You are merciful to all, O Lord, and despise nothing that you have made. 

You overlook people’s sins, to bring them to repentance, and you spare them, for you are the Lord our God. 

                                     Wisdom 11:24, 25, 27 

For the past month I’ve thought a great deal about today’s music selections. 

My goal has been to pick just the right songs. 

Songs that connect the entire seasons five Sundays along with Palm Sunday and the remainder of holy week. 

Songs that highlight the readings that recur each year: Jesus’ temptation in the desert and transfiguration. (Today’s and next week’s gospels.) 

Lord, have mercy! 

The verses at the top of this page are the entrance antiphon for Ash Wednesday; literally the first words the church offers as lent begins. 

While God’s mercy (and our need for it) is an important element of every liturgy it is a primary focus of lent. We will begin each liturgy by singing it in it’s original greek. (Kyrie eleison.) 

It will be our response to the prayer of the faithful, and will be sung at masses where there are cantors. 

It will be found in “God of Mercy” (#509) our offertory song for the first 3 weeks of Lent. I love the images in the refrain of this new composition by Fr. Ricky Manalo and Bob Hurd. God who “pitches a tent among us with reconciling love” harkens to the covenant between God and Abraham. The heart and mind of Christ, which forms us into people of mercy and grace speaks to the transformation which is at the heart of the Lenten call to repentance. 

Praying that this will be a blessed lent,

Bruce