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<\/p>\nEvery year when celebrations of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross come around, I have a flashback to a liturgical music conference a number of years ago, at which I was a speaker. The flashback involves one of my speaker colleagues that day. He began his talk by describing what had happened one morning at a Sunday Eucharist for which he was to preside and preach. It had been the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, celebrated on a Sunday. Unbeknownst to him, the musician had switched the opening song to \u201cMorning Has Broken\u201d because it was a rainy day (\u201cSweet the rain\u2019s new fall\u2026\u201d). After he had knocked over the straw man and the chuckles subsided, he lamented this change, since he\u2019d based his homily on the proper entrance antiphon: \u201cWe should glory in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ\u201d (cf. Gal. 6:14). He was using his story to illustrate the importance of using the proper entrance antiphon at Sunday liturgy.<\/p>\n
It seemed to me that his tale simultaneously illustrated the importance of communication between musicians and clergy. Had he and the musician done a quick check-in that Sunday morning, the situation could have been avoided. I\u2019d think that if a priest knew the parish musician had a propensity for making such changes, he\u2019d check to make sure the proper antiphon was still in place.<\/p>\n
We were never told what opening song had been originally scheduled; based on the story, I presumed it was the proper antiphon, since he seemed to have been expecting it while preparing his homily. This led me to surmise that the musician at this liturgy wasn\u2019t the same musician who\u2019d scheduled the proper antiphon. In my experience, musicians who utilize the proper antiphons tend not to replace them on the basis of meteorological conditions.<\/p>\n
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One incorrect assumption this story might have led to, however, is that the proper entrance antiphons always make this kind of direct connection to the day. If we look ahead at the calendar this year, this coming Sunday (the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time) has the entrance antiphon \u201cI am the Savior of all people, says the Lord. Whatever their troubles, I will answer their cry, and I will always be their Lord.\u201d (cf. Psalm 37). The Lectionary scriptures are Wisdom 2 (the persecution of the just), Psalm 54 (\u201cThe LORD upholds my life\u201d), James 3 (conflicts in the community), and Mark 9 (the greatest in the kingdom must be like a child). The proper entrance antiphon\u2014the same in both the Roman Missal and Graduale Romanum, itself not a terribly common occurrence\u2014doesn\u2019t have a particularly strong connection to the lections of the day (perhaps to the first reading and psalm). I am not sure if its connection would be better in Years C or A, but this points to another sticking point with using the proper antiphons: they largely remain fixed, against our Lectionary\u2019s three-year rotation.<\/p>\n
The speaker\u2019s account also illustrated the need for the solid liturgical\/pastoral formation of musicians. Such a musician would have known that a well-chosen entrance song, such as \u201cLift High the Cross\u201d or \u201cWe Acclaim the Cross of Jesus,\u201d would have been preferable to a singing weather report that day. If the parish begins the Sacred Triduum with this same antiphon on Holy Thursday, a Sunday celebration of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on a Sunday would have been a marvelous opportunity to give the Triduum some musical resonance as the heart of the whole liturgical year.<\/p>\n
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In any event, we cannot say that 1) only the proper entrance antiphon text could have accomplished the speaker\u2019s purpose (a number of selections from the familiar hymn repertoire could have connected to the homily that day) or; 2) the text of the entrance antiphon cannot possibly be useful for preaching if it is not sung (easy enough for a homilist to quote the text, cite its reference to Galatians, or even describe its role as our entry into the Triduum).
\nThere was a general sense in his talk that the word \u201cproper\u201d means \u201cmandatory\u201d (or that it ought to). But it doesn\u2019t\u2014it merely is a way of contrasting these texts to the fixed or \u201cordinary\u201d texts of the eucharistic liturgy. I\u2019m not opposing the use of the proper entrance antiphons in the eucharistic liturgy. I am in full agreement with those who say they are a sadly unknown, under-utilized treasure of our heritage. Our worship truly would be richer if we used them more frequently, even as a reference or starting point when selecting another option for the entrance chant.<\/p>\n
I write the following in full \u201cit takes one to know one\u201d mode: That day there was, in my view, quite a bit of passive-aggressive behavior on display in one conference presentation. (For example, no time for question\/comment or follow-up was allowed at the end of the talk.) Other, healthier behaviors might serve the faithful better.<\/p>\n
Yes, let us glory in the Cross. Let us also keep channels of communication clear and open. Let us strive to bring the gifts of our various ministries together for the service of God\u2019s people. Let us continue to learn and reflect on the richness of our liturgical heritage, using every skill to offer its richness for a deepened spirituality in the Paschal Mystery.<\/p>\n
A blessed Exaltation of the Holy Cross to you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yes, let us glory in the Cross. Let us also keep channels of communication clear and open. Let us strive to bring the gifts of our various ministries together for the service of God\u2019s people. Let us continue to learn and reflect on the richness of our liturgical heritage, using every skill to offer its richness for a deepened spirituality in the Paschal Mystery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":57509,"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":[3118,91],"tags":[2056,2366,3524],"class_list":["post-57508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ars-celebrandi-new-ws","category-liturgical-year","tag-liturgical-music","tag-liturgical-year-2","tag-proper-antiphons"],"yoast_head":"\n