Presentation of the Lord

[MaryR]

The first time for many years that this has fallen on a Sunday. What did folk do in their parishes?

We hoped for a procession but, in the end there was a rather lame blessing of unlit candles and we split our opening hymn - Farrell's Christ be our Light - stopping at the end of the fourth verse so the candle blessing could take place, and then singing the last verse and refrain after the candles had been blessed.

[Nick Baty]

We almost didn't! Readings of the day but we omitted the specific gathering rite and candle blessing. Interesting mix of music from Advent, Christmas and Epiphany – but it all fitted! And, as today celebrated the second (arguably third) theophany we finished with Paul Inwood's "Take Christ to the World" which always goes down well!

[PhloridaPhil]

At my church they ignored the processional rites of the Church but decided to preempt the Feast of St Blaise with a blessing of throats after each Mass!!!

The music followed the Feast however and included Bernadette Farrell's unpublished Presentation of the Lord verses for Christ be our Light.

In the temple now behold him - New Wine Penitential Act (because there was no procession) and Gloria - Psalm (Jakob) - Salisbury Alleluia (Walker) - The Lord is my Light (Jakob) - Mass of Creation - The Lord is my Light (Walker) - Lord Jesus Christ (Taize) - Christ be our Light (new verses - Farrell).

All of the above at all 6 Masses except the 7pm Evening Mass which will move a few things about so that the final song is Marty Haugen's Watch, O Lord which I'm thinking of repeating at several of the late evening Masses.

I drank a G & T on Friday at 6pm (Florida time) as the wheels of change turned. I hope all will be well for the poor as well as the wealthy!

[keitha]

We are going through a bit of a time of change with a new Parish Priest from the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham (plus an Ordinariate curate - a real bonus!) and are the 'home' of the local Ordinariate group. Our Principal Concelebrant yesterday was Mgr Keith Newton, the Ordinariate's Ordinary. The ministers processed in through the main door to an organ improvisation. We then sang the antiphon 'Behold our Lord will come' to my arrangement, with the Nun Dimittis in place of the psalm verses while candles were lit. The blessing took place at the rear of the church. As the clergy and some parishioners processed to the sanctuary we sang an office hymn for the Presentation by Peter Abelard (in English) - in effect, an extended version of the Antiphon 'Sion adorn' (tune - Conditor alme siderum), followed by John Ainslie's Entrance Song from his 'English Proper Chants.'

The Mass continued with Christoper Walker's Belmont setting, a Responsorial Psalm by John Ainslie and an Alleluia verse from a setting I found in Germany. At the Offertory we sang 'In his temple now behold him' (to Westminster Abbey - with big organ impro) and, at Communion, the Chant for the Table for the feast from Psallite. The postcommunion thanksgiving was 'Let all mortal flesh keep silence', with a final hymn - 'Love divine, all loves excelling' (Blaenwern), followed by the Dubois Toccata in G - then we had a Presentation Party!

Now back to working on a Mass setting for 'Divine Worship' (the Ordinariate Rite), which we will be introducing at some Sunday masses. We are living in very interesting (but stimulating) times here!

[alan29]

We had the Propers of the Presentation and suitable songs, but candles were neither blessed nor perambulated.
Shame, really.
I suspect the pp (who has a full-time diocesan post) didn't realise until it was too late to order candles.

[Southern Comfort]

We are going through a bit of a time of change with a new Parish Priest from the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham (plus an Ordinariate curate - a real bonus!) and are the 'home' of the local Ordinariate group. Our Principal Concelebrant yesterday was Mgr Keith Newton, the Ordinariate's Ordinary. The ministers processed in through the main door to an organ improvisation. We then sang the antiphon 'Behold our Lord will come' to my arrangement, with the Nun Dimittis in place of the psalm verses while candles were lit.

<snip>

Now back to working on a Mass setting for 'Divine Worship' (the Ordinariate Rite), which we will be introducing at some Sunday masses. We are living in very interesting (but stimulating) times here!

How interesting, Keith! Was the parish consulted at all before the Ordinariate was "imposed" on it? And has your Mass attendance improved or declined?

At the risk of going off-topic, there seem to be two ways of doing these things. Increasingly, I hear of parishes that are in effect "handed over" to the Ordinariate, so that they become the Ordinariate Parish for the diocese. This means that parishioners who don't feel comfortable with this way of celebrating are effectively excluded from their own parish and either have to grin and bear it or have to find somewhere else to worship. But the earlier model, when the Ordinariate first became a thing, was to give the Ordinariate folk one Mass out of the weekend Masses, so that existing parishioners could continue to worship in their own churches and decide what form of liturgy they wished to attend. It seems to me that this is a preferable way of doing things. I know of one parish where the Ordinariate group even financed the purchase of a new organ from which the entire parish benefitted, which of course helped relations between the various groups of people.

On a lighter note, those single quotation marks are so small that it was almost possible to read the name of the antiphon as Behold our Lord will come to my arrangement ! And the Nun Dimittis of course had me imagining a religious sister....

It would be interesting to know how the people are handling the differences in texts, in the light of the new Divine Worship Mass setting you are working on.

[alan29]

It must be akin to members of the increasing numbers of parishes that are being handed over to orders that celebrate only in the EF.