by Rory Cooney
copyright © 1992
Easter 7. Married people know well that two becoming one, the unity which they heard so much about in the wedding liturgy, is not something that happens magically on their wedding day. Unity is a matter of applied and intentional being together: ordinary, day-by-day living, that the faith-filled person believes is charged with the presence of Christ. The community which we become in Christ reveals the Fathers love to the world both in its ordinary living and in its heroic witnesses to the Way. Even now, at the height of the Easter-Pentecost reflection, we are called to remember that the road to resurrection was the way of the cross.
Keep on with the ritual elements you have been consistently using through the season, including the sprinkling rite, the repeated Alleluia, and the heightened eucharistic prayer music if those have been possible. Singing hymns that emphasize the unity of the church in Christ will accentuate the intimacy of believer and Master as suggested in the gospel passage.
Proper Psalm: Psalm 97 The Lord is king, the most high over all the earth. The psalm continues the enthronement theme from the feast of the Ascension. Following the Acts pericope about the death of Stephen, another of the Easter psalms might be just as appropriate. I am particularly speaking about Psalm 16 with its refrain, Lord, you will show us the path of life, and expression of trust that God will not abandon the believer to the nether world.
Pentecost. Lord, send out your spirit, and renew the face of the earth. Such a prayer should not come too easily to us, for renewing the earth means that something has to give. The first step in urban renewal, for instance, is the application of explosives to the old urbs. In the Spirits renewal of earth, some things will need to be destroyed. When the holy wind blows and hearts catch fire, old structures are swept away. Chaos gives birth to harmony; diversity reveals unity; peace and forgiveness become the way of life for a people.
I dont see any reason for the multiplication of Holy Spirit songs for this feast. This day is no more focused on the Spirit as an object of worship (assuming that were possible) than the eucharist is focused on the bread as an object. This feast is dynamic. Its emphasis is the mission of the church and the transformation of creation. Most repertoire could be drawn from the Easter repertoire, with the added thrust of church unity and mission.
Proper Psalm: Psalm 104, Lord, send out your spirit and renew the face of the earth. Fortunately, this psalm has been attempted in a great number of styles by many composers. Unfortunately, these range from the cutesy to the obscure. No contemporary version quite touches the fire of Peloquins version in Songs of Israel, but not every community has the resources or the desire to mount so grand a musical steed. My prejudice will always be toward a version which respects the place of the psalms as much in the context of human song as in that of liturgy. Consequently, I wont be asking Santa next Christmas for another collection of dutifully rendered psalm tones and homogenized antiphonal melodies. If the music of the congregations antiphon in a psalm setting doesnt attempt to express the emotion of the text, move on to another version, and quick. Nothing will have to kill the liturgy of the word if musically its already dead.
Often, we will employ the liturgical hymn Glory to God as the gathering song today. Its structure is trinitarian and therefore it is appropriate to this feast in a way it may not always be in ordinary time. Today may also be a good day to drag out some of the choral pieces that have a theme of praise in them. I dont use them too much because of themselves they smack of theology and ecclesiology that predates the last two generations of the world. I mean pieces like O Lord, Our Lord Your Works Are Glorious by Bach and The Heavens Declare by Marcello, and everyones Alleluia. Contextualized by good proclamation and preaching, a choral piece can add a festive note to the celebration if done as a call to worship or as a closing piece.
Proper Psalm: Psalm 8 O Lord, our God, how glorious is your name over all the earth.
Body and Blood of Christ. It is critical for our thinking that we grapple with the metaphor of todays feast. For us who think in scientific categories and distinctions, body and blood connote the separation of those elements, and therefore, death. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Near-Eastern worldview was quite holistic and unadulterated by later Greek philosophy. Body and blood are metaphors not for death but for life. They are not viewed as separate but elements of a whole, what we would call metonymy. The body of Christ is a living body. It is a body that feeds the multitudes even today with real bread and with the bread of truth. It is our body, taken, blessed, broken, and shared by Christ for the life of the world.
If we concentrate on the visibility and beauty of the bread and wine today, the music we choose will blossom. Someone(s) should bake the bread, lovely wine in glass decanters should be copious. Sing the more extended acclamations of the eucharistic prayer as in the childrens prayers (or a composed version like Marty Haugens Eucharistic Prayer II [GIA]). The Lamb of God might also be sung today. Then, move along to choosing your communitys favorite eucharistic music.
Proper Psalm: Psalm 110 is a little obscure, especially since the lectionary psalter repeats the line of Melchisedek business as though this were some crossroads passage in the Hebrew scriptures. Frankly, the imagery that connects king and priest is somewhat contentious in these days of celibacy before eucharist theology. We might substitute the psalm from Holy Thursday, Psalm 116, or Psalm 34, from the common psalter (Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.)
13th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The heart of Jesus is now set on Jerusalem. Guided by the Spirit of God, Jesus is free of the law, which will continue to put him at odds with the religious and political powers of his day. Commitment to Jesus, the sharing of life that Jesus offers to disciples, is a commitment of total love. It means commitment to Jesuss vision of the radical unity of all people, and willingness to be faithful to that vision whatever earthly powers (spiritual or political) may do to thwart it. Even family must come second to the vision: the children of the barrios of Buenos Aires, the children of the streets, the children of my enemy, are no less important to God than my own.
Back off for a while at least from the three song pattern of festive American gathering rites. If it is an option in your parish, omit the Glory to God during ordinary time, and center your gathering rite around the opening song and maybe a simple sung version of Form C (the litany of praise). With a little creativity and work, some musical material can be taken from the opening hymn and adapted to the penitential rite. A more lengthy treatment of technique can be found in the publication and recording entitled Promising Presence, available from RP.
Proper Psalm: Psalm 16 You are my inheritance, O Lord. Since this psalm is also one of the seasonal psalms for Easter, it appears in virtually every collection of psalms for the church year. You may want or need to substitute a more familiar antiphon, but several settings include the proper one as an alternative.
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time. What a graphic, earthy, wonderful image the book of Isaiah gives us of the abundance of Gods love for people: the image of God the mother feeding her children from abundant breasts. The Gospel narration is in the same spirit, recounting Jesus s instructions to his friends as he sends them off to preach the word, instructions given from his deep love and tenderness for them. What is important to hear is that the love of God becomes power in us: the love which we show to others, family and stranger alike, can be judged not by how we feel, but how our love empowers others to live more abundant lives. This is what Gods love is: lavish, life-giving, empowering, and we are invited to share in it by Jesus.
Proper Psalm: Psalm 66 Let all the earth cry out to God with joy. Since this psalm is also one of the seasonal psalms for Easter, it is also readily available. Keep the repertoire fresh by bringing it out today in the middle of summertime.
July 4. Independence Day (USA) If Independence Day has its scriptural analog in the exodus (and a case could be made for this) then any church celebration of this feast is open to the critique that prophetic literature makes on the chosen people idea. Americans celebrate their independence from foreign domination. The church can celebrate this independence insofar as it is available to all people, all nations, and to the extent that we ourselves are not participating in the subjugation of other lands. No liturgy on this day can be a beatification of nationalism, or make the specious metaphor (which still floats around in some circles) that the United States is Gods chosen nation. This is the mythology which gave birth to manifest destiny and the new world order.