I wanted to say a few words this weekend about singing at the Mass, because I know that some people have difficulty singing even the ordinary of the Mass – that is, the ordinary prayers and hymns of the Mass, such as the Gloria and the Sanctus.
I want to say to begin with that we have a long tradition of the Mass being sung in at least some of its parts on Sundays and holy days. Among the first historical witnesses to the Catholic liturgy was the presentation by the pagan scientist Pliny the Younger, a second-century Roman governor, who reported that the Christians gathered and sung hymns to the man Christ, as to a god. Long before this, S. Paul had recommended in his letter to the church at Ephesus that the Church be built up through the communal singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual canticles. An ancient adage, sometimes attributed to the great bishop S. Augustine of Hippo, also declares that to sing is to pray twice.
All of this doesn’t mean that we are to be great singers; some of us certainly may be, the rest of us are assuredly not. But early on, music in worship became for us a sign of solemnity, a sort-of joining in with the angels in the heavenly Temple. The chorus of those angels became ours, and we still call any kind of Christian group of singers a chorus, or in English choir. So, we must sing, no matter how badly.
The tradition of the Church has given us the most extravagant developments in polyphonic chant; some of you know of the venerable Elizabethan Thomas Tallis. While beautiful, this needs a degree of professionalism that our parishes cannot easily acquire. We remain with the bare bones of Latin and English chant, and popular hymns, all of which are handily printed in our hymn books.
Some of my fellow priests in other parts of England sing the entire Eucharistic prayer and many parishes sing the Our Father. I’ve decided that’s too much even for me, but I have for the last several years tried to preserve decent hymns, and the very basics of the Missal on Sundays and great feast days, and I would like to ask that you forgive my poverty of skill and persevere with me in singing with the angels.
“But he, full of the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on heaven, and saw there the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand; ‘I see heaven opening,’ he said, ‘and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ Then they cried aloud, and put their fingers into their ears; with one accord they fell upon him, thrust him out of the city, and stoned him. And the witnesses put down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. Thus they stoned Stephen; he, meanwhile, was praying; ‘Lord Jesus,’ he said, ‘receive my spirit;’ and then, kneeling down, he cried aloud, ‘Lord, do not count this sin against them.’ And with that, he fell asleep in the Lord. Saul was one of those who gave their voices for his murder.”
Acts of the Apostles, 7: 55-60 [link]
This first reading of ours this weekend, as we prepare for the great feast of Pentecost next weekend, is about a landmark event in the early history of the Church, for it was through the witness of this great deacon S. Stephen, our very first Christian martyr, and through the following persecution of the Church that missionaries flowed in strength from Jerusalem in every direction, establishing great Christian centres, such as Damascus and Antioch in Syria and Alexandria in Egypt.
Note the marks of the Holy Spirit at this end of Stephen’s earthly life: he looks heavenward and sees the glory of the Holy One, and when the his fellow Jews stoned him in their rage he repeated the prayer of his Lord upon the Cross: forgive them, for they know not what they do. The Church has always been harassed by the people of this world and always will be, because (as Christ said) she is not of this world and her priorities are not of this world. Stephen’s perseverance until death must be ours, by the grace of God and in the Holy Spirit. Pray for this constantly. The reward of perseverance is mentioned in the second reading this weekend, from the end of the book of Apocalypse, where Christ declares His victory and bids us wash our robes clean.
“‘Patience, I am coming soon; and with Me comes the award I make, repaying each man according to the life he has lived. I am Alpha, I am Omega, I AM before all, I AM at the end of all, the beginning of all things and their end. Blessed are those who wash their garments in the blood of the Lamb; so they will have access to the tree which gives life, and find their way through the gates into the city. No room there for prowling dogs, for sorcerers and wantons and murderers and idolaters, for anyone who loves falsehood and lives in it. I, Jesus, have sent My angel to give you the assurance of this in your churches; I, the root, I, the offspring of David’s race, I, the bright star that brings in the day. The Spirit and My Bride bid me come; let everyone who hears this read out say, Come. Come, you who are thirsty, take, you who will, the water of life; it is My free gift.’ To all who hear the words of prophecy this book contains, I give this warning. If anyone adds to them, God will add to his punishment the plagues which this book threatens; and if anyone cancels a word in this book of prophecy, God will cancel his share in the book of life, in the holy city, in all that this book promises. And he who gives this warning says, ‘Indeed I am coming soon.’ Be it so, then; come, Lord Jesus.”
Book of Apocalypse, 22: 12-20 [link]
We wash our robes clean constantly through the Sacraments of the Church, by which we who are thirsty come to the source of the water of life, which is Christ. And as the Bride of Christ, we call with the Holy Spirit, Maran-atha! Come, Lord Jesus. Return to us from behind the veil! That’s what Apocalypse means – ‘revelation’ – ‘unveiling.’ He is behind the veil of the heavenly Temple, and He prays there (as here in our gospel reading) that we be one in our faith, our communion, our prayer, a great light in a world of darkness, shining with the glory of Christ our Lord. A glory that we have not earned but which has been given us as a gift by Him Who loved us and desired that we should be His.
“‘It is not only for them that I pray;
Gospel of S. John, 17: 20-26 [link]
I pray for those who are to find faith in Me through their word;
that they may all be one;
that they too may be one in us, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee;
so that the world may come to believe that it is Thou Who hast sent Me.
And I have given them the privilege which Thou gavest to Me,
that they should all be one, as We are one;
that while Thou art in Me, I may be in them,
and so they may be perfectly made one.
So let the world know that it is Thou Who hast sent Me,
and that Thou hast bestowed Thy love upon them,
as Thou hast bestowed it upon Me.
This, Father, is My desire,
that all those whom Thou hast entrusted to Me may be with Me where I am,
so as to see My glory, Thy gift made to Me,
in that love which Thou didst bestow upon Me before the foundation of the world.
Father, Thou art just;
the world has never acknowledged Thee,
but I have acknowledged Thee,
and these men have acknowledged that Thou didst send Me.
I have revealed, and will reveal, Thy Name to them;
so that the love Thou hast bestowed upon Me may dwell in them,
and I, too, may dwell in them.'”
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 