Fascinating resource for further Lectionary studies

I forgot to mention in my previous post this fascinating resource which Joseph Shaw pointed me at.

Here you can see all the readings in the Old Missal, along with an analysis of the proportions from the different Gospels, OT v. NT and so on.  On a linked page, you can also see the stats for the EF Missal and the New Lectionary compared.

All very interesting, and certainly demonstrates how much more of theBible we have read in the new system.

Never let it be said I take a wholly one-sided approach to this issue (though in fact, I will argue later, as I have before, that more is not necessarily better in this particular instance).

Sunday Gospel Readings in EF Omitted from OF

So here's the next post on the subject of the New Lectionary.  For previous posts, follow the Lectionary tag.

Joseph Shaw suggested that I should add to my data collection a list of all the Gospel passages that feature in the EF Missal to be read on Sundays, which do not feature in the new Lectionary for Sunday reading.

I demurred, initially, saying that wasn't my project, but he said: 'Well, for one thing the omission of passages which were in the historic cycle (Anglican and Lutheran too) is a bigger statement.'

I thought about this for a bit: clearly Bugnini wasn't thinking about amending the cycle of readings but replacing it.  I doubted that he even did the comparison with the old Missal.

And the more I thought about that, the more the enormity of it struck me.  The hubris of dumping the heritage of the Church's traditional cycle of Gospel readings without a second glance...

I will write more on that, when I consider what Bugnini said he was about.

But in the meantime, I decided to take up Joseph Shaw's suggestion, and here is the result: all the passages from the Gospels which were read on Sundays according to the Old Missal and are omitted from the New Lectionary Sunday Cycle.  As before, I have put in bold those passages which are omitted, without a parallel passage from one of the other Gospels being read.

St Matthew:

6:16-21 Fasting: when you fast... Do not store up treasures on earth...

8:1-13 Leper healed; Centurion’s servant. (St Mark’s and St Luke’s accounts, respectively, used)

8:23-27 Calming of the storm (St Mark’s account used)

26: 1- 13 Caiaphas plotting; the precious ointment; [St Mark's account used]

St Mark:

16:14  Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. [only in St Mark]

St Luke:

8: 4 - 15 Parable of the sower (St Matthew’s account used)

11: 14- 23 But if it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils... (St Mark’s account used)

24 - 26 The return of the Unclean Spirit (the corresponding passage from St Matthew is also cut)

27 - 28 Happy the womb that bore you... (St Luke only)

14: 15- 24 The banquet and guests who refuse to come... (St Matthew’s account used)

18: 31- 34 The Son of Man to be handed over... (cut from St Matthew and St Mark as well)

35 - 43 Healing of the blind man at Jericho (St Mark’s account used)

21: 29 - 33 The fig tree (St Mark’s account used)

St John:

6: 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. (Only in St John) 

8:46-59 you are a Samaritan, and possessed... Abraham saw my day and rejoiced, Before Abraham was, I AM. (Only in St John) 

14: 30 -31 The prince of this world is on his way... I am doing exactly what the Father told me. (Only in St John)

16:1-4 They will put you out of the Synagogue.  (Only in St John)

16: 5 - 11  None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ...because the prince of this world now stands condemned.  (Only in St John)

16 - 22 What does he mean: you will no longer see me, then you will see me?... You are sad now... your hearts will be full of joy...  (Only in St John)

16: 23-30 Ask and you will receive... the Father loves you...Now you are speaking plainly... the time will come when you are scattered...  (Only in St John)

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In broad terms I think this is consonant with my earlier musings about patterns...

Apologetics again

Before Easter I posted about Apologetics, and said that I would do so again after Easter.

I have been thinking and praying about this (though not enough of either) throughout Lent and Eastertide, and also discussing various aspects with a number of people.

There seems to be a strong consensus amongst many (and this is also reflected by hits on Ttony's blog when the topic has been raised)  that this is a high priority for the Church in England and Wales: equipping adult Catholics to know and be able to present, convincingly, a Catholic philosophy and world-view.

Whilst the final form any initiative might take is far from certain, I am keen to learn from the rigour of the Catholic Evidence Guild, though street-corner evangelism is not part of my ambition.

But the wisest comment on this (I think) that I have read was that it must be first of all a spiritual apostolate. Without a base in prayer, it is likely to fail.

Therefore I think the first priority is to recruit prayer warriors. So if anyone is prepared to pray daily for this intention, that would be excellent. Also, if anyone knows any orders of nuns, monks, or other top pray-ers who would give this some serious support, that would be even better!

As the prayers go up, I will continue to think, pray and discuss with others (out of the public eye, at this stage) various ways in which this might be furthered.  Please contact me if you wish to be part of that discussion.

Introduction to Chant (v)

This week we will look at something quite different: the chanting of psalms.  Because of the need to sing all 150 psalms every week, it is important to have a setting that can be sung at a glance.

The solution to this is to have simple patterns that can be adapted to verses of any length.

Here is Psalmtone 1 D.  (Sorry, for some reason I can't embed the video, so please click on the link)

The psalm is psalm 109: Dixit Dominus.

A few things to note:

The incipit (the first three notes) are sung only for the first verse: to get us into the tone, as it were. Subsequent verses start on the reciting note.

The reciting notes will carry all the syllables until the text shows otherwise; in the first half of each verse, that is done by putting the syllables that move off the reciting note in bold. In the second half, italicised syllables show the initial movement, and bold shows the stressed syllable to be sung to the rising notes (the mé of méis in the first verse).

The words are sung as they would be spoken: that is to say, the rhythm follows the rhythm of the words, not a metrical beat.

Psalms are normally sung antiphonally; one half of the schola singing the odd verses, the other, the even verses. Traditionally, there is a fair gap at the mid-point of each verse.

There are psalmtones for each of the 8 tones; and most of the psalmtones have several possible endings (the Liber shows 9 different endings for tone 1, all being variants on the notes for the final word, méis, ending on re [as this one does], fa, sol  or la.)

Personally I love the simplicity of the psalmtones*.  Given a good schola, a good acoustic, a few candles, and a bit of incense... the whole ensemble transports you into a place of solace, peace and light.  But you will have to imagine that.


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* The simplicity is deceptive! They are hard to sing really well. Listening back to my attempt, I notice that I stumble over some words, and that the intonation is wobbly in places. I plead tiredness!

Pathetic Propaganda

Yesterday I happened to be driving in the afternoon, and caught the Radio 4 Afternoon Play.

You can listen to it here.

This is the BBC's synopsis:

The Guest of St Peter's

Not since the Middle Ages have two Popes been alive at the same time. One reason why no modern Pope until Benedict has ever resigned is the danger that a living ex-Pope would become an alternative locus of power and influence within the Vatican.

The Guest of St Peter's imagines just such a scenario.

Thomas Perret is supposed to be dead. Two years ago he resigned as Pope Paul VII, citing old age and illness that made him incapable of carrying out his duties. He has lived ever since in almost total isolation in a small monastery within the grounds of the Vatican City. It was widely assumed that Perret wouldn't last long, but he shows no signs of dying any time soon.

Perret's successor, Pope Leo XIV, has a big problem. A hardline conservative, he has excommunicated a group of liberal American Catholic priests who were offering contraception advice to their parishioners. The Americans have defied him, and have rapidly attracted support from progressive Catholics all over the western world. Leo's authoritarian stance has backfired. Decades of disillusionment with the Vatican's unwillingness to change has boiled over, and Leo now faces the very real risk of a split. At the very least, the absolute authority of the papacy has been gravely undermined. It needs desperately to be shored up.

Cardinal Sastre, the Vatican secretary of state, has a plan. He visits the old Pope in his monastery and appeals to him to make an intervention.

As sides are taken and battle lines drawn, Sastre realises that he has embarked in a dangerous course. The Vatican, after all, is a house of cards, and his actions are in danger of bringing the whole thing crashing down...
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Apart from the obvious bias and silliness: 'Decades of disillusionment with the Vatican's unwillingness to change has boiled over,' the play was extremely badly written. None of the characters sounded like senior prelates.  The heroine was (of course) a virtuous lesbian journalist, the centre of moral good in the play.  

Even were the Church run according to the crude notions of power assumed by the playwright, they would be expressed in spiritual terms, not in the gauche language of this drama.

It seems to me quite telling that the BBC should think this worthy of broadcasting; the plot, I suppose one could argue, was worthwhile and topical, but the treatment was ill-informed and unconvincing. The characterisation was full of prejudice and lacked any subtlety or sophistication, still less spirituality.  Given that Radio 4's drama is normally of a high standard, this was particularly disappointing.

Essentially this was propaganda, urging the Vatican and orthodox Catholics to get with the plot, and change practice on celibacy and doctrine on contraception and  homosexuality (though nobody in the play seemed to understand the difference between discipline and doctrine), so as to stay in touch with real Catholics in the real world.

Pathetic.

Laughing Stock?

The Tablet, that bastion of things of dubious orthodoxy, reports that Monsignor Marcus Stock attended the recent meeting of ACTA at Hinsley Hall.

ACTA is a fairly noxious organisation, as Mark Lambert has documented here. They agitate for all the usual causes: contraception, women priests etc.  I think, as I have observed before, that this flurry of activity is nothing more than the dying gasps of a group of sad old has-beens.

However, the attendance by Monsignor Marcus Stock, who is General Secretary of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, risks causing scandal, by lending some veil of credibility to them and their agenda.

Certainly many sensible Catholics were expressing shock last night having read the Tablet's report, and seeing the implications.  As one put it: 'What was he thinking?'

My hope and expectation is that Mgr Stock was there to observe, to judge and to report - possibly even to admonish. Were that the case, I would not expect the Tablet to mention such a fact, as they clearly have their own agenda.

But now that his presence is being used as part of the propaganda of dissent, I think it behoves Mgr Stock to answer that question: 'what was he thinking?' and to make clear whether he is with the Church laughing (albeit compassionately) at ACTA, or with ACTA, laughing (albeit bitterly) at the Church.

Ascension Day Treat

When you get to my age, you are allowed (even expected) to start to repeat yourself...

So, as I said last year:

Ignoring the silliness that would try to persuade me that the Ascension has been postponed (and which denies me access to a Mass today!) I thought I would post an Ascension Day treat for my loyal reader.

Ascendit Deus by Peter Phillips

Ascendit Deus in iubilatione, et Dominus in voce tubae.  Alleluia!  Alleluia!
God ascends in jubilation, and the Lord to the sound of trumpets.  Alleluia! Alleluia!

However, just to show that an old dog can learn older tricks, here is the chant: