Hosanna Planning Guide: Music

Cycle A: Lent

by Rory Cooney

Solidarity is a word that has received renewed attention in the last fifteen years. It was the rallying cry of Poland’s labor union, taken up by Pope John Paul II, witnessed to by the blood of martyrs like Father Jerzy Popieluszko, and became the banner around which eastern Europeans rallied in their liberation struggle against Communism. Who can forget the banners stretched across the shipyards at Gdansk, determined faces glowing in the light of a hundred thousand candles, while Polish citizens sang religious and patriotic anthems or publicly prayed in defiance of her mightily armed occupier? Solidarity. A beautiful, if abstract, noun, brought to vivid life by a people who lived it at the brink of death.

Solidarity might well be the theme of Matthew’s gospel, the dream of our liturgy, and the aim of the Order of Christian Initiation. As we plan the music of Lent in lectionary year A, it is one of the motifs we should keep in mind. Matthew’s gospel is the gospel of Emmanuel in its beginnings and “I am with you always” in its final verses. In the gospels of the first two Sundays of Lent we glimpse the intimacy of the solidarity between Jesus and the Father, first in the faithfulness of Jesus during the desert trial, later, in the Father’s loving support of Jesus’s march to the cross in the transfiguration story. In the rites of initiation which are celebrated on at least four of the five Lenten Sundays, the community ritually embraces the elect as it prepares to draw them to itself and thus into the very heart of God.

It is this community that is God’s visible response to sin in the world, that is, God’s visible gift to rescue us from the desperation of our isolation and our powerlessness against systemic evil and selfish behavior, which are incarnations of sin. Joined to this community by authentic ritual, ritual which powerfully captures the truth of life in symbol, the catechumens are rescued from “original sin,” that is, from separation from others who deliver to us in solidarity the presence of God.

The musical implications for liturgy are enormous. How will the music we choose for these Sundays and their critical rites communicate the truth of our solidarity in Christ? What kind of a community is communicated in rite when that community is silent or singing tepidly while a soloist or choir dominates the action? Clearly, in Lent as always, what must be our first priority is to seek out music that is appealing and engaging of people in the assembly, and then fully empower them to sing it! To allow anything less, even with Pavarotti-esque cantors or massive paid choirs or Hammer-like bands, is to present a different church than the one embodied in the rites of initiation. The primary minister of music, just as it is the primary initiator and blesser and breaker and sharer of bread, is the Christ-assembly.

Fasting and almsgiving are other ways of showing our solidarity during the weeks of Lent. As though to bring to mind in ever fresher ways our unity at the table, we show it by moderation and denial at other tables, abstaining from expensive food and lavish meals, and engaging more frequently and attentively in works of mercy. By doing these things together, we are practicing solidarity. In an analogous way, the liturgy asks us to refrain from lavishness in our music during this time, from the adornments of ornate accompaniments and festal presentations. These guidelines can help us focus on listening to ourselves, to each other, so that we can come to love the sound of people singing praise for rescue more than any other sound. They prepare the way for what we hope will be the aural “excess” of the Easter Sundays, the musical feast that accompanies the celebration of the Great Sunday.

Simplicity, however, does not mean dullness or sameness. Simplicity can be guitar and flute, organ and clarinet, or any number of musical combinations. Simplicity might be an unaccompanied litany or an unadorned hymn, or a festive psalm sung completely in unison, without choral or instrumental embellishment beyond organ and/or piano. The point is that musical simplicity, like fasting, takes many forms, and the starting point is what your Sunday music is normally like. I suspect that in some cases, the liturgical music doctor would proscribe, not prescribe, fasting, and demand that the community-patient fatten up a little bit with some robust singing lest it wither anorexically away to musical nothingness.

Some simple guidelines, then, for Lenten music:

Treat the whole assembly’s singing as the primary sign of solidarity, which is the heart of our corporate church identity.
Exercise a simplicity in style and performance that is analogous to fasting. Still, remember that Sunday’s music is not to be minimalized, and that fasting on the Sundays of Lent, in our tradition, has at times been forbidden.
Focus on the rites, whether eucharistic or more strictly initiatory, when planning music for the Sunday celebration. This might mean:

a. Fashioning a simple gathering rite, possibly using a seasonal hymn, or utilizing a composed litany of mercy, an extended “Kyrie eleison,” or expanding some will-known penitential rite into a litany. For an example, see Tom Kendzia’s “Lord, Have Mercy,” published as an octavo and also recorded on his collection, Here with Us Now. Featuring the processional cross, possibly with incense, would be an appropriate addition to these rites.

b. Feature the liturgy of the word with a well-developed psalm or a seasonal responsorial psalm. The psalm should have a substantial part for the assembly. The first readings recall important stories of God’s solidarity in the covenant-journey of Israel, so Psalm 130 would be a good choice (“With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption”) as would Psalm 25 (“Your ways, O God, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.”).Those long gospels on the third through sixth Sundays can be brought to life by incorporating an acclamation in each, sung several times during the proclamation at important points.

c. Spend appropriate time planning the initiation rites, and pay attention to the musical aspects of them. Skip music during the preparation rite to save rehearsal and performance time to make the signing of the book, the scrutinies, and intercessions for the elect into bold and powerful musical moments. Nothing will convince the assembly of the importance of the rites of initiation than if they execute them beautifully together.

d. A simple adjustment in the eucharistic acclamations and the fraction rite might be to perform them in unison, rather than in full arrangement versions that might be used in the rest of the year.

Musical Suggestions:

Ash Wednesday

Proper psalm: Psalm 51 “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.”

TITLE	COMPOSER	PUBLISHER
Remember Your Love	Dameans	GIA
Turn to Me	Foley	New Dawn
Ashes	Conry	new dawn
Change Our Hearts	Cooney	NALR
Be Merciful, O God	Haugen	GIA
Remember Your Mercy	Inwood	OCP
I Need You to Listen	Haugen	GIA
You Alone	Cooney	NALR

First Sunday

Proper psalm: Psalm 51 “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.”

TITLE	COMPOSER	PUBLISHER
Remember Your Love	Dameans	GIA
On Eagle’s Wings	Joncas	New Dawn
Jerusalem, My Destiny	Cooney	GIA
In Your Love Remember Me	Kendzia	NALR
We Remember	Haugen	GIA
I Have Loved You	Joncas	New Dawn
I Say Yes/Digo Sí, Señor	Peña	GIA

Second Sunday

Proper psalm: Psalm 33 “Lord, show us your mercy, we place our trust in you.”

TITLE	COMPOSER	PUBLISHER
I Will Not Die	Conry		OCP
I Am Become	Conry		OCP
Yahweh, the Faithful One	Schutte		New Dawn
Only This I Want	Schutte		New Dawn
Servant Song	Cooney		NALR
The Christ of God	Foley		NALR
As We Remember	Cooney		NALR
Penitential Litany	Daigle		GIA
Jesus the Lord (GP124, sheet, key F)	O’Connor		new dawn
Eye Has Not Seen	Haugen		GIA
Choral
O Christ, Our Hope	Tye/Klammer		GIA

Third Sunday

Proper psalm: Psalm 95,”If today you hear his voice, harden not your heart.”

TITLE	COMPOSER	PUBLISHER
O Healing River	Trad/Joncas	GIA
Come to the Water	Foley	New Dawn
I Long for You	Dameans	Gia
I Found the Treasure	Schutte	New Dawn
As Grain Once Scattered	Conry	OCP
All You Who Are Thirsty	Connolly	GIA
There Is a River	Manion	NALR

Fourth Sunday

Proper psalm: Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, nothing shall I want.”

TITLE	COMPOSER	PUBLISHER
Amazing Grace	trad.
“Shepherd Me, O God”	Haugen	GIA
Psalm 23	Conry	OCP
City of God	Schutte	New Dawn
Healer of Our Every Ill	Haugen	GIA
Awake, O Sleeper	Dameans	GIA
Awake, O Sleeper	Haugen	GIA

Fifth Sunday

Proper psalm, Psalm 130, “With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.”

TITLE	COMPOSER	PUBLISHER
I, the Lord	Kendzia	NALR
I Am the Bread of Life	Toolan	GIA
Awake, O Sleeper	Haugen	GIA
With the Lord (With Our God)	Joncas	GIA

Passion Sunday

Proper psalm, Psalm 22, “My God, why have you abandoned me.”

TITLE	COMPOSER	PUBLISHER
Jerusalem, My Destiny	Cooney	GIA
Jesus, Remember Me	Taizé	GIA
Jesus Died Upon the Cross	G W Brown	NALR
Only This I Want	Schutte	new dawn
What Wondrous Love	trad
O Sacred Head Surrounded	trad
We Remember	Haugen
All Glory, Laud, and Honor	trad
Road to Jerusalem (GP211, YA)	Cooney	NALR
Passion According to Matthew	Deiss	NALR
Why Have You Abandoned Me?	Cooney	NALR