The 23th Sunday in

Ordinary Time

06 September 2009

Saint Andrew & Saint William

Catholic Church in Verona, Wisconsin

"He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak" (Mark 7:37c). The Church
presents readings today for our prayer and reflection concerning certain
miraculous healings. Particularly in the excerpt from the Old Testament Book of
the prophet Isaiah—as well as the passage from the Gospel of Saint Mark—
miraculous healings of physical ailments focus our attention on our senses.
When a deaf person is made to hear, or a mute person made to speak, or a lame
person made to leap (let alone walk), or a blind person is made to see, we should be
moved to contemplate the intended purpose of these senses and abilities.
We are given an obvious connection in the passage from the Gospel of Saint
Mark, wherein our Lord heals a deaf man with a speech impediment. Jesus
restores the man’s senses with the Aramaic word "Ephphatha!" meaning "Be
opened!" At once the people were "exceedingly astonished." The ritual connection
that we have to this miraculous event is in the Rite of Baptism, which contains an
actual Rite of Ephphatha, which we might call the "Rite of 'Be opened!'"—even
though we retain the Aramaic terminology. If you have had the blessing and
privelege to witness a baptism recently (or if you may be able to in the future), you
would witness the priest touching with his thumb the ears and mouth of the
person being baptized, saying:
The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak. May He soon touch your
ears to receive His Word, and your mouth to proclaim His faith, to the praise and glory
of God the Father. Amen.
Perhaps this would help us to understand what is the ultimate purpose of our
bodies: namely, the glorification of God. With our eyes we should see Christ in
one another; with our ears we should hear the Lord speaking to us and answering
prayers; with our tongues and mouths we should testify to the Truth with Love
and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ; with our feet we should bring the
Gospel to those whom we encounter throughout our lives.

Introductory Rites
Hymn at the Procession – 698
We Gather Together Tune: KREMSER

Kyrie eleison Chant Mode III

Gloria in excelsis Mass on G
Calvin M. Bower

Choir/Cantor alone:
Lord Jesus Christ,
only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the
sins of the world:

Choir/Cantor alone:
You are seated at the
right hand of the Father:

Opening Collect
The Priest prays the collect. All respond, Amen.
 Liturgy of the Word
Reading I Isaiah 35: 4-7a

The ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

And the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 146: 7, 8-9, 9-10

Richard Proulx

Reading II James 2:1-5

Did not God choose the poor of this world

to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom.

Gospel Acclamation A. Gregory Murray, O.S.B.

The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth

that we may be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

Gospel Reading Mark 7:31-37

He makes the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

Homily Rev. William F. Vernon

Pastor
 Liturgy of the Eucharist
Hymn at the Offertory – 622
Lord of All Hopefulness Tune: SLANE

Sanctus et Benedictus Mass for the City

Richard Proulx

Memorial Acclamation Mass for the City

Richard Proulx

Great Amen Mass for the City

Richard Proulx
 Communion Rite
The Our Father Traditional Chant

Priest: Deliver us, Lord…our Savior, Jesus Christ

Lamb of God Richard Proulx

Antiphon at the Communion
Psalm 42: My Soul is Thirsting for the Lord Richard Proulx

Hymn of Thanksgiving – 617

A Mighty Fortress Tune: EIN FESTE BURG

Prayer after Communion

Concluding Rites
Final Blessing and Dismissal

Musical Remarks
Congregational hymnody is foreign to the Eucharistic liturgies of the
Roman Catholic Church, as it was cultivated largely by Protestant Christian
communities. The Roman Catholic Church does indeed have a similar tradition
of hymnody, which still exists in the Liturgy of the Hours (also known as the
Divine Office, the official prayer of the Church). If you were to see the hymns
given in a particular Office of the Liturgy of Hours, the text—which is the actual
hymn—would be given without music. The music would be listed after the hymn
text, indicated by the tune name. In the relatively recent practice of singing
hymns at Mass, the hymn title is listed on the left side of a panel in this leaflet,
while the tune name is given on the right side. For the most part, many of the
hymn texts we sing have common rhythmic meters, which means that we could
exchange texts and tunes so long as the meters are identical. One example would
be the possibility of singing the hymn Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee to the tune In
Babilone, to which we usually sing the hymn There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy.
(You should try this sometime!) We have done this before with different hymns,
since it is a good way to introduce a new text, especially if the tune is well-known.
The exchanging of hymns and tunes is not possible, however, for many of the
hymns that come from the German Lutheran tradition. An example of this is
today’s Hymn of Thanksgiving, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. This text was
composed by Martin Luther, the 16th century German Augustinian monk
credited as one of the protestant reformers. He also composed the tune to which
the hymn is sung: Ein feste burg is unser Gott, which is simply the German
translation of "A Mighty Fortress is our God." The meter of text is unique, and
no other tune can replace the original that Luther wrote. So, unlike many of the
English tunes we sing—which have little or no explicit connection to a hymn—
you should be able to tell which hymn was sung to a Lutheran tune simply by
looking at the tune name. The tune name is most likely just the first line of the
hymn text. -B. G.

Permissions: Glory to God music by Calvin M. Bower. All rights reserved, reprinted with permission of the composer. Psalm 146: Praise the Lord
music by Richard Proulx © GIA Publications, Inc. All rights reserved, reprinted with permission, Onelicense.net #A-715895. Gospel Acclamation
music by A. Gregory Murray, O.S.B. © GIA Publications, Inc. All rights reserved, reprinted with permission, Onelicense.net #A-715895. Sanctus et
benedictus, Memorial Acclamation, and Great Amen from Mass for the City. Music by Richard Proulx © GIA Publications, Inc. All rights reserved,
reprinted with permission, Onelicense.net #A-715895. Lamb of God music by Richard Proulx © GIA Publications, Inc. All rights reserved, reprinted
with permission, Onelicense.net #A-715895. Psalm 42: My soul is thirsting music by Joseph Gelineau © GIA Publications, Inc. All rights reserved,
reprinted with permission, Onelicense.net #A-715895. All other selections in the public domain.