Rejoice! The Second Scrutiny! (A4L)

I haven't thought of something about Sunday that I haven’t already said, though I still may before the week is up. Still, I like to put up a list of the music we’re doing week by week, so here we go. This weekend is characterized by images of light and darkness, vision and blindness, and the limits of human sight versus the wide scope of divine “vision.” For the record, I have pretty substantial blog posts about these readings from previous years (these are clickable links to the posts):


• Believing is seeing (1) - the Man Born Blind
• Believing is seeing (2) - the dark night of a liturgical soul
• Believing is seeing (3) - turning can take a while
• How were your eyes opened?
• John 9:9 and the co-creation of light




I mean, that seems like a lot to have written about the same readings, so I’m cutting myself some slack for not having a startling new insight for this year.

Even so, it's not like I don't expect to have my eyes opened this Sunday, because this Sunday at St. Anne we are delighted to have a group from Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos de Guatemala coming to the parish to lead most of the music at the masses. NPH is a wonderful organization with orphanages throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, supporting 3,300 children in nine countries, and another 1800 with scholarships, meals, and health care. This group visiting the Midwest is made up of mostly older (teen) children who bring their musical talent to schools and parishes to spread the word about NPH and return the love that they have experienced in their homeland. Please click on the link above, and see more about the work of NPH in the hemisphere, and consider making them a part of your Lenten almsgiving.

This is some of the music we’re singing this Sunday, with some links to the iTunes versions if they exist:





Gathering: Be Thou My Vision This is the arrangement I did about 25 years ago, the title song for our CD Vision. It often works out that this Sunday falls around St. Patrick’s day, so the Irish flavor of the hymn does a kind of double cultural duty in these parts, where there’s a strong Irish influence in the church. The references to the high tower and the high king of heaven evoke memories of Ireland and its history while we sing the song, even as I have mixed feelings about the images of monarchy and the military that pervade the song. Sigh.


Psalm 23: My Shepherd Is the Lord (Gelineau-GIA)
Gospel Response: Open My Eyes (Manibusan, OCP)

Scrutiny: Litany for the Scrutinies (Today, GIA) and Psalm 116: I Will Walk in the Presence of God. The Litany for the Scrutinies I recorded and published with GIA in 2006 had been in use in my parish and others and on Forum institutes for years, both in adapted scrutinies and also as part of liturgies of lamentation. By adapting the language to the dynamics of purification (“deliver them from...”) and enlightenment (“strengthen them in...”), the litany became really appropriate for the scrutiny and, as chant, accessible to virtually any parish.


Communion: Christ, Be Our Light (Farrell)

Following the example of the Lord himself, sometimes this blog needs a day to go off by itself and rest for a while. Happy Wednesday to all! And rejoice - Lent is half over.