I would like to call attention to an EXCELLENT resource recently published by the Irish National Centre for Liturgy entitled “The New Missal: Explaining the Changes.” it is written by Fr. Patrick Jones, with assistance from Sr. Moira Bergin, Julie Kavanagh and Fr. Liam Tracey.
Read moreAuthor: Michael Joncas
Follow-up on the National Propers for Ireland
Readers of Pray Tell may remember that I posted a note of appreciation for the beautiful texts appearing in the National Proper approved for the dioceses of Ireland. These explanatory notes shed light on the propers for St. Ita and St. Brigid.
Read moreEx Aetate Mediali Lux: On the Use of Tropes for the Cantus ad Introitum
by J. Michael Joncas
What might this medieval practice of troping the introit suggest to us? No premium was placed on absolute liturgical uniformity from community to community. The tropes were ephemeral; they responded to a particular location, era and culture and disappeared from the liturgy when any of those factors changed.
“A Meeting in a Hillside Home”
The fourth and final hymn text I’ve chosen for the final week of Advent is one I wrote last year for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Cycle C. The text is a meditation on the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth, as would be appropriate for the final days of Advent when the Church invites us to ponder the events immediately impinging upon the birth of Jesus.
Read moreO Adonai: O Sacred Lord
Assigned as the Gospel Verse at Eucharist and the Antiphon for the Canticle of Mary at Evening Prayer on 18 December, “O Adonai” continues the Advental theme of longing for God’s transformation of the human condition. The unique focus of the request in this antiphon is that God would come to free those who are praying.
Read more“Wild the Man and Wild the Place”
The hymn that I’ve chosen for the third week of Advent is a tour-de-force from the hymn-writing team of Thomas H. Troeger and Carol Doran, “Wild the Man and Wild the Place.” In some aspects, this text is as audacious as the Baptist’s life and preaching.
Read more“We Are Yearning For the Season”
The hymn text I’ve chosen for the second week of Advent, Ruth Duck’s hymn “We Are Yearning For the Season,” could actually be used throughout the season and even into Christmastide.
Read more“Christ Comes, the Promised Peace of God”
For some years now I have tried to keep this season by deepening my appreciation for contemporary hymn texts. I’d like to share with the readers of PrayTell the four hymn texts I’ve chosen to mark the four weeks of Advent this year. For the First Week of Advent, the hymn I’ve chosen is “Christ Comes, the Promised Peace of God” by Sr. Genevieve Glen, OSB.
Read moreEmpathy for the Translators of the Ordo Missae 1: The Dialogues of the Liturgy of the Word
One can only feel empathy for translators when the rules given for their work of translation always apply except when they don’t.
Read moreMystagogical musical musings at NDCL
I have posted four “mystagogical musical musings” at the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy on four of the longer congregational chants: the Glory to God, the Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Lamb of God. I look at both the new text and the new English chant settings.
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