Stuff I should've blogged before: Feast of St. Peter and Paul

We had a really good lector today for the first reading! Yes, someone who actually understood that the story of Peter and the angel is a story! Both kids and adults were uncommonly quiet and attentive, and no wonder. (The other reader was also good, but that first reading was the best I've heard in years.)

I was a little disappointed with the psalm. We sang the psalm for the day, but only a standard version with the standard verses and refrain. My book said the refrain was going to be something about the angel of the Lord rescues the just man, which would've really sounded great after that reading! But alas, no. Also, it took unusually long for the cantor to get up to the lectern, which allowed the interest stirred up in the congregation to dissipate. *sigh*

One of the visiting priests (we've got a ton this summer, since the rectory's right up the hill from UD) celebrated the 9:30. He's originally from Ireland but is stationed somewhere here on the East Coast. Anyway, his homily was really moving. He talked about his sister's miscarriages and how the Holy Father sent her a rosary through a guy he knew while she was doing bedrest for the first baby she'd managed to carry close to term. But the boy had to be delivered early and he died after a few days. But then she had three more kids with no trouble at all. I can't remember how all this tied into St. Peter and Paul, though it did -- something about how we don't know what God has planned for us, so we just have to keep going and doing what God tells us to do. Also, he told us the Holy Father's been asking people to pray for him now and after his death, because he's got a feeling he's going to die soon.

(It really was a good homily. I just have a really bad memory when I'm tired.)

The big thing for me was that Glenn from our choir is moving away, and this was the last time he ever cantored. He sang "Panis Angelicus" at Communion and a very nice Gregory Norbet setting of Ruth's comment to Naomi about "wherever you go I will go" before Mass. I could've done without the voiceover in the middle, especially since it mentioned 'the fabric of our lives'. (Is there anyone in the US who doesn't instantly think, "The look, the feel of cotton" when someone uses that phrase? And yes, I have the same problem with "We Come to Your Feast"; that one has an even funnier placement of the phrase.) But apparently Norbet wrote the voiceover for his farewell to his abbey when he went off to do missions work, so it was appropriate to Glenn's situation. He is a great guy as well as a good singer, and we will miss him. So if you see a guy with a great voice tooling around the US with his wife in his RV, say hi!

(Sans voiceover, I think the Norbet piece would be very nice for my brother Sean's wedding.)

Wedding Music

Speaking of wedding music, if anybody has suggestions for good, non-cheesy stuff I can sing with a straight face, let me know. I'm cantoring Sean's wedding, as you might guess. I'm pretty sure my mom wants "Ave Maria" before Mass, and I somehow have a feeling I'd better compose something myself while I'm at it. (I'm a songwriter. I have to justify my existence here. Especially since I've previously figured something out for the wedding of a mere friend.) But the music during Mass is obviously more important.

The suggestions in the Worship hymnal didn't thrill me much, really. I'm actually thinking that "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" might be nice, especially since my dad's a Methodist and that's a Charles Wesley song. Otherwise...eh. Surely somebody's written a hymn from the Song of Songs or about all the different kinds of covenants or something? I mean, I like Ruth and Naomi too, but you can only do one of those, and that's really a quote about friendship and filial love.

Oh, well. I still haven't looked up the readings for the Nuptial Mass. Maybe they'll give me an idea.