Responsorial Psalm

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Ummmm, I am about to look silly, šŸ¤“

I just realised that the Responsorial Psalm after the 1st Reading at Mass, is always an actual Psalm from the Book of Psalms ā€¦

is that correct?

How could I have never realised that before?

So we have an OT reading, a Psalm, a NT reading, then a Gospel.

And non-Catholics say we arent a Bible religion !!

Is there a web site where the structure of the Catholic Bible, how the Books were chosen, and how the Mass was designed available?

Love Kellie
 
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kellie:
Ummmm, I am about to look silly, šŸ¤“

I just realised that the Responsorial Psalm after the 1st Reading at Mass, is always an actual Psalm from the Book of Psalms ā€¦

is that correct?

How could I have never realised that before?

So we have an OT reading, a Psalm, a NT reading, then a Gospel.

And non-Catholics say we arent a Bible religion !!

Is there a web site where the structure of the Catholic Bible, how the Books were chosen, and how the Mass was designed available?

Love Kellie
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Amazing isnā€™t it. šŸ˜ƒ

You may want to bookmark this link: Itā€™s the Catholic Encyclopedia. Answers a lot of questions and history.

newadvent.org/cathen/
 
The little pieces of scripture that one gets at a catholic mass (with no further teaching on the passage) are why we say that the catholic church is not a ā€œBible teaching churchā€.

I was raised catholic. Iā€™m not speaking from inexperience, but rarely were the readings actually explained, or did the priest actually speak on the readings.
 
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Spiderman:
The little pieces of scripture that one gets at a catholic mass (with no further teaching on the passage) are why we say that the catholic church is not a ā€œBible teaching churchā€.

I was raised catholic. Iā€™m not speaking from inexperience, but rarely were the readings actually explained, or did the priest actually speak on the readings.
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Explanation or further speaking on the readings is what the priest or deaconā€™s homily after the Gospel reading is supposed to be. Spiderman, it sounds like maybe you grew up in the immediate Post-Vatican II era? In some parishes I think a hippie-style love-is-all-that-matters mood prevailed, rather than serious teaching. My belief is that is why so many have left the churchā€¦As Fulton Sheen says, some people hate what they ā€œthinkā€ the Catholic Church isā€¦

Thatā€™s why I get miffed when people say we are being ā€œlegalisticā€ about the way Mass is celebrated among other things. If we really believe what we say we do, then this should be the most sacred time of our week. In more orthodox(following the rubrics of the Mass) dioceses, churches are growing rapidly, vocations are thriving, etc.

If ā€œanything goesā€, why should be go? We can do ā€œanythingā€ at home.

BTW, I am a convert of 5 yrs. I left a ā€œbible teachingā€ church for the Catholic Church. There are 100 bible churches in this town, & they are all teaching something different. With 30, 000+ denominations how can one know whose interpretation to go with? People who accuse Catholics of ā€œfollowing a man(the Pope)ā€ instead of Jesus are often doing the very thing they accuse us of. I am not trying to be argumentative, here. Just something to think about. If you are truly searching, & have been away from the Church for a while, go to a few different parishes & see what the homily is like. If youā€™ve got a Catholic friend or family member whose faith you know is strong, ask for a recommendation on a parish.

When I began to study Scripture (along with Church History & the writings of the Early Church Fathers) I knew where I belonged! I was so excited! When I shared some of the things I learned with my husband, who was a Cradle Catholic, I was shocked to discover he did not know many of these things. His parish was sooo 70ā€™s ā€œlovey, youā€™re OK, Iā€™m OKā€¦ā€ I was sad for him.
 
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Spiderman:
The little pieces of scripture that one gets at a catholic mass (with no further teaching on the passage) are why we say that the catholic church is not a ā€œBible teaching churchā€.

I was raised catholic. Iā€™m not speaking from inexperience, but rarely were the readings actually explained, or did the priest actually speak on the readings.
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Interesting, When I visit a bible church the minister takes a couple of lines of unrelated scripture and goes on for a very long time about what he thinks they mean. However, its always bits and pieces and never whole stories.

Only in a Catholic church do I get Old Testament,. Psalm and a New Testament reading which daily, weekly and yearly progresses thru almost the whole bible. I have never seen that happen in a bible church.
 
You may want to check out this website:

www.liturgyhours.org

This free website has the Daily offices of Morning and Evening prayer as well as the Office of Readings and daytime prayers. The Priests and Religious used to refer to this as their Breviary.

Throughout the 4 week cycle, all of the Psalms (with 1 or 2 exceptions I think) are prayed. Also, Old Testament and New Testament Canticles are used.

You donā€™t even have to download it to print. The office can be prayed while on the screen. Although you may want to light 2 candles and place them on each side of the monitor.

I call this ā€œJC on the PCā€

Peace,
Mike
 
Dear Kellie,

I am being a stickler here but there are a couple of occasions when the ā€œResponsorial Psalmā€ at Mass is not actually a Psalm but is taken from another book of the OTā€¦ I donā€™t remember when this happens and am not going to look it upā€“we should just pay attention and notice it when it happens and then report back here. šŸ™‚
 
Regarding the Responsorial psalm, at the parish I attend most of the yaer, I am blessed to be able to serve as a Cantor. One of the great strengths of the parish is our choir director, who is deeply in touch with his faith, who when faced with a poorly written psalm, will go ahead and adapt an old psalm-tone to that weekā€™s Psalm (as indicated by the lectionary).
Serving as a cantor, I am blessed to be able to share Godā€™s word through song, in an intimate exchange: often, I sing alone, intoning the refrain and then singing/praying the verses. It is always a humbling experiance to hear 3 to 4 hundred voices sing back Godā€™s word! Reflecting on the psalm, especially in the light of the Gospel and other readings is sometimes the most prayerful part of my week outside of Mass.
When I am asked to sing the psalm, those are the occasions when I feel most involved with the Mass, because I have already spent an hour or two preparing to hear and proclaim the Word of God. At those times, I can hardly wait for the Eucharist!
 
kellie,

Just a brief overview of the format of litugical readings for Sundays.

The OT reading, the Psalm and the Gospel are usually linked in a typological theme. That is, the OT reading and the Psalm are often OT foreshadowings or propheies related to Jesus and the Gospel. The Epistles, on the other hand are not usually related to the other readings. They start with an Epistle and over a period of weeks sequentially continue to the end of the Epistle and another begins.

The three year cycle of Sunday readings is in itself a typological study of the Bible in which the OT and the Gospels are linked. The NT hidden in the OT and the OT revealed in the NT.

There are of course some exceptions and variations to this structure, such as between Easter and Pentecost when the Acts of the Apostle are prominent in the second reading.

The three year cyle of Sunday Gospel readings cover:
Matthew, Year A
Mark, Year B
Luke, YearC
John is used in all the years at various places, but especially during Holy Week and certain Feast days.

The daily (weekday) lectionary is a little different because it is a to year cycle, I & II, I for odd number years and II for even number years ) and there is only one reading from the OT or Epistles or Acts or Revelation along with the Psalm and the Gospel. The Psalm and Gospel are always related.

If Bro. Dan is right about the occasional song not from Psalms, it is probably one of the other OT canticles found scattered throughout the OT.

We are currently in Year C, Luke for Sundays. Next year starting the First Sunday of Advent we go back to Matthew.

Hope this helps some.
 
In some parishes there is some other music that is (possibly) adapted from a Psalm, but is so far removed from the original Psalm as to be indistinguishable.

Has anyone else seen this?
 
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wet-rat:
In some parishes there is some other music that is (possibly) adapted from a Psalm, but is so far removed from the original Psalm as to be indistinguishable.

Has anyone else seen this?
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Ah yes. The musical paraphrase from the Hymnal. Some are better than others. Psalms are best chanted if the cantor can chant, since they do not have the rythm or rhyme of English poetry but rather rely on varied repetition of a theme or phrase characteristic of Hebrew poetry. I donā€™t mind the good ones from the hymnal but some are as you say ā€œfar removed from the original.ā€ But singing of some sort is better than mere reading aloud in my opinion.
 
Thank you Emmaus,
I only realised this year that there is a 3 year cycle, and we are in Year Luke.
I am enjoying going to Mass so much now that I have started learning my Faith more.
I see how it really is the most sensible church, and I am not being biased šŸ™‚
It all makes so much sense, the traditions, the formats, the teachers, even the rules and disciplines.
Love Kellie
 
Welcome home Kellie. The Church is an inexhaustible storehouse of riches. Most of us will never even scratch the surface in a lifetime. It is like trying to empty the ocean with a sand bucket. Enjoy the beach!
 
Br. Dan:
Dear Kellie,

there are a couple of occasions when the ā€œResponsorial Psalmā€ at Mass is not actually a Psalm but is taken from another book of the OTā€¦ I donā€™t remember when this happens and am not going to look it upā€“we should just pay attention and notice it when it happens and then report back here. šŸ™‚
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Yesterday was a case in point. The Responsorial ā€œPsalmā€ for the feast of the Visitation of Mary was from Isaiah.
 
RE: paraphrases from the hymnal
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.
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