As a communion motet, the guitar/piano band and choir did an a capella "Love Bade Me Welcome," by David Hurd, and it was absolutely lovely. It's very contemporary music; David Hurd is a living (b 1950) African-American composer teaching and working in New York City. Of course, he's technically Episcopalian....none of that nasty St. Louis Jesuit stuff for him....but his works are perfectly appropriate for Catholic liturgy, as well. Now that I know the choir can sing, I wish they'd do stuff like this at the offertory, too.
The homily sort of raised some eyebrows today. I didn't know the celebrant/homilist tonight....some early middle-aged priest I'd not seen before. His homily was based on the Gospel reading for the day. Now, since I know most of my readers don't go to church, at least not regularly, and most aren't Catholic, let me quote you today's Gospel:
"What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.' He said in reply, 'I will not,' but afterwards he changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, 'Yes, sir,' but did not go. Which of the two did his father's will?" They answered, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.
It's a rather dense passage. The priest tried to illuminate it by concentrating on the second son. "If it looks good and sounds good, it must be good, right?" he said. He went on to tell us how we should look carefully at things with such flash, and, from the tenor of his commentary, everyone immediately thought of the upcoming presidential election.
In other more interesting things, the Mass setting this evening was Marty Haugen's Mass of Remembrance, except they did the Gloria from David Haas's Mass of Light responsorially. Hymms were King's Weston (At the Name of Jesus) for the processional and Hymn to Joy for the recessional. Alleged congregational hymns that were sung only by cantor and choir were Psalm 137 with the antiphon "Let my tongue be silent" for the offertory and "God Is Love" from the Gather hymnal for communion marching music.
Because the Metro system was so messed up this weekend, I ended up being late to Mass (the bus I wanted arrived very late, and when it got there, another bus of the very same route number was right behind it), so I had to sit in one of the side chapels. That gave me the chance, though, to study the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, where they have a tabernacle for the Reserved Sacrament.
I've mentioned before that the architecture and art at St. Matthew's are of Byzantine design, so mosaics are very common. The chapel has a small altar upon which the tabernacle rests, and a mosaic behind it depicts a couple of Jesus's disciples. The mosaic there is so artfully done, though, that it actually looks three-dimensional, as if there were two statues of disciples, instead of them being two-dimensional mosaics. I snapped a picture after Mass. It doesn't do the "statues" justice, but you can see the artistry.
No comments:
Post a Comment