Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
  • aquinasadmirer
    Posts: 102
    Hi,

    I just picked up the music for this Sunday for my wife--the accompanist--to prepare for this weekend's mass (2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time).

    The Psalm for this weekend is Ps 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10. The response is "Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will."

    I saw in the materials that I brought, that the music selected for the Psalm is "Here I Am, Lord" by Dan Schutte.

    In the GIRM, at the end of Paragraph 61


    In the dioceses of the United States of America, the following may also be sung in place of the
    Psalm assigned in the Lectionary for Mass: either the proper or seasonal antiphon and Psalm
    from the Lectionary, as found either in the Roman Gradual or Simple Gradual or in another
    musical setting; or an antiphon and Psalm from another collection of the psalms and antiphons,
    including psalms arranged in metrical form, providing that they have been approved by the
    United States Conference of Catholic Bishops or the Diocesan Bishop. Songs or hymns may not
    be used in place of the responsorial Psalm.


    Two questions:

    1. Does this music selection meet one of the above criteria?
    2. If not, what is the most prudent way to voice my concern that this "isn't cricket"?


    Thank you in advance for the forthcoming sage advice.

    -M
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    It falls clearly under the provision of the last sentence. It would be of interest to know the source of the recommendation.

    While it has been the regrettable practice of writers to paraphrase psalms and the church to permit these pseudo-psalms under the GIRM, the song cited seems to fail to convey even a paraphrased version of the psalm text for the day.

    The attachment may help you and others in determining the nature of this work - is it a psalm, or a paraphrase of a psalm?

    If not, it may not be sung as the Psalm for the Day.

    [as a last ditch effort to halt this, bring up the BRADY BUNCH connection]
    comp.pdf
    16K
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    You could love that song and think it should be sung every single week and twice on Easter.
    Doesn't matter.
    It isn't Psalm 40.

    It isn't a paraphrase of Psalm 40, it isn't based on Psalm 40, it's hardly even related to Psalm 40.
    I've only met him once, but I'd be willing to bet one week's pay from my Episcopal job that Dan Schutte himself wouldn't program this for the responsorial psalm.

    As to how you tell someone? I find a rambling, anonymous letter that accuses your pastor of heresy to be the best approach.

    (That was a joke.)

    I would start by finding out who picks the music. And then I would find out how much they know about that responsibility. Some people make choices like that because they don't know any better. Others because they don't care. If they don't care, you're only bet is to put up with it or find a different parish.
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    M,
    Another distinction that publishers use for "paraphrased" psalms is they will locate them in a section of the hymnal generally called "Psalms....Psalm Settings....or Psalter." That designation presupposes some sort of episcopal approbation by the Sees of Portland, Chicago, wherever.
    All that said, many of these settings are yet and still inferior or deficient for truly licit use.
    So, you're left with the approved settings the publisher posts within the Liturgy of the Word portion of their missal product, and that's a dead horse that's been beaten many times here and elsewhere.
    But, save for those missal settings with approved texts, or the Chabanel collection, By Flowing Waters, the Guimant Psalter, or many other valid Psalters, you'd be loathe to substitute a song/hymn like HIAL or OEW and be operating within the mind of the church's liturgy.
    And of course, there is THE GRADUAL!
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    The more I compare the two, the more it looks like PETA protesting outside a bar that serves Cold Duck.
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    If your parish is GIA territory,
    you cannot use it,
    because it is *not* in their psalm-ish section.

    If your parish is OCP territory,
    the Alstott setting is faithful,
    and takes a lot less time.

    Oh yeah, OT-2-A, aka Doppler Sunday (here am I ... I will go).

    This is nothing more than a word-association pick-n-stick.

    Can anyone here provide a secular example of
    four consecutive words re-arranged
    causing an intersection of two un-related texts?
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    most prudent way to voice

    "I am wondering about the impact of programming a Funeral Mass Song for this Sunday."
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,510
    lol. A Funeral Mass Song.

    Overheard at a casino:

    "...and he will raise..."
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    I would ask "of which particular psalm is this a paraphrase?" Ask for justification, then point out the GIRM.

    Of course, I'm sure most any musician who would make such a programming choice has no clue what a psalm is.
  • Jeffrey CogginsJeffrey Coggins
    Posts: 360
    Of course, I'm sure most any musician who would make such a programming choice has no clue what a psalm is.


    Or what the GIRM, Gradual, propers, etc, are either. It's obvious to say that there's a serious lack of education (and a serious lack of desire to be educated) among certain church "music directors". I'm so grateful for CMAA.
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