The spiritual benefits of singing the propers
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    I was just wondering how many of you are, like we are here at home, running through the propers one last time before Mass tomorrow?

    This is only my second year singing from the Graduale Romanum, but it's such an extraordinary privilege. I'm continually amazed at how the propers absorb my spare time. I have them constantly at hand during the week and can't wait to re-discover them at the beginning of every week.

    In every Sunday's propers there seem to be certain words that stick out and demand extra consideration, and in the process I'm finding that I'm acquiring a special lexicon of words from the psalms that have many layers of meaning.

    For instance, in tomorrow's Communion antiphon:

    Inclina aurem tuam, accelera ut eruas me.

    Incline your ear, hasten so that Thou might deliver me.

    It's such a gracious plea for help. Instead of saying bluntly, 'Hey, listen, Lord, help me out here fast!', the Psalmist uses the lovely phrase "Incline your ear." The word accelera conjures up for me an image of the father of the prodigal son breaking into a run as he hurries down a hot dusty road to embrace his repentant child.

    If nothing else, the propers have been a wonderful opportunity to develop a spiritual vocabulary to use in prayer and meditation, and when I see those words in other contexts they have increasingly deeper connotations. Has anyone else had this experience?
    Thanked by 6Ignoto CHGiffen jpal fp expeditus1 magistra6
  • MaryAnn Carr WilsonMaryAnn Carr Wilson
    Posts: 1,738
    Yes!! A few years into the yearly (EF) propers cycle, and the prayers and their melodies feel like old friends to me.

    I understand what you mean about how they absorb the mind, how thoughts return to them. The winding melodies and motives linger in the heart and mind.

    I don't attribute the composition of Gregorian propers directly to the angels, still it's good to ponder the rich intellectual and spiritual life of many (most? all?) of the monastic composers. Our spiritual forebears continue to give us gifts of contemplation. Grace builds upon grace, in the case of the propers.
    Thanked by 4CHGiffen gregp expeditus1 JulieColl
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,509
    I was looking ahead to the OF readings for tomorrow, and methinks I saw the scriptural basis for the Laetare introit. Shazam!
  • rob
    Posts: 148
    Shazam indeed, but readings notwithstanding, the OF introit for this Sunday is Suscepimus and not Laetare Jerusalem. Go figure.

    And yet, somehow, it's the achronicity of the propers which have become for me the fourth dimension of the liturgy, standing in distinct contrast to the practice of "mickey mousing" hymns to the assigned readings and their themes.
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,186
    At the anticipated OF Masses earlier this evening, I too heard the Laetare introit in the first reading, I also heard the introit for Holy Thursday in the second reading, and echoes of the Tract for the First Sunday of Lent in (the longer form of) the Gospel.
    Thanked by 3Ben JulieColl Aaron
  • Ignoto
    Posts: 126
    If nothing else, the propers have been a wonderful opportunity to develop a spiritual vocabulary to use in prayer and meditation, and when I see those words in other contexts they have increasingly deeper connotations.


    I completely agree! The propers have such a great spiritual depth and I like to ponder them throughout the day. I have so many of them memorized now; it is so nice to recall them at will.
    Thanked by 2Ben JulieColl
  • Ignoto
    Posts: 126
    I wonder, however, if some settings are more conducive to "at-will recall" than others. For some antiphons, I think of the first few words of text and then the melody comes to me and that's what triggers my memory for the rest of the text. The introit we sang at Mass last Sunday worked very well, but today I couldn't remember the first part of it for the life of me! (Words or melody.) I finally resorted to looking it up and now I understand why it was difficult for me to remember--it was just two words but it was very melismatic.
  • LongBeachChantLongBeachChant
    Posts: 30
    Any French speakers here? I bought from amazon.fr a few months ago a book by Yves Gire, prefaced by Dom Herve Courau, titled "l'annee Gregorienne - Commentaire des chants du propre de la messe des dimanches et fetes" (translation: the Gregorian year - commentary of the proper chants of the mass, Sundays and Feasts). This book has been providing valuable insight on most Sundays' propers. Examples this week: Gustate et videte was a "standard" of communion in early centuries; also, taste and wisdom have a common latin root: sapere ... Such tidbits excite a nerd like me, but also help me explain to our church's choir members why it is not only musical sense which makes me prefer the propers to any "song" recommended by OCP.
    I contacted the publisher, Dominic Martin Morin, to find an English translation. He had none, but directed me towards "Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey" in Hulbert, OK, thinking they might have some equivalent English document. I wrote to the Abbot in March, but have not heard back...
    Thanked by 1JulieColl
  • Ralph BednarzRalph Bednarz
    Posts: 493
    Cannot help experiencing an intimacy, not with mere texts but with Christs prayer of the day .
    Devoting much prep time: - this is the charism of praying always.
    The propers have changed the way or choir behaves before and after Mass. We are more reverent. No one in the schola leaves or speaks a word after Mass until we all bow to each other.
    It wasn't that way a few years ago when the Mass ended with "City of God."
    Thanked by 1JulieColl
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    @LongBeachChant

    Sounds like a fascinating book and if you ever find an English translation, please post the information about it! Have you ever read Dom Dominic Johner's Chants of the Vatican Graduale?

    It's available in paperback from CMAA or online here.

    This is an extremely useful reference. Dom Johner offers a musical analysis of the propers as well as many interesting historical notes. His commentary on the spiritual and theological dimension of the propers is succinct but profound.

    @ralphbednarz

    Thanks for your testimony about how singing the propers has had such a powerful transforming effect on your schola! Now I understand better the term schola; singing the Graduale every week is a school of prayer, a training in spirituality and virtue.
    Thanked by 1LongBeachChant
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Well, we used Laetare as an option four! "The irony, the irony!" (variation on Apocalypse Now's Kurtz's last words "The horror, the horror!" ;-)
  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,501
    I was visiting a church yesterday which was not my own. In the homily the deacon mentioned the Introit and how it linked to the first and Gospel readings... I thought it was so unfortunate they were completely omitted and not sung. I'm blessed to have a priest who insists on them.
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,186
    From a choir member's recent FB status update:
    I woke up with this viral song in my head. (Below) Imagine it an octave higher and that was what I was singing all morning. The funny thing is I couldn't think of how it ended after "the Holy Spirit". So, I came home from church and went to look in the Propers book to find it. Couldn't find it by the first words in the index, opened the book…right to the page it was on.


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCJrQS8Mlh0
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
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