musician’s corner
Why sing psalms?
By Paul F. Ford
“ [hu]man’s soul is as full of
A voices as a forest … : fancies, follies,
memories, madnesses, mysterious
fears, and more mysterious hopes.
All settlement and sane government of life con-
sists in coming to the conclusion that some of
those voices have authority and others not.1
© istockphotos/malewitch
Do these words of G. K. Chesterton describe
your soul, your heart? At the beginning and for
a good part of our Christian lives, our hearts are
wild places. Our hearts need the domestication
described in Colossians 3.16: “Let the word of
Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish
one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude
in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiri-
tual songs to God.”
This passage invites us: Allow the Word to
make a home in your heart. Say to God: “Make
my heart over. If necessary, take me down to the
studs. Put a new foundation under me. Remodel
me. Add rooms. Turn me into an hotel.” In ef-
fect, think “Extreme Makeover” (HGTV.ca).
God’s toolbox: the Psalms! (“Psalms” refers
not just to the Book of the 150 Psalms but also
to the seventy-five canticles of the Old and New
Testament.)
Song helps these tools get down into the
heart, and helps the heart express what it
needs. A Minnesota youngster had kicked up
a fuss at Mass, exasperating and embarrass-
ing his mother. Arriving home she told him,
“Time out, Mister. You sit in the corner until I
tell you to come out.” Later, from the kitchen
she heard faint singing. As she drew close to
the source, her heart melted as she recognized
her son’s song, “Be with me, Lord, when I am
in trouble. Be with me, Lord, I pray.”2 Clearly
the boy’s heart had heard that Sunday’s psalm
and he was putting it to good use.
16 celebrate! | january-february 2010
Celebrate_JAN-FEV10.indd 16
These ancient songs are not always pretty
and polite. In fact three entire psalms (and parts
of several others) are left for monks and nuns to
sing because only they can handle the cursing of
enemies in these psalms. All the “fancies, fol-
lies, memories, madnesses, mysterious fears,
and more mysterious hopes” in our hearts need
to come out of hiding. To paraphrase the Letter
to the Hebrews: “Indeed, the word of God [in
the psalms] is living and active, sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides
soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to
judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
And before him no [fancy, folly, memory, mad-
ness, fear, or hope] is hidden, but all are naked
and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we
must render an account” (4.12–13).
The very real C. S. Lewis advises his fictional
friend Malcolm: “We must lay before God what
is in us, not what ought to be in us. … It may
well be that the desire can be laid before God
only as a sin to be repented; but one of the best
ways of learning this is to lay it before God. … I
have no doubt at all that if they are the subject
of our thoughts they must be the subject of our
prayers—whether in penitence or in petition or
in a little of both: penitence for the excess, yet
petition for the thing we desire.”3
Ann and Barry Ulanov echo Lewis’s in-
sight in their excellent study, Primary Speech:
A Psychology of Prayer: “Prayer is the place
where we sort out our desires and where we are
ourselves sorted out by the desires we choose
to follow. … Prayer enlarges our desire until it
receives God’s desire for us. In prayer, we grow
big enough to house God’s desire in us, which
is the Holy Spirit.4
To understand the power of the psalm-
singing, let us study the ‘default’ communion
psalm, Psalm 34, the oldest psalm sung in
Christian liturgy and the first that our ances-
tors memorized (see page 17). I leave in verses
16 and 21, to suggest how singing this entire
psalm sorts out many of our needs and desires.
Notice how many times and in how many ways
the psalm says every/all, never/none.
Why on earth would our Christian ancestors
want to memorize these words and sing them
as they went up to receive communion?
This is the first of a series of six articles
celebrating the publication of Psalms for the
Liturgical Year (Toronto: Novalis, 2009) and the
renewed emphasis of the General Instruction of
the Roman Missal on singing the psalms. The
next article is: “What are the psalms?” 
1 The Uses of Diversity (New York: Dodd, Mead and
Co., 1921), 79–80.
2 Psalm 91, Marty Haugen, © 1980 GIA Publications,
Inc.
3 Letter IV, Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer (New
York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1964).
4 (Atlanta: John Knox, 1982), 20.
27/10/09 22:43:52
 Glionna
psalm 34

Mansell
1 I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2

3
My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and be glad.
O magnify the Lord with me,
Corporation
and let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Look to him, and be radiant;
so your faces shall never be ashamed.
6 This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord,
and was saved from every trouble.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who take refuge in him.
9 O fear the Lord, you his holy ones,
for those who fear him have no want.
10 The young lions suffer want and hunger,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
11 Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Allen Combination
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20 He keeps all their bones;
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21 Evil brings death to the wicked,
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22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
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january-february 2010 | celebrate! 17

Celebrate_JAN-FEV10.indd 17 27/10/09 22:43:53

 musician’s corner
psalms – what are they?
p
By Paul F. Ford
salMs are PoeMs, PsalMs
P are songs (“psalm” means “sung
with the harp”), and psalms are
prayers. let’s begin with the psalms
as prayers.
The gold standard for prayer, private and cor-
porate, are the 150 psalms and the seventy-five
canticles of the old and new ttestaments. Think
of them as the training wheels of prayer.
long before Christians kept vigil with the
bodies of their beloved dead by saying all the
psalms, our Jewish ancestors did the same. if
Christians did not have the words by heart, they
fell back on the perfect prayer, the our father,
repeated 150 times (and this practice evolved
into the rosary prayed before funerals). one
can imagine Jesus and Mary and their family
and friends ‘psalming’ dear, dead saint Joseph
through the night before his burial.
long before Christians blessed god and
sought god’s help at break of day, at midday,
and at day’s end, our Jewish ancestors did the
same. what did they say or sing? Psalms.
long before Christians took refuge in the
words of the psalms, expressing anguish and
outrage or thanks and praise, our Jewish ances-
tors did the same. (in fact 129 of the 150 psalms
are used in the new t testament, a good number
of them by Jesus himself.)
one of these refuge prayers is the opening
verse of Psalm 70, which became the opening
verse of any celebration of the liturgy of the
hours, a.k.a. the divine office or the breviary:
be pleased, o god, to deliver me. (o god,
come to my assistance)
o lord, make haste to help me!
v
verse eighteen from Psalm 104 “explains”
that these two lines are like a crack in the rocks,
deep between which the common animal, the
rock hyrax (about the shape and twice the size
of guinea pig), wedges itself when threatened
by predators:
16 celebrate! | march-april 2010
1
PSalm 91
You who live in the shelter of the most high,
who abide in the shadow of the almighty,
2 will say to the lord, ‘my refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom i trust.’
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence;
4 he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
or the arrow that flies by day,
6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
or the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 a thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 because you have made the lord your refuge,
the most high your dwelling-place,
10 no evil shall befall you,
no scourge come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 on their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder,
the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
14 [God says:] Those who love me, i will deliver;
i will protect those who know my name.
15 When they call to me, i will answer them;
i will be with them in trouble,
i will rescue them and honour them.
16 With long life i will satisfy them,
and show them my salvation.
 the rock hyrax

Glionna
finds a refuge.

Mansell
Corporation
© istockphotos / milEhiGhtrAVElEr

The high mountains are for the wild goats; Consider the poetry and the usefulness
the rocks are a refuge for the coneys (real of the psalm on page 16, the psalm in time of
name: rock hyraxes). temptation, the psalm of the first sunday of
under siege from the temptation to tell lent, Psalm 91, sung since perhaps the fifth
someone off, to silence the alarm clock, to visit century at the entrance, between the read-
the refrigerator, to go shopping ‘to see what i ings, before the gospel, at the preparation, and
want,’ (or whatever your favourite deadly sin
at communion!
is), our cry should be, “o god, come to my as-
Did you notice the artistry in lines 4c, 7c,
sistance. o lord, make haste to help me!”
15c? each third line answers the first two lines.
and, all without noticing it, we have recited
and, to the three things we say to god in verse
a line from a poem! “but it didn’t rhyme!” not
by sound—by synonym (or antonym, as the 2, god answers with eight things in verses
case may be). “high mountains” ‘rhymes’ 14–16!
with “rocks” and “wild goats” with “(rock hy- now, apply your renewed sense of how
raxes).” for that matter, “o god” ‘rhymes’ with hebrew poems work to this canticle of god’s Allen Combination
“o lord,” and “come to my assistance” with patient love sung as the entrance song on ash Pipe and Digital
“make haste to help me.” wednesday since the eight century.
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21 For it is always in your power to show great strength,
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22 because the whole world before you is like a speck that tips the scales, the principles of
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26 You spare all things, for they are yours, o lord, you who love the living.
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2 Therefore you correct little by little those who trespass,
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wonderful, huh?
fellow rock hyraxes, to the rocks! 
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of five articles celebrating the publication of Psalms for the Liturgical y
year (t
toronto: Novalis, 2009). The next First Maestra Leasing Inc.
article is: “What? Sing a psalm for the entrance procession?”

march-april 2010 | celebrate! 17

 musician’s corner
What? Sing a psalm for
the entrance procession?
By Paul F. Ford
he short answer
T to the question—
“What? Sing a psalm
for t he ent rance
procession?”—is another ques-
tion: Why would you sing any-
thing but a psalm for the entrance
procession?
In the Church’s two official
books for the songs to be sung at
Mass almost all the entrance songs
are psalms. In the Roman Gradual
there are 164 entrance songs and
160 of them are psalms. In the
© novalis / eugene kral
Simple Gradual there 63 entrance
songs and 56 of them are psalms.
Several psalms even tell us how
we are to begin liturgy: with grati-
tude and reverence, out of a sense
of commitment, with joy and praise, and with
song.
But I, through the abundance of your
steadfast love,
will enter your house,
I will bow down towards your holy temple
in awe of you. (Psalm 5:7)
I will come into your house with
burnt-offerings;
I will pay you my vows. (Psalm 66:13)
Let us come into his presence with
thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with
songs of praise! (Psalm 95:2)
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and come into his
courts. (Psalm 96:8)
39 celebrate! | march-april 2010
Celebrate_MAI-JUIN10_3.indd 39
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come into his presence with singing.
(Psalm 100:2)
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him, bless his name.
(Psalm 100:4)
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord. (Psalm
118:19)
More about Psalm 118 in a minute.
First we must ask what the entrance song
is supposed to accomplish. The General
Instruction of the Roman Missal (47) tells us:
“The purpose of this chant is to open the cel-
ebration, foster the unity of those who have
been gathered, introduce their thoughts to the
mystery of the liturgical season or
festivity, and accompany the pro-
cession of the priest and ministers.”
It is the chief tool to get people in off
the streets and ready to pray, so it
isn’t over until the teenage boys are
singing. (OK, that may be too much
to expect, but you get the point.)
If Psalm 34 (O taste and see) has
been the default communion song
since the fourth century and Psalm
91 (You who live in the shelter of the
Most High), the default Lenten
season song since the fourth cen-
tury, Psalm 118 has been the Easter
season psalm for almost as long as
Christians have celebrated Easter.
In other words, a very long time!
For an even longer time, our
Jewish ancestors, including Jesus, sang this
psalm as the last of the six Hallel Psalms (113–
118, because they begin with the word Alleluia, as
we would say it). These psalms were reserved for
the joyous occasions of Tabernacles, Hanukkah,
Passover, and Pentecost, so the good Jew prayed
this psalm 38 times a year. Scholars see the fol-
lowing shape in the psalm; and they detect in it
the solo voice of a leader (David; Christ) and the
ensemble voice of a group (the prophet Samuel
and David’s father, mother, and brothers; the
Church)—in italics below:
1–4 Call to thanksgiving
5–18 Description of divine rescue
19–20 Entrance into the Temple
21–28 Celebration of rescue
29 Closing call to thanksgiving
(inclusion with v. 1)
march-april 2010 | celebrate! 39
04/03/10 16:30:25
 call to thanksgiving
Praise the lord [hallelu yah]
y 19 open to me the gates of righteousness,
1 o give thanks to the lord, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever!
2 let Israel say,
‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’
3 let the house of aaron say,
‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’
4 let those who fear the lord say,
‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’
description oF divine rescue
5 out of my distress I called on the lord;
the lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
6 With the Lord on my side I do not fear.
What can mortals do to me?
7 The lord is on my side to help me;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to put confidence in mortals.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to put confidence in princes.
10 all nations surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
11 They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
12 They surrounded me like bees;
they blazed like a fire of thorns;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
13 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
but the lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my might;
he has become my salvation.
15 There are glad songs of victory in the tents
of the righteous:
‘The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
16 the right hand of the Lord is exalted;
the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.’
17 I shall not die, but I shall live,
and recount the deeds of the lord.
18 The lord has punished me severely,
but he did not give me over to death.
40 celebrate! | march-april 2010
Celebrate_MAI-JUIN10_3.indd 40
entrance into the temple
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.
celebration oF rescue
21 I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This is the lord’s doing;
it is marvellous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save us, we beseech you, o lord!
O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!
26 blessed is the one who comes in the name of the lord.
We bless you from the house of the lord.
27 The lord is God,
and he has given us light.
bind the festal procession with branches,
up to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God, I will extol you.
closing call to thanksgiving
29 o give thanks to the lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures for ever.
an interesting sidelight from our Evangelical friends: Counting
backwards and forwards by verses, they find that verse eight is
the centremost verse of the Protestant bible, and one very good
way of summing up the entire bible.
Throw yourself into the praying and singing of Psalm 118 this easter
season. easter will never be the same!
This is the third of a series of five articles celebrating the publication of
Psalms for the liturgical
iturgical Year (Toronto: Novalis, 2009). The next article
is: “How is the responsorial psalm different from the other psalms?
The bible translation used in this article is the new revised standard
version. The author acknowledges the help of rabbi Michael lotker and of
“Psalm 118 in luke-
l acts: tracing a narrative Thread” by J. ross wagner in
Early Christian Interpretation of the Scriptures of Israel, Craig a. evans
and James a. sanders (sheffield, UK: sheffield academic Press, 1997). 
04/03/10 16:30:25
 Musician’s corner

[How] is
the responsorial psalm
different from the other psalms?
By Paul F. Ford

atholics of a certain age Some psalms are more popular

C (I make no eye-contact, but you

can tell them by their grey and/or
thinning hair) got their first taste
of psalm-singing some forty years ago, with
the reintroduction of the responsorial psalm
at Mass.
A “new” word entered our vocabulary:
“antiphon.” A “new” ministry was revived:
“psalmist.” And we got used to a ‘new’ style of
singing: The psalmist sang the antiphon, we re-
peated it; s/he sang a verse or two of the psalm,
we repeated the antiphon; and so on.
Fine, and good. Responsorial psalms are re-
sponsorial in style. But WHY? What are they
good for? They are good for responding to the
inspired Word of God with the inspired Word
of God.
than others. Psalm 34 is used 28
times; Psalms 23, 98, 103, 145 are
used 23 times each; Psalm 19 (22x);
Psalm 33 (21x) and Psalm 27 (20x).
Twenty-two psalms are not used at
all in the lectionary or the graduals.
(If you want the complete breakdown,
you can email me at paulfford@
stjohnsem.edu)
Antiphons
It is helpful to think of the anti-
phon as God’s knock at the door of
heart. The Church so wants us to sing
the responsorial psalm that she even
provides a set of antiphons that ought
© bill wittman

to be sung even if the verses of the

Responsorial psalms are responsorial by
nature. The Liturgy of the Word at Mass (and
indeed in every sacrament) is a conversation.
God does not like to talk to himself. God is not
interested in monologues but dialogues. In his
Word he calls to us; with his Word we respond.
(Accept no substitutes!)
What God says to us can sometime leave
us scratching our heads or looking for cover;
it often leaves us tongue-tied.
But God doesn’t just occupy the speaker’s
role; God also helps us listen and respond. The
verses of the responsorial psalms and can-
ticles help us hear. Their words help us untie
our tongues and tell God what we would want
to say if we knew what to say (or, to be more
honest, what we would want to want to say).
psalm have to be recited:
1. Season of Advent:
Come, O Lord, and set us free.
2. Season of Christmas:
Lord, today we have seen your glory.
3. Season of Lent:
Remember, O Lord, your faithfulness
and love.
4. Season of Easter:
Alleluia (two or three times)
5. Ordinary Time: a) Psalm of praise:
Praise the Lord for he is good.
or: We praise you, O God,
for all your works are wonderful.
or: Sing to the Lord a new song.
6. Ordinary Time: b) Psalm of petition:
The Lord is near to all who call on him.
or: Hear us, Lord, and save us.
or: The Lord is kind and merciful.
Even if singing just the antiphon is only
the floor and not the ceiling of psalm-singing
at Mass, learning to welcome God’s knock by
singing these simple hellos is a humble way to
begin letting God’s word work at renovating our
hearts. Of course you can skip this technique
and sing the entire common psalms for each
season of the year (see each volume of Psalms
for the Liturgical Year).

41 celebrate! | july-august 2010 july-august 2010 | celebrate! 41

Celebrate_juillet-aout2010-2.indd 41 06/05/10 11:05:52

 Did you notice the Easter option (#4 above)?
“Alleluia” (Hebrew for “Praise the Lord”) is
such a completely adequate and even overflow-
ing response to God’s word that all during the
Easter season you may sing two or even three
alleluias instead of any other words. This prac-
tice extends to the entire liturgical year (except
Lent, of course) in the form of “alleluia psalms”
(there are sixty-one of them1) that can be sung
as either gospel acclamations or responsorial
psalms or even psalms after the second reading
(when there are two readings before the gospel),
before the gospel acclamation.
Why, there are even three alleluia psalms for
funerals (outside the Lenten season): Psalms
63, 114, and 130.2 Of course the music for these
alleluia psalms is not happy-clappy. But what
hope it demonstrates to sing Alleluia after ev-
ery verse of Psalm 130! Pray this psalm now,
saying two gentle alleluias when you see the
medieval symbol for the response (an R with
a flag through it) or the modern version with
a long tail Á .
I wouldn’t mind if this were sung at my
funeral!
To order directly from Novalis, call 1-800-387-7164 or go to www.novalis.ca.
42 celebrate! | july-august 2010
Celebrate_juillet-aout2010-2.indd 42
Reflecting on Psalm 130
How does adding the “alleluias”
change your experience of the
psalm?
Ponder each of the experi-
ences to which the psalm alludes:
(a) desolation (b) yearning/plead-
ing (c) need for forgiveness (d)
yearning, waiting and hoping (e)
the transforming power of God.
How have you experienced any/
each of these experiences? Sing
or speak the psalm and mentally
add the alleluia at each “Á ”. To
which of these experiences is it
most difficult to say “Alleluia!”
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
2 Lord, hear my voice! Á .
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications! Á .
Alleluia, Alleluia!
3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand? Á .
Alleluia, Alleluia!
4 But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered. Á .
Alleluia, Alleluia!
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope; Á .
Alleluia, Alleluia!
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for
the morning,
more than those who watch for the
morning. Á .
Alleluia, Alleluia!
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem. Á .
Alleluia, Alleluia!
8 It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities. Á .
Alleluia, Alleluia!
06/05/10 11:05:52
 Responding to God’s Word with
God’s Word about God’s Word
Psalm 119, the longest of all the psalms, is the
second most popular (used twenty-five times)
of the responsorial psalms. Here are just the
verses about the Word.
9 How can young people keep their way
pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
11 I treasure your word in my heart,
so that I may not sin against you.
16 I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.
17 Deal bountifully with your servant,
so that I may live and observe your word.
25 My soul clings to the dust;
revive me according to your word.
28 My soul melts away for sorrow;
strengthen me according to your word.
49 Remember your word to your servant,
in which you have made me hope.
57 The Lord is my portion;
I promise to keep your words.
65 You have dealt well with your servant,
O Lord, according to your word.
67 Before I was humbled I went astray,
but now I keep your word.
74 Those who fear you shall see me and
rejoice,
because I have hoped in your word.
81 My soul languishes for your salvation;
I hope in your word.
Read through these verses on God’s Word. Remembering that when you
are a psalmist, you are a minister of the Word, proclaiming God’s Word
in song, take one verse per day and reflect on it. What insights into your
ministry does this reflection give you? Musical settings for this psalm will be
found in the Sixth and Seventeenth Sundays of Ordinary Time, Year A.
This is the fourth of a series of articles
celebrating the publication of Psalms for the
Liturgical Year (Toronto: Novalis, 2009). The
next article will be: “The communion proces-
sion and the psalms.”
The Bible translation used in this article is
the New Revised Standard Version. 
Celebrate_juillet-aout2010-2.indd 43
89 The Lord exists for ever;
Glionna
your word is firmly fixed in heaven.
Mansell
101 I hold back my feet from every evil way,
in order to keep your word.
Corporation
103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path. TM
107 I am severely afflicted;
give me life, O Lord, according to your Opus II
word.
114 You are my hiding-place and my shield;
I hope in your word.
130 The unfolding of your words gives light;
it imparts understanding to the simple.
139 My zeal consumes me
because my foes forget your words.
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I put my hope in your words.
160 The sum of your word is truth;
and every one of your righteous ordi-
The Elite program is the
embodiment of well-articulated
nances musical ideals. Opus II is a
endures for ever. French Romantic specification
of 72 stops and is installed in
161 Princes persecute me without cause, Collégial Notre Dame d’Écouis,
but my heart stands in awe of your a large Normandy church
words. dedicated in 1313.
A performance video on this
162 I rejoice at your word instrument of Maurice
like one who finds great spoil. Duruflé’s Prélude et fugue sur le
nom d’Alain by organist Sarah
169 Let my cry come before you, O Lord; Soularue may be heard on the
give me understanding according to your Glionna Mansell website.
word. To learn more about the Elite
program or any of the other
fine digital organs from
Allen Organ Company, contact
Gordon Mansell, President and
Artistic Director.
Proud supporter of
www.glionnamansell.com
416-769-5224
toll free: 1-877-769-5224
1 Including the six traditional Hallel psalms
(113, 114, 115, 116, 117, and 118). If you want the
complete list, you can email me at paulfford@
stjohnsem.edu.
2 By Flowing Waters: Chant for the Liturgy Leasing available through
First Maestra Leasing Inc.
(Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1999), ##509,
510, and 511.
july-august 2010 | celebrate! 43
06/05/10 11:05:55
 Musician’s corner
The communion
procession and the psalms
By Paul F. Ford
eciding what to sing at
D communion is the single most im-
portant choice a pastoral musician
makes on a weekly basis. Why?
Until the late sixties and early seventies
there were no communion songs or hymns as
such. Parishes that had implemented Pope Pius
XII’s 1955 permission to sing hymns at low Mass
often used benediction/adoration hymns. For
my first communion (May 9, 1954) Sister taught
us Faber’s “Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All”
and “O Lord, I Am Not Worthy” by the
prolific lyricist, Anonymous (with its
head-scratching—for boys anyway—
reference to Christ as the “bride-
groom of my soul”). I was taught to
offer private prayer when I returned
to my seat (the longer the more pious
I would show myself to be). If organ
music had played at that time, it would
have been gentle, meditative music,
out of the same kind of piety.
In the late sixties and early seven-
ties few of us musicians paid enough
attention to the production of the
Simple Gradual (1968) and the revi-
sion of the Roman Gradual (1974)—the two of-
ficial song books for Mass—not to mention the
following passage from the General Instruction
of the Roman Missal (1970; the italicized sec-
tions in what follows are new to the 2002 edi-
tion of the Instruction):
86. While the priest is receiving the
Sacrament, the Communion chant is
begun. Its purpose is to express the com-
municants’ union in spirit by means of
40 celebrate! | september-october 2010
Celebrate_sept-octobre2010.indd 40
the unity of their voices, to show joy of
heart, and to highlight more clearly the
“communitarian” nature of the proces-
sion to receive Communion. The singing
is continued for as long as the Sacrament
is being administered to the faithful. If,
however, there is to be a hymn after
Communion, the Communion chant
should be ended in a timely manner.
Care should be taken that singers too can
conveniently receive Communion.
The procession begins
even before the priest
receives communion and
the processional song
begins while the priest
receives the sacrament.
87. For the communion song it is permis-
sible to choose either the antiphon from
the Roman Gradual with its psalm or the
antiphon by itself, or the antiphon and
psalm of the Simple Gradual, or another
suitable song approved by the Canadian
Conference of Catholic Bishops. . . . [my
translation]
If we had paid attention, we would have no-
ticed the basic choreography of the communion
procession. The procession begins even before
priest receives communion and the proces-
sional song begins while the priest receives
the sacrament.
If we had paid attention, we would have
noticed that of the 163 communion songs of
the Roman Gradual, only eight refer to the
Body and Blood of Christ. All of these songs
were realigned as a consequence of our new
lectionary so that, as the introduction to this
Gradual says, says, “ … the new plan of bibli-
cal readings required transferring a number of
texts (for example, communion an-
tiphons) to other days more closely
connected with the readings.” Of
the sixty-two communion songs of
the Simple Gradual, only four songs
refer to the Body and Blood of Christ.
(Of the 618 communion antiphons of
the Roman Missal, only sixty-eight
songs refer even indirectly to the
Body and Blood of Christ.)
Why this “infrequency”? Has the
Church ceased to believe in the real
presence? Hardly!
Communion is about how Christ’s
Body and Blood forgives our sins, re-
stores us to community, and prepares us for
life eternal, among many other things. (“O
holy banquet in which Christ is consumed, the
memory of his passion is recalled, the mind is
filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory
is given to us.” St. Thomas Aquinas, Canticle
Antiphon for the Second Vespers of the Body
and Blood of Christ.)
St. Ephrem of Edessa, deacon and doctor of
the Church, suggests that the Word proclaimed
at Mass is the Holy Spirit’s oven and cask. The
09/07/10 14:53:11
 Holy Spirit bakes the Eucharistic Bread of the
Mass in the oven of the Word proclaimed at
Mass. The Holy Spirit ferments the Eucharistic
Wine of the Mass in the cask of the Word pro-
claimed at Mass.
It is thus not only the words of institution
that change the bread and wine into the Body
and Blood of Christ. Every word of the Word of
God—pronounced by the Father and breathed
by the Holy Spirit—effects this change. Every
Eucharist is a new gift from the Trinity, never—
to risk irreverence—the “same old thing.”
St. Augustine tells us that sacraments are
visible words. In the case of the sacrament of
the Eucharist, these words are not just visible,
but also tastable, smellable, touchable, and
hearable words.
So, “Why does the General Instruction give
priority to the communion antiphons of the
graduals?” First, because they try to preserve
the ancient tradition of singing words from the
gospel or the other reading(s) AS the commu-
nion song and, second, because communion is
the fruit of the proclaimed word.
If you study the Sunday readings for
September and October this year and the se-
lections from Psallite: Sacred Songs for Liturgy
and Life (the project for The Liturgical Press
that we in the Collegeville Composers Group
have been working on for five years), you will
detect spiritual resonance between the read-
ings and the antiphons of Psallite’s songs for
the table (communion songs):
Ordinary Time 23
September 5 “Lose Your Life and Save It:
Follow Me, Follow Me. Take Your Cross and Bear
It: Follow Me, Follow Me” (with Psalm 49)
Ordinary Time 24
September 12 “Come, Come to the Banquet:
All That I Have Is Yours” (with Psalm 32)
Ordinary Time 25
September 19 “Do Not Store Up Earthly
Treasures” (with Psalm 37)
Ordinary Time 26
September 26 “Take Hold of Eternal Life,
You Were Called to Eternal Life; until the Day
of Christ” (with 1 Peter 2.21–24 and Philippians
2.6–11)
Ordinary Time 27
October 3 “Take Your Place at the Table;
Serve One Another in Justice; Do This and You
Shall Live” (with Psalm 112)
Ordinary Time 28
Celebrate_sept-octobre2010.indd 41
October 10 “I Thank You, Lord, with All
Glionna
My Heart: You Have Heard My Plea. In Faithful
love and Holiness, You Have Answered Me”
Mansell
(with Psalm 138)
Corporation
Ordinary Time 29
October 17 “God Feeds Us, God Saves
Us, the Eyes of the Lord Are upon Us” (with
Psalm 33)
Ordinary Time 30 TM
October 24 “The Prayer of Our Hearts
Pierces the Clouds: Show Us Your Mercy, Show
Opus II
Us Your Love” (with Psalms 123 and 143)
Ordinary Time 31
October 31 “Salvation Has Come to This
House Today” (with Psalm 16)
In our Catholic tradition slightly more than
half (78) of the 150 psalms (or portions thereof)
may be sung at communion, and about thirty
percent (22) of the seventy-five biblical can-
ticles. Of these, the “usual suspects” are in the
line-up: “Protect me, O God, for in you I take
refuge” (Psalm 16), “The Lord is my shepherd”
(Psalm 23), “I will bless the Lord at all times”
(Psalm 34), “God is our refuge and strength”
The Elite program is the
(Psalm 46), “O God, you are my God, I seek embodiment of well-articulated
you” (Psalm 16), “Happy are those whose way musical ideals. Opus II is a
French Romantic specification
is blameless” (Psalm 119, 37 portions). Of the
of 72 stops and is installed in
canticles, Mary’s song of praise (Luke 1.46–55)
Collégial Notre Dame d’Écouis,
is sung at least ten times a year; and the song
a large Normandy church
of praise from Revelation (4.11, 5.9–12), at least
dedicated in 1313.
eleven. A performance video on this
There is one “surprise” in the list of “de- instrument of Maurice
fault” communion canticles, Wisdom 16.20– Duruflé’s Prélude et fugue sur le
21, 26; 17.1. nom d’Alain by organist Sarah
Soularue may be heard on the
20 Instead of these things you gave your
Glionna Mansell website.
people food of angels,
To learn more about the Elite
and without their toil you supplied them program or any of the other
from heaven with bread ready to eat, fine digital organs from
providing every pleasure and suited to Allen Organ Company, contact
Gordon Mansell, President and
every taste.
Artistic Director.
21 For your sustenance manifested your Proud supporter of
sweetness towards your children;
and the bread, ministering to the desire www.glionnamansell.com
of the one who took it, 416-769-5224
toll free: 1-877-769-5224
was changed to suit everyone’s liking.
22 Snow and ice withstood fire without
melting,
so that they might know that the crops of
their enemies
were being destroyed by the fire that
Leasing available through
blazed in the hail First Maestra Leasing Inc.
and flashed in the showers of rain;
september-october 2010 | celebrate! 41
09/07/10 14:53:12
 © bill wittman
Bread and wine
serve God’s all-nourishing bounty.
23 whereas the fire, in order that the righ-
teous might be fed,
even forgot its native power.
24 For creation, serving you who made it,
exerts itself to punish the unrighteous,
and in kindness relaxes on behalf
of those who trust in you.
25 Therefore at that time also,
changed into all forms,
The Eucharistic Bread and Wine
it served your all-nourishing
bounty,
according to the desire of those
who had need,
26 so that your children, whom you
loved,
O Lord, might learn
that it is not the production of crops that
feeds humankind
but that your word sustains those who
trust in you.
17:1 Great are your judgements and hard to
describe;
therefore uninstructed souls have gone
astray.
42 celebrate! | september-october 2010
Celebrate_sept-octobre2010.indd 42
This passage, from the Old Testament’s
youngest book (written just 100 years before
Christ), is a meditation on what God did for the
Israelites in Exodus 16 and Numbers 11. God fed
his people with manna, the food of angels, the
bread from heaven, which covered the ground
manifest God’s sweetness
towards us, his children.
like snow and ice but did not melt in the sun (the
fire of vv. 22 and 23). The Egyptians were the
enemies, the uninstructed souls (17.1), whom
God pursued with a pillar of fire even through
rain and sea.
We, the new Israelites, believe that the
Eucharistic Bread and Wine is ready to eat,
providing every pleasure and suited to every
taste. They manifest God’s sweetness towards
us, his children; through them God minis-
ters to the desire of the one who eat and drink
them, changing them to suit everyone’s liking.
Skillfully playing the stringed instrument of
creation (“exerts” and “relaxes,” v. 24), God
changes bread and wine into all forms: They
serve God’s all-nourishing bounty, according
to our desires and needs, so that we, whom God
loves, might learn that it is not the pro-
duction of crops that feeds humankind
(“not by bread alone”) but that God’s
word sustains those who trust in him.
For older Catholics this theology is not
really a “surprise.” We grew up singing
Wisdom 16.20 at Benediction: Panem de
caelo praestitisti eis.
R. Omne delecta-
mentum in se habentem. You gave them
bread from heaven.
R. Containing with-
in itself all sweetness).
As a Passionist missionary once preached
as part of a Forty Hours Devotion, if we dare
God to meet our deepest needs and desires, God
shapes the Eucharist to our tastes, pleasures,
desires, likings, needs. There is nothing we need
or desire that the Eucharist cannot satisfy.
The bible translation used in this article
is the New Revised Standard Version. This is
the fifth of a series celebrating the publication
of Psalms for the Liturgical Year (Toronto:
Novalis, 2009). 
09/07/10 14:53:13
 Musician’s corner
“What? Give up my favourite
communion hymn?”
By Paul F. Ford
rom this article’s title,
F you may have guessed that its pre-
decessor, “The communion proces-
sion and the psalms” (Celebrate!,
September-October 2010), has generated some
discussion.
I love hymns—I love their words, their tunes,
their harmonizations.
My life has been saved (only a slight exag-
geration) by “The Call” by George Herbert,
with the incomparable tune by Ralph Vaughan
Williams, “Bread of Heav’n, on Thee We Feed”
by Josiah Conder, Melvin Farrell’s “Father,
God of All Things Living,” “I Heard the Voice
of Jesus Say” by Horatius Bonar, and—an 8.5
on the spiritual Richter scale—“By Gracious
Powers So Wonderfully Sheltered” with lyrics
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and F. Pratt Green, set
to a most gorgeous tune, Le Cenacle, by Joseph
Gelineau—to name just five hymns.
Consider just the first of these for a
moment.
Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
Such a Way, as gives us breath:
Such a Truth, as ends all strife:
Such a Life, as killeth death.
Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:
Such a Light, as shows a feast:
Such a Feast, as mends in length:
Such a Strength, as makes his guest.
Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
Such a Joy, as none can move:
Such a Love, as none can part:
Such a Heart, as joyes in love.
The first line of each stanza enumerates
three titles of our Lord and the following three
Celebrate_nov-dec 2010-3.indd 35
lines meditate on each title. The rhyme scheme
is abab cdcd efef. The economy of expression
is breathtaking. The theological and spiritual
trajectory moves us from “way” to “love.” (A
molested boy—I—needed to know that the
Eucharist “killeth death,” “mends in length,”
“makes his guest,” and joys in love.)
The strict sense of a hymn
This poem, turned to music, becomes a hymn
in the strict sense I am using here: strophic,
rhymed, and a complete theological statement
or shape. The most important part of this “defi-
nition” is “a complete theological statement.” A
number of great hymns are trinitarian in shape:
Verse 1: the Father, Verse 2: the Son, Verse 3: the
Spirit—hence the saying among Protestants:
“As lonely as a third verse (or the Holy Spirit) in
a Catholic church.” Some songs are not hymns
as rhymed texts but many songs are strophic in
the loose sense: refrain and verses.
According to this definition there is only one
hymn required at Mass except during Advent
and Lent: the Glory to God. It isn’t (obviously)
strophic, it isn’t rhymed, but it’s a complete
theological statement. Few would dare sing
an abbreviated Gloria.
One more point: In our Catholic tradition
hymns are not sung in procession—there are
“no players in motion” in what our liturgy
calls “an independent rite or act.” The General
Instruction of the Roman Missal 37 says:
a. Some constitute an independent rite or act,
such as the Gloria, the responsorial Psalm,
the Alleluia and verse before the Gospel, the
Sanctus, the Memorial Acclamation, and the
song after communion;
november-december 2010 | celebrate! 35
b. Others accompany another rite, such as the
chants at the Entrance, at the Offertory, at the
fraction (Agnus Dei), and at Communion.
(Yes, the ministers in the gospel procession
are moving, but we aren’t.)
So the argument I was making in “The com-
munion procession and the psalms” (Celebrate!,
September-October 2010) is that, because the
communion song accompanies the receiving
of communion and thus needs to be over when
the communion procession is over, a psalm or
canticle is the best kind of song to sing during
communion, especially if its antiphon/refrain
is a quotation from the gospel of the day.
This means that any version of “Taste and
See” is a good choice for a generic communion
procession song, because the text comes from
Psalm 34.
As for other songs popular at communion,
Dan Schutte’s “Table of Plenty” is a thoughtful
pastiche of biblical citations and allusions good
for singing on the summer Sundays in Years A
and B that focus on the Bread of Life (John 6).
Similarly, Jacques Berthier’s “Eat This Bread,
Drink This Cup” is perfect for singing on those
same Sundays in Year B.
More generic still are Owen Alstott’s, Lord,
Jesus Christ, Gather Us Together,” Marty
Haugen’s “Now in This Banquet,” and even
Robert Kreutz’s “Gift of Finest Wheat.” These
five hymns might continue service as good
songs of praise after communion. And they
represent a floor, a starting point, for singing
at communion.
But this kind of song doesn’t take us towards
the ideal of singing the communion. Over forty
years ago the Vatican’s liturgy office answered
the following letter:
14/09/10 12:10:16
 Query: Many have inquired whether
the rule still applies that appears in the
Instruction on sacred music and the lit-
urgy, 3 Sept. 1958, no. 33: “In low Masses
religious songs of the people may be sung
by the congregation, without prejudice,
however, to the principle that they be en-
tirely consistent with the particular parts
of the Mass.” Reply: That rule has been su-
perseded. What must be sung is the Mass,
its Ordinary and Proper, not “something,”
no matter how consistent, that is imposed
on the Mass. Because the liturgical service
is one, it has only one countenance, one
motif, one voice, the voice of the Church. …
Liturgical song involves not mere melody,
but words, text, thought, and the senti-
ments that the poetry and music contain.
Thus texts must be those of the Mass, not
others, and singing means singing the
Mass not just singing at Mass.1
(If you read Italian, you can just see the writ-
er touching thumb and two fingers together and
gesturing: “Cantare la Messa, dunque, e non
solo cantare durante la Messa.”)
To experience singing the Mass and not just
singing at Mass, look at the Sunday readings
for November this year and the selections from
Psallite (http://www.litpress.org/everyones-
ing/Psallite.aspx) where you can listen to some
of them, too. You can detect theological and
spiritual resonance between the readings and
the antiphons of Psallite’s songs for the table
(communion songs):
Ordinary Time 32, November 7: “God of
Life, God of Hope, Give Us Life, Raise Us Up.
God of Life, God of Hope, Guide Our Hearts
to Your Love” (with Psalm 105). The story of
the slaughter of the widow and her seven sons
and the trick question about the widow and
her seven dead husbands bewilder the average
person in the pew. What are we to make of all
of this? Who is Jesus for us this Sunday? He is
the one who reveals that his Father is the God
of the Living, that all—alive and dead—are alive
in him, that no love is ever lost, and that we
all have a future full of hope. Psalm 105, the
“God-is-true-to-his-promises” psalm is one
we need to hear this Sunday … and Monday …
and Tuesday …
Ordinary Time 33, November 14: “Don’t Be
Afraid, Only Believe. Your Faith Will Save You:
Only Believe” (with Psalm 31). The last Sundays
of Ordinary Time are full of apocalyptic lan-
guage, whose images are often so overwhelm-
ing we fail to hear the hope that our faith gives
36 celebrate! | november-december 2010
Celebrate_nov-dec 2010-3.indd 36
us. Burning ovens, wars, insurrections, great
earthquakes, famines, plagues, dreadful por-
Glionna Mansell
Corporation
tents, great signs from heaven, arrest, perse-
cutions, signs in the sun, the moon, and the
stars, the roaring of the sea and the waves, the
powers of the heavens will be shaken—yikes!
We miss the image about the rising of the sun
with its healing in its rays (“wings”) and the
gospel reading doesn’t go on long enough for
us to hear the parable: “‘Look at the fig tree and
all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you
can see for yourselves and know that summer is
already near. So also, when you see these things
taking place, you know that the kingdom of God
is near’” (Luke 21.29–31). So we need to repeat
like a mantra, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.
Your faith will save you: Only believe.” And we DB-390
80 Stop / Three-Manual Console
need to hear the words of Psalm 31, the psalm
of shelter.
Ordinary Time 34/Christ the King,
November 21: “Jesus Christ, the Same Today, When concert and recording
Yesterday and Evermore” (with Colossians 1.11– artist, Diane Bish heard her first
Renaissance™ organ, she
20). At first glance, this antiphon from Hebrews
became so impressed with its
13.8 feels dragged in … until you meditate on tonal integrity and quality that
the readings. In them you discover that Jesus she asked Allen Organ Company
is ever the shepherd-king, looking for the stray to jointly develop a series of instruments with
even in the hour of his dying, when he brings her own special design touches. The result is
the unique, Quantum™ technology-based
the good thief home to paradise. We approach Diane Bish Signature Series Organs.
him in communion this day, asserting our con-
fidence that he will treat us in the same way. We Glionna Mansell
hear the cantor(s, or the choir) sing to us the
Corporation
canticle of Colossians (1.11–20) whose powerful
words ring like a peal of bells.
presents Diane
Advent 1, November 28: “Now Is The Hour
Bish in concert.
to Wake from Sleep; All You Nations, Come to www.dianebishconcert.ca
the Feast: Faith and Mercy, Justice and Peace” See and hear Diane inaugurate the newest
Allen Heritage™ organ on Sunday November
(Psalm 85 and three other sources). The text of
14, 2010. She will be performing on a
this antiphon comes directly from the second spectacular 50-stop, three-manual concert
reading (Romans 13.11–14) and captures the instrument crafted specifically for
meaning of the gospel of that day, “Stay Awake” Mississauga’s St. Patrick’s Catholic Church. For
(Matthew 24.42); in communion Jesus him- more information and tickets to this rare
opportunity visit www.dianebishconcert.ca
self is the feast; he is our Faith, Mercy, Justice,
To learn more about the Diane Bish Signature
and Peace. The psalm sung is Psalm 85 (one
Series, the Elite program or any of the other
of the two default Advent psalms—the other
fine digital organs from Allen Organ Company,
is Psalm 25, sung as the entrance song on this please contact Gordon Mansell, President and
Sunday). Artistic Director at 416-769-5224.
Revealing these powers of the Eucharist is a Glionna Mansell Corporation
matter of life and death for all of us. represents excellence
in organ building and performance
This is the last of a series of six articles
celebrating the publication of Psalms for the www.glionnamansell.com
Liturgical Year (Toronto: Novalis, 2009). 
416-769-5224, toll free: 1-877-769-5224
1 Documents on the Liturgy 1963–1975: Conciliar,
Papal, and Curial Texts (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgi-
cal Press, 1982), edited and translated by Thomas C.
O’Brien of the International Commission on English in Leasing available through First Maestra Leasing Inc.
the Liturgy, §4154, 1299 [Notitiae 5 (1969) 406.].
14/09/10 12:10:17