – Though in the Form of God (Philippians 2: 6-11)

687 – Though in the Form of God (Philippians 2: 6-11)

Anticipates in a shorter form St. Augustine’s meditation on the incarnation a few centuries later:

With the Father, 
he came before all time’s ages; 
from an earthly mother, 
on this day, 
he entered the cycle of the years. 
Humanity’s Maker
was made human 
so that the Ruler of the stars 
might suck at the breast, 
the Bread might go hungry, 
the Fountain be thirsty, 
the Light fall asleep, 
the Way tire from the journey, 
the Truth be accused 
by false witnesses, 
the Judge 
of the living and the dead 
be tried before a mortal judge, 
Justice be condemned 
by the unjust, 
Mastery be scourged with whips, 
the Grape-cluster 
be crowned with thorns, 
the Foundation 
be hung from a cross, 
Power be weakened, 
Salvation be wounded, 
and Life be brought to death.
(St. Augustine, (Sermon 191 1)

Questions for Reflection

Re-read St. Augustine’s reflection. Which “couplet” holds most meaning for you? What does it touch in you/for you?

What are your experiences of giving and receiving self-emptying love?

How does “self-empyting love” as the prism through which you see the paschal mystery shift your understanding of that mystery?

683 – All Power Is Yours (Revelation 19:1-7)

Another treasure in the back of the book is number 683, “All Power Is Yours.” 

Like “Though in the Form of God,” this setting is unique to Catholic Book of Worship III.

This piece is one of few examples for the Roman Catholic liturgy of the musical form, the troparion.

For more information on this form, and how to perform it, see the David Pitt article from Celebrate! The journal that make liturgy come alive.

Question for Discipleship

What might it mean to become these canticles?

Reflection 5: The Power of Lament (Psalm 22)

An excerpt from Reflection 5...followed by questions for reflection...

"Our Jewish fathers and mothers in the faith would have been puzzled by this reticence to express negative emotions – especially to God. God was their intimate covenant partner, and God received the full brunt of Israel’s anguish, sense of abandonment, anger, frustration. This way of praying is characteristic of the Hebrew Bible and the prayer of the Jewish people. There was no sense that expressing such emotions – shaking one’s fist at God, so to speak, lamenting the intrusions by enemies, feeling God’s absence, railing against the injustice of life – was a sign of lack of faith. The contrary, in fact, was true.  Lament is found in various books of the Old Testament (the Hebrew Bible) including the Book of Exodus, Judges, Samuel, the Prophets and the Book of Job, and, of course, the Book of Psalms. Psalms that express these “negative” emotions are called “psalms of lament,” and they are the majority of the songs in the Book of Psalms.

It is also frequently observed that lament is rarely a part of Christian worship today. Rather, what is often described as the prosperity gospel, or alternatively, “ultra-bright forms of worship,” seem to occupy centre stage. Where, then, do we go in the face of personal grief and devastating losses? Where do we go to cry out in indignation about the horrors of war … the senselessness of children being shot at school, the latest suicide of a young person, the missing and murdered aboriginal women, the young mother with a new baby and a diagnosis of stage 4 cancer, the death of a child – and the many smaller horrors that invade our lives? When we question everything? Singing “God is so good” when God seems to do nothing about these realities only multiplies the horror.

Nor is the paschal mystery – the self-giving of God out of love for the world seen most clearly in the living, dying and death of Jesus, and God’s raising him up to new life, and the sending of Spirit of Jesus to inhabit the whole universe as its very life principle – which we often abbreviate to “the death and resurrection of Jesus,” a facile response to the situations that give rise to lament. There is no resurrection without death. This is not a passing to a new kind of life without that final, physical cessation of life that is death. Death is harsh. It hurts. Deeply."

For reflection

Do I feel free to express to God my anger, pain, anguish, frustration? If not, what do I do with those emotions in relationship to my spiritual life? 

How does knowing the structure of a lament psalm help you interpret Psalm 22 for Passion Sunday?

Using the structure of a lament psalm, write your own lament psalm based in what’s going on in your own life, or in the life of the world. To help you, consult Irene Nowell’s book on the psalms, Pleading,Cursing, Praising.

Reflection 4: The Meaning of Psalms

In this reflection we consider Psalm 91 and Psalm 118 as a way to enter into learning what all psalms are saying. This is a helpful process for cantors and readers who proclaim the psalm when the Church gathers for prayer. It is also helpful for all who want to take up the psalms as our prayer, finding in these texts words for our experiences when we have no words.

We considered the Michel Guimont setting of Psalm 91 found at #496 Catholic Book of Worship III and the Christopher Walker setting of Psalm 118.

The reflection provides some questions for deep soul searching, prayer, and response to God.

The poignant questions of the reflection are:


How has God given you life?

Scan your life. Where do you find God's gift of life in the contours of your own living?


How has God raised you up?

Is God truly your strength and your saviour?

If not, what or who is?

How have you experienced God as your strength? Your saviour?

...and if you can't identify God's presence and action in your life...? Look a little further The eyes and ears of faith allow us to identify these contours of the divine presence.

Gathering for Retreat March 2 & 3

On Friday, March 2 and Saturday, March 3 liturgical musicians from across the Diocese gathered for a time of meditative prayer and reflection on the retreat materials.

We began with sung prayer on Friday night, contemplating the Paschal Mystery, with meditative songs and illuminations from The Saint John's Bible.

On Saturday we shared our experience of reflections 1 and 2 during the week leading up to our gathering and then moved on to reflection on the obstacles to understanding the psalms by both the congregation and by the music ministers.

Reflection 4 was a definite treat in its delivery and in the time of personal prayer and quiet group discussion that followed.

We concluded our retreat with the material of session 7 "This Is My Body Given For You" and then enjoyed each other's company over lunch.

Retreat participants identified the following elements of the day as highlights:

* Listening and Tuning

* Singing the Communion Song

* Reflection 4 was deeply moving

* A reminder of my role of cantor and my responsibilities in proclaiming the psalm

* The psalms connect with my life more than I realized

* The meaning and interpretation of the psalms

* The opportunity to gather with others in prayer and reflection

Watch for Reflection 4 in two parts - an email tonight and one early tomorrow morning. I agree with Saturday's participants...it is a highlight of the retreat!

Some photos from our retreat

Please feel free to share some of your responses in the comment section.

Mystery, mystery and...too much mystery?

Today the first of eight reflections was emailed to all music contacts in our database and to Parishes, requesting they share the file with their parish musicians.

There are important questions for us to consider:

* How do we make it from one liturgical event to the next?

* How does the Spirit of God fill me?

* What are you thankful for?

Please feel free to share some of your responses in the comment section.