SUNDAY VII at EIGHT O'CLOCK and a flashback to the days of MONTHLY MISSALETTE!

Psalm 103, the Psalm appointed for this Sunday, is well-alluded to by our entrance hymn, Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.

    Verse 1: O my soul, praise him for he is thy health and salvation.
        Psalm 103: Bless the Lord, O my soul...
    Verse 2: Surely his goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
        Psalm 103: Merciful and gracious is the Lord...

Also, combining both those passages is the Introit of the day, excerpted from Psalm 13.

    O Lord, I trust in your merciful love.  My heart will rejoice in your salvation.

Our offertory hymn, Love divine, all loves excelling, combines the salvation and mercy cited in the Introit and Psalm.

    Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heav'n to earth, come down.
    Fix in us thy humble dwelling, all thy faithful mercies crown.
    Jesus, thou art all compassion, pure unbounded love thou art.
    Visit us with thy salvation; enter ev'ry trembling heart.

The Communion responsory, Psalm 9, with its short response, I will sing to your Name, O Most High, comes to us from Adam Bartlett of Lumen Christi Missal and Source and Summit Missal fame.

Finally, the meditation hymn, Where charity and love prevail (a loose translation of the Latin hymn Ubi Caritas) bids us we love and forgive one another, as pointed out in this Sunday's Gospel.  It's also a flashback to the days of Monthly Missalette, the 64-page publication that graced many a pew in the 1970s.  The author of the hymn, Omer Westendorf, goes back to the origins of the People's Mass Book in the 1960s (by the way, he also gave us Gift of Finest Wheat, which we sang last week).  He's also well-known for such hymns as Sing praise to our Creator and God's blessing sends us forth, widely sung in many a church when Monthly Missalette was prominent. In his early People's Mass Book days, Westendorf used at least three different aliases (three that I can remember anyways) in his hymn credits - Paul Francis, Mark Evans and J. Clifford Evers.  In the case of this Sunday's hymn, he was "J. Clifford Evers."  The name Omer Westendorf was later credited to all his works.

It should be known also that the composer of Christian Love, the tune most often sung with Where Charity and Love Prevail, was the French Benedictine Dom Paul Benoit.  While known in Catholic America as the composer of that particular hymn tune, a simple chant-like tune, Dom Benoit is well-known by many an organist for his much more complex organ solos, including some really nifty improvisations on Gregorian themes.

And now, without further ado...

MUSIC FOR HOLY MASS

Entrance hymn: #212 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty ("Lobe den Herren") (Listen)

- Do we really need a listen link for this one?  Probably not, but I left one here anyways.  This one is from Westminster Abbey at the 60th Anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.  The treble boys' descant in the final verse is well worth checking out!

Gloria: Holy Angels Mass (BMP) or recited (Listen)

Psalm 103: R. The Lord is kind and merciful (BMP) (PDF)

Alleluia I for Ordinary Time (BMP)

Offertory hymn: #434 Love divine, all loves excelling ("Hyfrydol") (Listen)

- NOTE: Same tune as the familiar "Alleluia! sing to Jesus!", which will be sung the following week, one of two hymns with Alleluias as we "put the Alleluia away" until Easter.  More on that next week.  In the meantime, check out the above listen link for another stirring descant in the final verse.

Communion responsory: Psalm 9, R. I will sing to your Name, O Most High (Adam Bartlett)

Meditation hymn: #429 Where charity and love prevail ("Christian Love") (Listen)

Recessional hymn: #541 Joyful, joyful, we adore thee ("Hymn to Joy")

Quod scripsi, scripsi!

BMP