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April 01, 2007
What did you see and hear?
Palm Sunday edition.
Again, not a discussion thread. If a question appears and persists, I'll pull it and make a separate post.
For us:
Liturgy begins in the school gym, where the ritual for the blessing of Palms occurs. A small group - maybe about 100 people, max, who processed to the church, where there were probably 150 waiting. Processional hymn was "All Glory, Laud and Honor," but this was an early Mass, with only an organist and cantor, and so no strategically placed singers in the procession...so that didn't quite work, unfortunately.
Reading of the Passion was read in parts. I'd be interested to hear of parishes in which it was read, but not in parts, or was chanted. Music was fairly traditional, with the exception of of the horrible, dreadful Bernadette Farrell piece in place of the Lamb of God. Closing: "Lift High the Cross."
(BTW...if you want to see how complicated it is to plan these Masses, the choices available, and the consideration that must go into it all...take a look at the blog entry on just that from Fr. Martin Fox, pastor of two smallish parishes in Ohio.)
Update.
A question has come up about a 1988 letter containing Vatican guidelines for celebration of Holy Week. The document in question is Paschale Solemnitatis and is found here....
For Passion Sunday:
28. Holy Week begins on Passion (or Palm) Sunday, which joins the foretelling of Christ's regal triumph and the proclamation of the passion. The connection between both aspects of the paschal mystery should be shown and explained in the celebration and catechesis of this day. [32]
29. The commemoration of the entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem has, according to ancient custom, been celebrated with a solemn procession, in which the faithful in song and gesture imitate the Hebrew children who went to meet the Lord, singing "Hosanna." [33]
The procession may take place only once, before the Mass that has the largest attendance, even if this should be in the evening of either Saturday or Sunday. The congregation should assemble in a secondary church or chapel or in some other suitable place distinct from the church to which the procession will move.
In this procession, the faithful carry palm or other branches. The priest and the ministers, also carrying branches, precede the people. [34]
The palms or branches are blessed so that they can be carried in the procession. The palms should be taken home, where they will serve as a reminder of the victory of Christ, which they celebrated in the procession.
Pastors should make every effort to ensure that this procession in honor of Christ the King be so prepared and celebrated that it is of great spiritual significance in the life of the faithful.
The Missal, in order to commemorate the entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem, in addition to the solemn procession described above, gives two other forms, not simply for convenience, but to provide for those situations when it will not be possible to have the procession.
The second form is that of a solemn entrance, when the procession cannot take place outside of the church. The third form is a simple entrance such as is used at all Masses on this Sunday that do not have the solemn entrance. [35]
31. Where the Mass cannot be celebrated, there should be a celebration of the word of God on the theme of the Lord's messianic entrance and passion, either on Saturday evening or on Sunday at a convenient time. [36]
32. During the procession, the choir and people should sing the chants proposed in the Roman Missal, especially Psalms 23 and 46, as well as other appropriate songs in honor of Christ the King.
33. The passion narrative occupies a special place. It should be sung or read in the traditional way, that is, by three persons who take the part of Christ, the narrator, and the people. The passion is proclaimed by deacons or priests, or by lay readers. In the latter case, the part of the Christ should be reserved to the priest.
The proclamation of the passion should be without candles and incense; the greeting and the sings of the cross are omitted; and only a deacon asks for the blessing, as he does before the Gospel. [37] For the spiritual good of the faithful, the passion should be proclaimed in its entirety, and the readings that proceed it should not be omitted.
34. After the passion has been proclaimed, a homily is to be given.
Posted by Amy Welborn | Permalink
Comments
No homily. "All Glory, Laud and Honor" (too high for me at 8 AM!), some psalm that I've heard before and couldn't find in any of the hymnals present (I could not make a word of what the verses were), "O Sacred Head Surrounded", "Were You There?", and "Jesus, Remember Me". They dimmed the lights at the end, which was tasteful.
We were instructed to sit for the Passion Reading. Has it been a recent development that the congregation does not read the Crowd's part? Is this a way to slowly phase out the "Passion in parts" in favor of the Gospel reading itself?
Posted by: Andy K. at Apr 1, 2007 5:07:52 PM
Amy's mass was very similar to ours at St. Joseph's in Fort Collins, CO for the 7am service; all waited outside in pretty cool weather for the bells to stop ringing, and started with the blessing with holy water for all from the priest, the first reading then processing into the church was "All Glory, Laud and Honor." The Passion was read in parts while we all stood.
Chanted the Sanctus and Angus Dei, and finished with the "Lift High the Cross." Mass ran about 1 hr, 15 minutes and the 8:30am crowd were starting to gather outside as we headed out.
Very reverent and holy, due to our wonderful Polish priest, Fr. Piotr, who's ways always remind us of our previous Holy Father!
Vivat Jesus
Posted by: Marty at Apr 1, 2007 5:24:00 PM
Read in parts, male students + the priest - they did QUITE a nice job.
We sat for the Passion up to the "And they all brought him to Pontius Pilate." part.
The closing hymn (yes, I know, but I can't quite bring myself to say something sharp about hymns during Lent when I'm grateful for decent keyboard music instead of student guitars) ended with a a cappella verse of "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" It was VERY effective - the congregation left very quietly.
Posted by: the Cranky Professor at Apr 1, 2007 5:37:49 PM
St. Anne's in Bethlehem was great, as usual.
Gospel was broken up among the priest and some others, as you'd expect.
Short homily due to the long Gospel.
English Sanctus and Angnus Dei, sang reverently.
"Lift High the Cross" was the last song here too; the hymnals and missals are all fairly straight-up at my parish.
Brought a friend of mine who came to visit me for the weekend. He goes to a Presbyterian church where he livesm and was surprised to see "altar girls": "at my church they're all boys" (we have no "altar boys" at my parish as far as I know, and the girls are all pushing 18). Since we use the correct practices here, I was able to explain the liturgy to him a bit (why stand, why sit, why kneel, and when?).
Afterwards, I thought it was a good "Catholic intro" even though that wasn't my intent when we went.
Posted by: Ian at Apr 1, 2007 5:45:48 PM
Here is what we did at my two parishes, and here is my homily.
Posted by: Fr Martin Fox at Apr 1, 2007 6:02:27 PM
St. Dominic's, Southwest Washington:
We were given the option of sitting or standing during the reading of the Passion--so most people at our 8 a.m. Mass opted to sit. Some of the sitters were elderly folks, but other sitters looked quite hale and hearty. As for me, I figured that since the celebrant of the Mass was 90+ years old--the wonderful and so far indestructible Fr. William Newman,O.P.--and he stood for the entire Passion, I could darned well stand, too. The Passion isn't that long! Plus, Jesus had to hang on the cross for three hours, so it beats me why we can't stand for 15 minutes to commemorate his hanging on the cross. And it's proper, anyway, always to stand during the readings from the Gospels in church.
The good thing was that we did the Passion in parts, with a very talented parishioner taking the part of Peter, Pilate, the Good Thief, the Bad Thief, and a few others. Fr. Newman was Jesus, of course, another parishioner was narrator, and the congregation got to be the crowd. Shouting "Crucify him!" is always a salutory reminder of the involvement of all of us in Jesus' sufferings and death. And St. Luke's Passion is just so fine, with its vividly characterized cast of characters. My favorite is Herod Antipas "hoping to see Jesus work some miracle" and then becoming great pals with Pontius Pilate after each tries to palm off the responsibility for condemning Jesus onto the other.
As for hymns, we had the very beautiful "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?" plus "O Sacred Head Surrounded" and "Crown Him With Many Crowns." Of course, very few members of our parish are actually willing to sing these or any other hymns, but that's a systemic problem I can't solve.
Posted by: Charlotte Allen at Apr 1, 2007 6:05:43 PM
If "in parts" means one person is the narrator, the priest is Christ, etc, then my home parish doesn't do that.
Instead, the priest and two readers take turns reading large chunks of it, which every year trips up people who are following along. Rather than having the congregation join in on the 'crowd' parts, we sing a refrain every so often.
I hate it - when we first did it, I thought it was neat, but I just find it distracting now.
Also, instead of a procession, the entire church comes up to the altar by rows and are individually given a palm branch, while the children stand around the altar and wave their branches to remind us to wave ours and sing along with the hymn. (It's a nearly-round church, so the kids being all around the altar makes some sense, if they're going to be up there at all.)
The communion hymn was possibly my least favorite communion hymn in the entire world (or, well, the parts of the US that I've visited) - it's "May We Be One", from a little hymnal insert. The choir sings most of it, with the rest of us joining in (or not - I can't bring myself to sing) with "Amen, amen" and "now as we share this feast, may we become healing and light and peace, may we be one". What makes it my least favorite hymn ever is the parts of the verses to which we respond (or don't) "Amen, amen". Some of them are okay: "This is the bread of desert years' wandering", "this is the cup that would not pass from you". Some of them are not okay: "This is the bread of wheat and of barley" comes immediately to mind, but there's a couple that I'm regularly offended by. None of them mention that the bread/loaf/grain or cup/wine/grapes are more than just snacks with memories attached.
Posted by: cheyan at Apr 1, 2007 6:17:21 PM
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Chicago
Procession begins on Church steps (the church is on a busy street that can't be plausibly closed, so this is the best we can do). It was very windy and threatening rain, luckily held off so we could stay outside and begin there.
"Hosanna Filio David" Chant
"All Glory, Laud and Honor" Processional Hymn
We did the knocking on the door thing that the Pope referenced in his talk today, which is from the older rite but certainly not forbidden in the current one.
Following that, a setting of "Ingrediente Domino"
Psalm 22 and Gospel verse ("Christ became obedient for us....") by William Ferris
Passion Gospel read in sections (not parts) by Bishop, Deacon, and reader.
Offertory: "Miserere" by Gregorio Allegri
Sanctus: Plainchant, Latin
Memorial Acclamation/Amen: William Ferris
Agnus Dei: Missa L'Hora Passa by Ludovico Viadana
Communion Motets: "In Manus Tuas, Domine" by Juan Pujol and "Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs" by Karl Graun
Closing Hymn: "O Sacred Head Surrounded"
All in all, a beautiful liturgy, par for the course at OLMC.
Posted by: Dan of the Holy Whapping at Apr 1, 2007 6:31:47 PM
"The King of Glory comes..." to Holy Cross parish, Lake Stevens, WA.
Lots of wrestling with the baby today trying to keep him from getting cranky so I missed quite a bit. We had palm branches, started outside for the procession (a little chilly!), came in to the synthesizer booming out a beat for the "king of glory" song (left preprogrammed by the musician while we were outside). Then we had the readings in parts for the Gospel (a friend of mine, a woman, read the parts for Pilate, Peter, etc. Is that typical or not? Does sex not matter for this?). Homily was celebrated by our Nigerian vicar, excellent man but I could hear little of the homily with the fussing baby. We exited with "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" a capella, which was nice. Then we had donuts and later I had to put my children in a time-out for running and playing tag around the altar and behind it on the stage (in our junior high cafeteria where we meet for Mass). Always a challenge here!
Posted by: LeeAnn at Apr 1, 2007 6:32:15 PM
Oooh - I shoulda said, Greek Kyrie, Latin Agnus Dei - as we've been doing for all of Lent.
This is the diocese of Rochester, too! Remember, even poster child dioceses have margins of sanity!
Posted by: the Cranky Professor at Apr 1, 2007 6:54:54 PM
St. Martin of Tours, Louisville KY:
Solemn Entry
Passion done by Priest, and two Deacons: Priest took jesus (of course) one deacon as narrator, one as "other voice" and the congregation as the crowd.
Latin for Sanctus and Agnus Dei (chanted) Greek Kyrie (chant). Prayer of the Faithful response: Oremus Domini (sp)/Kyrie Elieson (sp) chanted.
Incense, bells, Propers and parts of the ordinary sung, Responsorial psalm sung by choir, people responding.
Solemn, but not stuffy, great liturgy.
The Parish has a nice web sit at http://Louisville-catholic.net.
Posted by: Ignorant Redneck at Apr 1, 2007 7:04:30 PM
Dear LeeAnn,
Adding your parish name actually works with the melody!
Posted by: Andy K. at Apr 1, 2007 7:15:13 PM
Andy
Since the Vatican issued a letter in 1988 with specific rubrics for the Holy Week liturgies, the congregation's play a "part" in the proclamation of the Passion is no longer envisioned. Missalette makers may not have caught up with this development...
Posted by: Liam at Apr 1, 2007 7:27:02 PM
We sat while a woman read the Jesus part.
Posted by: Jack at Apr 1, 2007 7:30:51 PM
I love "Lift High The Cross." We *didn't* sing it at St. Paul Lutheran, but it would have been fitting. Had a palm branch procession, good sermon on what it means to take part in a parade/procession and what it means to watch one, with some insights about what the crowds at Jesus' triumphant entry were saying by their presence, and how Jesus' acceptance of their Hosannas and saying his Hour had come would mean in 1st Century Jerusalem. Some solid, minor-key hymns (perhaps out of place on Palm Sunday) played beautifully and sung with Men/Boys///All///Women/Girls singing alternate verses. I love when we do that.
Ad-orientam Prayers for the Church.
Pastor talked about how the official Lutheran liturgical Gospel for the day has been changed to the crucifixion instead of the traditional Palm Sunday triumphant entry (sadly) because so few people attend church on Good Friday. But he opted to go for the traditional Trimphant Entry Gospel reading and strongly encourage the congregation to make sure they worship on Good Friday so they get the crucifixion Gospel.
Posted by: MarkAA at Apr 1, 2007 7:36:49 PM
For the first time in 29 years, I, the pastor, read the Passion all by my lonesome....3 times.
I am tired. Just wanted to do something radical. Well, real reasons will be left unsaid. After having music for the procession and the usual parts of the Mass, we had no music during communion or after. After the dismissal,the servers and I left in silence, not processing out through the church, but just going back to the sacristy the "short way"
Posted by: Fr. Stephen at Apr 1, 2007 7:38:34 PM
10AM Mass at a parish in Diocese of Lansing-
Mix of music (from "All Glory Laud and Honor" to "We Remember, We Celebrate, We Believe")
We chanted the Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. Also, Father sang some parts of the Mass.
The congregation had to process up to the front to get blessed palms (picture another Communion distribution, and at least as long).
Somehow there was no second reading.
The Gospel- The youth group did a mime thing with contemporary music and a very loose translation of the Passion reading read by one of the high school girls. Jesus was played by a young lady. The gravity of the events portrayed by this dramatic respresentation of the Passion was somewhat lessened by the non-stop "raspberries" sounds provided by my 5-month old throughout the whole thing.
No homily.
The big crucifix behind the altar and the holy water bowls at the doors were covered in red cloth (they had been covered in purple cloth through the rest of Lent).
Posted by: Sarah L. at Apr 1, 2007 7:46:22 PM
No offense intended for female readers of this blog or women in general, by why in Heaven's name would a woman read Jesus' parts in the passion? I can sort of appreciate -- sometimes -- the gender bending in theater roles that goes on in campus theater, to give a different "twist" to a character. (Heck, the female Starbuck in the newer Battlestar Galactica incarnation acts rings around the old male Starbuck.) But what can possibly be gained by gender-bending the "role" of Jesus? He is the *son* of Man, not the neuter-child of Man or the daughter of Man.
Posted by: MarkAA at Apr 1, 2007 7:48:33 PM
Anybody else have the bells decide it was daylight savings time again? I guess that made the 8 AM Mass interesting, but the music director fixed it before our Mass started.
On Palm Sunday and Easter, we nearly always sing a 1944 arrangement of "The Holy City" (which is a Victorian song). We sang it during the Offertory. (I really like that song, although it also keeps me humble by reminding me that I'm only a 2nd soprano!)
We sang one of the Mass settings in the book, and I think people were good on singing along. "Agnus Dei" in Latin.
The other songs were "All Glory, Laud and Honor", "Were You There", and the third one I can't remember, but it was contemporary (but not lame). It all went pretty well.
We had the gospel read in parts. I thought it was pretty hard that they didn't make allowances for sex, as one of our guys had to play the maidservant when we had two female lectors up there. But it wasn't done for weird reasons or anything; I think it was just a logistics problem. The congregation sat, as is traditional. (I dozed off, I'm sorry to say, but not because it was boring. I just don't sleep well during changes of season.)
Posted by: Maureen at Apr 1, 2007 7:49:03 PM
St Jerome Newport News. We started with the second alternate, which is, i believe just the standard procession with a gosple reading from Mark(?). Then the blessig of the palms (and the congregation.) Father has altogether too much fun with that.
We read the Passion in parts, two female readers and father, with us taking the crowd parts.
We messed up the Sanctus! It was a mistake. Sang the Our Father, but not the Memorial Acclamation, Amen or Lamb of God.
There was a duet sung during the second collection, I didn't know the song. The recessional was accompanied by music, flut and violin.
Since there was no recessional hymn some people seemed to take it on themselves to exit prior to father processing down the aisle. I know we'll hear about that later. (As well we should. How Rude!)
Posted by: TerryC at Apr 1, 2007 8:13:21 PM
As a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia I was serving at the Cathedral this morning where three deacons, along with the choir, chanted the entire Passion. It took a long time but was absolutely gorgeous and incredibly solemn. I have to admit I was jealous when I saw Cardinal Rigali leaning on his Crozier as we passed the 20 minute mark in the Gospel.
God bless you all!
Posted by: Big Tom at Apr 1, 2007 8:31:28 PM
"Since the Vatican issued a letter in 1988 with specific rubrics for the Holy Week liturgies, the congregation's play a "part" in the proclamation of the Passion is no longer envisioned. Missalette makers may not have caught up with this development..."
Liam,
Can you tell me where to find the 1988 letter? I'm interested in reading it.
Thanks
Posted by: Meggan at Apr 1, 2007 8:43:50 PM
All Glory Laud and Honor, O Sacred Head Surrounded, What Wondrous Love is This. Latin parts (Greek Kyrie) for everything but the Our Father/Glory Be (all chant...been doing that throughout Lent). Procession around the church with just-blessed branches. Red-Covered altar (first time I've seen our altar completely covered--front and all--in AGES) and lots of palms. Red vestments. Deacon as Narrator, Priest as Christ (obviously), lay person as 'voice' and congregation. Some confusion. Short homily.
When I walked in I thought, "Huh. I think I'm actually walking into a RC Church." (I love my parish, but its got that 70s look to it, despite refurbishments.)
Posted by: nab at Apr 1, 2007 9:05:33 PM
Ours worked out pretty well. We use the "Celebremos! Let us Celebrate!" missal from WLP which works good for English and Spanish Masses. We did all the readings and stood for the entire Gospel, with two lectors, men and/or women, and congregation as the chorus. I did the Jesus part, of course, and would have had the deacons do the narrator, except one was visiting his ill mother out of state, and the other, a reader of this blog, died a few weeks ago.
One of my pet peeves is people coming in early and taking the palms and immediately begin their cross-making and playing around with them.
So I hide the palms and bring them out for the solemn entrance outside the church (five minutes before Masss I ask them to go outside - except for the Mass it was raining - four masses and I'm the only one). Place them on a table covered in red and do the whole rite and blessing with Gospel reading.
Then the entrance - I had the ushers and greeters distribute the palms (400-500 people at each of the 4 Masses). And I reminded everyone to join in the entrance song and not greet or chit-chat. I was happy that worked. Usually, they greet the greeters, chat with each other, then sit down while the entrance hymn is still playing.
My homily was regular - on the triumph/joy and sorrow/suffering of Christianity (a bit of JPII's Savifici Doloris, which my people know I preach from a lot).
Spanish Mass was packed, and I've tried something new - I preach two sermons, one Spanish, the other English, each different. Folks seem to like it since many of the younger ones are bilingual, with only enough spanish to speak to their abuela.
All in all, a good day.
I hear confessions five days a week. But I knew that a lot of people would wait till the last minute, so I told them Monday and Wednesday only during Holy Week (Chrism Mass on Tuesday). Some even wanted to go today, when I've got 4 Masses and 2000 people to worry about. There's an old rule that no confessions should be heard during the Triduum, which Pope JPII broke by hearing a handful on Good Friday. He's the Pope, but hey, I'm not. If I had to hear them during the Triduum, I'd be hearing them three days straight with no time to prepare for the Triduum. I hate having to tell people "no, I won't hear your confession today on Palm Sunday" when I'm surrounded by 100 people who want to talk to me and I've got a hundred other things to prepare for, but it's not like they didn't have forty days already to make a confesssion. And they look all wounded, like the folks who show up one minute before Mass and want to go to confession and get all hurt when I say "no". If I had an assistant, I might could work something out, but I don't and won't anytime soon.
Anyway, it's going to be a good Holy Week. I hope the same for all of you.
Fr. Paul Williams, pastor. OLPH, Carrollton, GA
Posted by: Fr. Paul at Apr 1, 2007 9:12:06 PM
9 AM Mass, University Parish.
We started in the back for the Solemn entrance. I chanted Hosanna Filio David, followed by the priest reading the invitation and prayer and the deacon reading the Gospel. We don't go outside for this Mass; time and logistics don't allow.
Entrance (after the first Gospel): The King of Glory Comes (congregation enjoys and sings well with this one.)
We were prepared to do the Kyrie, but there was no place for it in the form of the service we followed.
The setting of "My God, My God, O why have You abandoned Me?" that we sang as a responsorial Psalm is so plaintive, such a contrast to the joyous entrance--in the context of Mass, even more than in rehearsal, it helped me focus on preparing for Christ's Passion.
Gospel was read in parts, with our Deacon taking the part of Christ, one Lector reading the narration and another reading most of the other characters. We had the "crowd" parts printed in our missalettes--reading "Crucify Him!" further prepares me for Good Friday.
Offertory: What Wondrous Love is This?
Communion: Were You there?
Sending Forth (we hadn't done one during the other weeks of Lent, but we usually resume for Palm Sunday): O Sacred Head Surrounded (again accapella; the congregation sang beautifully and meaningfully.)
Some red, some purple.
Oh, I left the house an hour early. My alarm opted to Spring Forward as previously scheduled.
Posted by: St. Elizabeth of Cayce at Apr 1, 2007 9:22:02 PM
