Although I am currently working hard on perfecting the art of denial, namely denial that the Fall semester is close at hand, I also know many people \u2013 pastoral staff and musicians among them \u2013 who are busily preparing for the opening of a new school year.\u00a0 Beginning well is important; it sets the tone for the culture of a place for the year ahead.\u00a0 Rainer Maria Rilke\u2019s claim that \u201cthere is magic in every beginning\u201d notwithstanding [I remain unconvinced], the labor of opening the new academic year well is plentiful, not least for parishes and campus ministries.\u00a0 Whether it involves planning a blessing of backpacks, a first Mass welcoming new students, a ritual empowering teachers [we need it!], or the table prayer for an opening reception, the magic of a new beginning rarely ever just happens.<\/p>\n
A newly-composed \u201cMass of Welcome\u201d by Julian Revie is welcome indeed at a moment like this.\u00a0 Julian Revie is an Australian-Canadian composer who serves as Associate Director of Music at the Center for Music and Liturgy, Saint Thomas More Chapel at Yale University. \u00a0He won first prize in the Vatican-sponsored Francesco Siciliani composition competition in 2016. \u00a0In other words, I am not the only one who loves to sing his liturgical compositions.\u00a0 Julian says this about his Mass: \u201cI have written Mass of Welcome<\/em> with the goal of encouraging full participation in the sacred liturgy through singing.\u00a0 As I developed, refined, and prayed about this Mass over the past year, I arrived at a set of melodies which I believe are reverent, elegant, and eminently singable, while also being melodically and harmonically varied and full of rhythmic vitality. I hope this Mass setting will serve as an engaging invitation to liturgical participation and that it will assist in proclaiming the truth that all<\/em> are welcome at the table of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n You can access the \u201cMass of Welcome\u201d easily on CloudHymnal, either directly here<\/a> or by going to Cloud Hymnal<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0and using Easy Search for \u201cMass of Welcome.\u201d\u00a0 Plus, you can actually sing along for yourself and \u201cfeel\u201d the Mass, too.\u00a0 Here is how: When using a tablet or phone you may play the music with the included player. When using a desktop computer and Chrome browser you can also use the Practice Room feature \u2013 sing along and see how well you do (for choir members who are amateur singers).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “I hope this Mass setting will serve as an engaging invitation to liturgical participation and that it will assist in proclaiming the truth that all are welcome at the table of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":42790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[3119,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-plaza-new-ws","category-music-general"],"yoast_head":"\n