Music at Mass Memeorial Day Weekend

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So, it’s 11:30 on the day before Memorial Day, and I’ve seen no threads yet on patriotic music at Mass this weekend.

We sang The Battle Hymn of the Republic as our recessional last night.

And, as a simple side-note, the Lutheran church that occassionally employs my musical services did not have any patriotic hymns selected, but I did use God of Our Fathers, the US National Hymn, as a prelude this morning.

So, CAF, what say you?
 
Well, today is the feast of Corpus Christi, so we focused on the Eucharist --Gift of Finest Wheat, At that First Eucharist, plus the regular Polish hymns.

Now, Mass on Monday will probably have God of Our Fathers. But not today.
 
We had a recessional hymn that fit the feast of Corpus Christi but then they palyed America the Beautiful after the priest left the building. Everyone sang that.
 
Our Mass was beautiful. The Blessed Sacrament was exposed in a one-hundred year-old monstrance that was found buried in a pile of church rubbish only yesterday. Before Mass, we prayed the Rosary.

At the beginning of Mass, Father led acapella some Latin song–I don’t know Latin, so I have no idea what it was. But it was pretty.

The priest led a Corpus Cristi procession through the church while we sang O Sacrament Most Holy.

Then Father reposed the Blessed Sacrament and Mass continued as usual. During the Prayer, the names of the soldiers who had died were read–very solemn.

After Mass was ended, we sang all four verses of O Beautiful For Spacious Skies, and the people applauded.

I know many of you are opposed to clapping. To me, sitting at the piano, I didn’t get the impression they were clapping for me or the cantor (although she was a good cantor). They were applauding the Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus and also the sacrifice of the sons and daughters of their parish who died in the many wars over the last one-hundred years. For those of you who see sin in that, well…I’m not ashamed of loving my Jesus and my country, and I will gladly applaud both. Jesus knows my heart and the hearts of those people, and a thank offering in the form of applause is surely pleasing to Him.
 
We sang mostly Eucharistic hymns for Corpus Christi, however the closing hymn was America the Beautiful. One of the shrines for the Corpus Christi procession was the shrine of Immaculate Conception, the patroness of Americas, so there was an American flag near her…as well. At 12:15pm. the VFW and American Legion attended the mass…after mass, outside they shot a volley of rifles to honor the dead and Taps was played.
 
Went to silent mass today - so no music, but I remember at my old parish when we would sing America The Beautiful or something like that AFTER the recessional hymn (not in place of) - that would seem to me to be the proper way to honor both God and Country (in that order).
 
Silent Mass? They still have those? The whole concept flies in the face of Christian worship, where singing is integral. If I were the pastor in that parish, there would be music at all weekend Masses.

In my parish, all the hymns this morning were Eucharistically-centered, including a beautiful rendition of Franck’s Panis Angelicus during the reception of Holy Communion. Unfortunately, bad weather prevented an outdoor procession.
 
Cavaille-Coll said:
Silent Mass? They still have those? The whole concept flies in the face of Christian worship, where singing is integral. If I were the pastor in that parish, there would be music at all weekend Masses.
/QUOTE]

I am involved in the music ministry at my parish, but even I concede that having a mass without music is for some a better way to pray. I don’t see why that would be a problem.
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Today we sang eucharistic hymns for Corpus Christi, then we went straight into Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, so there was no recessional hymn or organ postlude. If it hadn’t been Corpus Christi, we might have had a patriotic hymn, though.
 
I went to Low Mass today so no music, couldn’t make the 10:30am High Mass but I bet it would have been beautiful!
 
Obviously, it is preferred that the priest sing the whole Mass, and that the congregation, or the choir in persona of the congregation, sing the responses and prayers reserved for them.

There’s also something to be said for just saying the Mass, if there’s good reason.

However, it is certainly possible and correct for Mass to be said silently and for the congregation to participate by praying along in silence. Otherwise, every persecuted Christian in time of danger would have been going to Hell, every priest saying a Mass alone would require a decibel measuring device on the altar, and every deaf-mute Christian would never be able to worship liturgically at all.
 
There is a disturbing tendency to sing “patriotic” songs at church at certain times of the year. Memorial day weekend being one of those times. I don’t sing these songs. I don’t do patriotism. For this reason I cannot ever become a 4th degree knight. Not that it bothers me, it’s just the way it is.

“National” songs, patriotic songs, etc. don’t belong in a liturgical setting unless you are into nationalism as your pet form of idolatry.

Matthew
 
On Sunday we did Eucharistic hymns, except the Marian one at the offertory. 👍

Today, daily Mass did close with American the Beautiful though. I’m not a huge fan of it, but as long as it is the recessional hymn, I don’t mind it too much.
 
I chose all ‘Eucharistic’/ Adoration songs. My priest told me that unless it was a Marian feast mass, any Marian song should be at the end of mass. I didn’t feel moved to place a patriotic song in the mass. I was surprised that after my pre mass announcment, Fr. welcomed everyone to the feast of Corpus Christi, and also made mention of Memorial day before he began the mass.

The only patriotic song I’ve ever planned/played is “God Bless America” if mass is on July 4th or near Sept 11th. Boy did the people RAISE THE ROOF. If you ever want congregational singing use that one.

I’m no liturgical scholar, or professional musician, but I felt that the body and blood of Christ took so MUCH precedence over patriotic or Marian songs.

Off topic, I caught part of the procession that night on EWTN and WOW. I didn’t catch where that church was, but It was like nothing I’d ever seen. Our priest walked around the congragation carrying the monstrance after he read the announcements, gave a nother short homily on the real presence AND after the final blessing. Mind, you I’d asked him for specifics a couple weeks before about how it was to be done. Fortunately, my second-in-command (thanks Dranzal) kept me on track as to when to start the Tantum Ergo. I honestly had never seen this done as a child. My first exposure to this was about 3 years ago when I was asked to learn (then teach :eek: ) that song. I also was surprised how many people had never heard “O Sacrament Most Holy”, although that was much easier to teach than the Latin.
 
drafdog said:
There is a disturbing tendency to sing “patriotic” songs at church at certain times of the year. Memorial day weekend being one of those times. I don’t sing these songs. I don’t do patriotism. For this reason I cannot ever become a 4th degree knight. Not that it bothers me, it’s just the way it is.

“National” songs, patriotic songs, etc. don’t belong in a liturgical setting unless you are into nationalism as your pet form of idolatry.

Matthew
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In a trend that seems most popular among the WWII generation, the practice of attending Mass on certain secular holidays - most notably Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, & Thanksgiving (maybe 4th of July also for some) seems to be part and parcel of their experience of life. I suspect this has a great deal to do with the war years and the tradition of praying for the nation and for victory.

I don’t have even the tiniest problem with praying “God Bless America”. It is a legitimate supplication to make. We could use some more blessings.
 
I’m not against patriotic music being used if it’s done appropriately. However, why does everybody use “America the Beautiful” for their patriotic song? “God of Our Fathers” emphasizes God’s power and blessings much better, in my opinion.
 
No one seems to do the Start Spangled Banner. Even though, if you read ALL of the verses, it is quite sound.

I always like to rail against organists who occasionally play whooped up settings of My Country Tis of Thee on Independence Day. “WHY ARE YOU PLAYING ‘GOD SAVE THE QUEEN?’” I playfully jest.
 
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