Bird comments

We walked into St. Stephen's Sunday during the Kyrie, late because Laurent was still wiping his face after the visit of his friend du nuit. When Laurent took communion, it gave me all new visions of the meaning of "the Body of Christ."

As we walked the three blocks from our condo to the church, Laurent kept wanting to regale me with tales of his conquests, while I kept trying to shift his mind to things more spiritual. Even as we were walking up to the door of the church, he continue to chatter (well, I saw him, and the boy is cute, but still!), so finally a bird (or was it God?) weighed in on the matter and relieved itself on the back of Laurent's shoulder—a shoulder clad in a white Polo shirt. I didn't tell Laurent about the deposit until we got home, hours after Mass and our trip to Union Station.

Alas, we missed the processional hymn, Holst's Thaxted ("I vow to thee my country," but with the Catholic words, "O God beyond all praising"), which is one of my favorites. They also did Picardy for the offertory and Ellecombe for the recessional.

The Kyrie was from Missa Secunda by Hans Leo Hassler (1525–1594). They did How for the Gloria, Proulx for the Sanctus and Benedictus, Nestor for the Memorial Acclamation and Great Amen, and Isele for the Agnus Dei.

The poor organist kept being plagued with ciphers (stuck notes on the organ) during the early part of the service. Organs are very complex, delicate, and finicky things that misbehave at the most inopportune times. He managed to work around them and do repairs several times, resolving most of it during the homily.

I don't know why, but I never could tune in to the homily and follow what the priest was saying. Maybe it was because we were nearly in the back row of the nave. Anyway, the parish really does need a longer weekly newsletter so we have something to read. LOL

The choir did a pleasant job (given their small size and lack of low basses) singing Edgar Bainton's "And I Saw a New Heaven" for the communion motet. It's really too long of an anthem to be done there, though, especially since the parish persists in first doing a responsorial communion marching song (that no one ever sings anyway), meaning the congregation sits there after the post-communion ablutions are completed restlessly awaiting the choir's silence so the priest can bless and dismiss them. That's not an ideal audience attitude for a nice, introspective anthem.