We Contemplate the Mystery is the second volume of a project dear to my heart. It provides a hymn of the day (HOD) for every Sunday and solemnity in the three-year Roman Catholic Lectionary cycle for Lent and Triduum. For those who may not be familiar with the previous collection, Within Our Hearts Be Born, I would like to discuss in a few sentences what an HOD is and how, where, and why it might be used in Roman Catholic eucharistic worship. (I know that other denominations, especially Lutheran and Episcopalian, have long experienced the HOD as a major component of their worship, but as a Roman Catholic, my focus is on my own denomination’s practice. I would be honored and delighted if other denominations would find any of these hymns usable in their worship.)
Edward W. Klammer defines the HOD as “the name given to the chief hymn in the service on every Sunday and festival, so called because it fits the specific day and season in the Church year.”1 Carl Schalk furthers the discussion by noting that the HOD “reflects the central thrust of the proclamation for the day. That proclamation is heard first in the Scripture lessons and the Gospel, continued and applied in the sermon, sung by the congregation, and confessed in the Creed. To understand properly the function of the Hymn of the Day, this intimate relation between the Word read in the Scripture lessons, the Word preached from the pulpit, and the Word sung by the congregation in the Hymn of the Day must be clearly perceived by all.”2
Since it is clear that the HOD developed under Protestant auspices, why might Roman Catholics wish to enrich their eucharistic worship with such a form? I am quite aware that, historically, the Roman Rite Eucharist has tended to resist the introduction of metrical hymnody. Even today, the Latin editiones typicae of the Missale Romanum prize psalmody much more than metrical hymnody, whether processional (introit, Communion) or meditative (gradual), for the variable elements of the eucharistic liturgy.
However, I am also aware that certain ethnic groups and vernacular traditions enthusiastically embraced the practice of singing vernacular hymnody to enrich the celebration of the missa lecta (“recited” or “low” Mass). With the liturgical reforms after Vatican II, such compositions frequently appeared as entrance, offertory, Communion, and exit hymns, often supplanting the assigned processional psalmody. Since these pieces were usually sung to cover ritual motion, their texts were often truncated in performance if the motion came to an end before the entire hymn text was completed. (Thus a Trinitarian hymn with an opening stanza addressed to the Triune God, with stanzas two through four addressed to each of the Divine Persons and a concluding stanza of doxology again to the Triune God, might be cut off after stanza two or three, leading to a real distortion of the progress of thought in the hymn.) This led to an unfortunate belief among at least some Roman Catholics that hymns were primarily “traveling music” with little or no textual integrity, a kind of musical filler.
I believe the introduction of the HOD in Roman Catholic worship will give us a chance to bring or recover hymn singing as an integral act of communal prayer. I further believe that the HOD will help to promote the scriptural literacy so craved in article 24 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: “Sacred scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy. For it is from scripture that lessons are read and explained in the homily, and psalms are sung; the prayers, collects, and liturgical songs are scriptural in their inspiration and their force, and it is from the scriptures that actions and signs derive their meaning. Thus to achieve the restoration, progress, and adaptation of the sacred liturgy, it is essential to promote that warm and living love for scripture to which the venerable tradition of both eastern and western rites gives testimony.”
Every one of the HODs in We Contemplate the Mystery is based on the particular Scriptures proclaimed for a given liturgical celebration. They are meant to complement the preaching inspired by those Scriptures and the other texts (e.g., Prefaces, Universal Prayer) that may further their themes. They are a result of exegesis, reading patristic, medieval, and modern commentaries, and the spiritual discipline of lectio divina put at the service of communal prayer.
Optimally the HOD would be incorporated as the conclusion of the homily, so that the preacher could call the community to turn the proclaimed and preached word into prayers of praise, thanksgiving, lament, or petition, depending on the thrust of the Scriptures of the day. Alternatively, some communities might want to sing the HOD during the Preparation and Presentation of the Gifts as a “summary” of the Liturgy of the Word while the collection is being taken up and they prepare to be invited to the Orate fratres. Recognizing that not infrequently the processional antiphon for Communion in the Roman Rite is taken from the Gospel of the day, the HOD might be sung in the time after Communion as a recollection and thanksgiving for being nourished at the table of the Word and sacrament in a given celebration. Although I would find it the least desirable, it would also be possible to sing the HOD during the entrance procession in lieu of or after the assigned processional antiphon as a way of preparing the congregation for the Scriptures that they will hear proclaimed and preached that day.
In We Contemplate the Mystery, you will find for each HOD 1) the full text of the hymn; 2) a listing of the Scriptures appointed for the liturgy; 3) a short commentary on the appointed Scriptures with some insights into the hymn’s stanzas (these may be helpful for homily preparation, music rehearsals, and/or for bulletin columns); and 4) suggested and alternative hymn tunes and their standard metrical designations (the suggested tunes tend to be more familiar, but often more generic, while the alternative tunes tend to be less familiar, but often more idiomatic). Please note that these texts are by no means bound to the tunes but could be yoked with others of the proper metrical pattern.
1 Edward W. Klammer, “De Tempore Hymn,” in Key Words in Church Music, ed. Cark Schalk (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1978) 162.
2 Carl Schalk, The Hymn of the Day and Its Use in Lutheran Worship (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1983) 5.
Excerpted from We Contemplate the Mystery.
Originally published in Today’s Liturgy © 2016 OCP. All rights reserved.
Father Michael Joncas is a liturgical composer, author, speaker, and professor who is perhaps best known for his song “On Eagle’s Wings”. He holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame and Pontificio Istituto Liturgico of the Ateneo Sant’Anselmo. He teaches at the University of Saint Thomas in Minnesota.