Come, Holy Spirit
Today we celebrate Pentecost Sunday; when God fulfilled Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit.
We hear the Pentecost story proclaimed in today’s first reading taken from the Acts of the Apostles. (You can find this on page 170.) What astounded all on this day the is described in the second paragraph of the story. Though they are speaking a dialect of Aramaic, people of multiple nations and languages hear and understand the Apostles’ word. This is like someone who speaks German or Cantonese understanding someone speaking a local dialect of Italian!
It is interesting to view this story juxtaposed with the first reading proscribed for the Pentecost Vigil Liturgy: The Tower of Babel. (You can find this on page 168.) In this story, people who originally spoke the same language now hear the words of others as babble. A careful reading of the reveals the lesson: the people are punished for the sin of pride.
Here is an interesting math equation for those of you getting ready for the SAT’s:
Holy Spirit = common language
---------------------------------
pride = babble.
As director of music; my concerns lie in the top half of the equation. I am constantly dreaming, choosing, critiquing and refining my music selections with the goal of developing a common language here at St. Mary’s. I recognize this common language (or repertoire) is but a subset of the church’s language, which is a subset of the language of praise spoken and sung by all of God’s creation.
Today we will replace the “Hear Our Prayer” that we have been singing as our response to the prayer of the faithful with Veni Sancte Spiritus (Come Holy Spirit.)
What makes this setting of the words unique is that it comes from an ecumenical monastery in Taize’, France. Since the people who live in and visit from monastery come from many places and tongues, the majority of the music sung at Taize’ utilizes Latin: The mother tongue of the church.
All you need to do is to repeat what you hear. For those who are visual learners the refrain is pronounced: “Vay’-knee sonk-tay spee’-ree-toose.
PUT MUSIC HERE
As with all the music, I invite you to open the book, follow the words and let the Holy Spirit do what it will.
Blessed to be serving at St. Mary’s,
Bruce
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