Songs & Updates for Saturday, March 8, 2025 [updated]

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1st Sunday of Lent
Image Credit: U of T St.George Bible Fellowship

Thanks for another strong small-group Mass last week! And welcome back Mr. Joe! The balance, sync & harmonies were great, and we also got a head-start on prepping Mass Parts. Here's the audio.

If interested, here's the February Music Ministry report that was submitted to the Prayer & Worship Committee for tonight's Pastoral Council meeting. Thanks Barb P. for compiling this!

Welcome to the season of Lent! Masses for Ash Wednesday will be celebrated on 03/05 at 8:30 AM (Barb P. & Bev) and 7:00 PM (Jeff T. & Joanne). Please join us if you're able! The music has been posted to the Music Ministry website (here & here).

Don't forget that we meet at 3:30 PM on Saturday. I'm considering this an 'extension' of our regular rehearsal -- that way, we have extra time to work through Mass Parts & Lent music. Please be ready to start at 3:30 if at all possible! We'll begin with Mass Parts, before jumping into regular selections. 

Since there's quite a bit going on in April, here's a quick breakdown of special events. Masses we're leading/involved with (as it stands) are in red:
  • March 5: Ash Wednesday - 8:30 AM & 7:00 PM
  • April 8: Lenten Reconciliation Service @ 7:00 PM
  • April 12: Palm Sunday @ 5:00 PM
  • April 17: Holy Thursday @ 7:00 PM
  • April 18: Good Friday @ 2:00 PM
  • April 19: Holy Saturday - Vigil @ 8:00 PM
  • April 20: Easter Sunday - 8:30 AM & 10:30 AM
  • April 26: First Communion @ 5:00 PM
  • April 30: Parish Mission, Night 3 @ 7:00 PM
If you haven't already, I'd really encourage you to check out/bookmark our Music Ministry calendar! This lists events for the entire year. Clicking on an entry will bring up more details (if available). I'm trying to keep this as current as possible to help with our long-term planning. 

Please also let me know if you're not able to sing/play for these liturgies -- we'll likely have help from the Sunday groups, but I'd still like us to have a strong core ensemble of our own. Stay tuned -- I still owe you specifics on most of these!

Finally, Bev put out a signup for our next Quarterly Potluck. Please let her know which dates work in April, May or June, and we can go from there.

UPDATE: 03/07: There will be a  Commendation Song this weekend. Fr. Jozef & Barb realized that there needs to be an exception to the once/month rule in cases where the funeral is held at GS. That way, folks are made aware if they'd like to attend.

Be well, and have a great week!

(All Mass Parts, except the Lenten Gospel Acclamation, are from Mass of Remembrance, including Holy, Eucharistic Acclamation 'A' (We Proclaim Your Death), Doxology & Lamb of God)

Out: Frank, Karen

Entrance:
GC3 #493 - Change Our Hearts (Cooney)

**Let's plan to sing all three verses. If someone would like to cover the descant on the refrain, that would be great! Also keep in mind that the melody on the verses isn't always the same.**

Penitential Rite (Cris):
Mass of Remembrance (Haugen)

**We'll do this in Psalm format, with the refrain sung twice the first time. The 'Assembly' part ("Kyrie....") is melody, while the SATB parts ("Lord have mercy...") are a counter-melody. Ideally, we should have a couple of folks on the Assembly line (along with the cantor), while everyone else sings the counter-melody.**

(no Gloria)

Responsorial Ps (Lisa):
SS #072 - Ps 91 - Be With Me (Hurd)

**The refrain uses a different format than usual. The cantor will always sing the upper 'Cantor' line, while everyone else sings the lower 'All' line (even the very first time). The congregation would also sing on 'All'.**

Acclamation (Jake):
SS #006 - Praise and Honor ('1st ABC' verses) (Canedo)

**Let's plan to go over each verse the week before. The verses are Sunday-specific and all have different melodies. Check out the music plan or cantor schedule for which verses we're doing when. 

Also, the transitions between the refrain & verse can be a bit tricky; I'll try to cue these, but make sure you're comfortable with how these flow.

Finally, one or two of our spiral-bound copies of SS have the wrong lyrics printed. We should mark these and paste the correct music in to avoid confusion :-).**

RCIA Dismissal:
SS #211 - Thy Word is a Lamp (Ref x2)

Preparation:
GC3 #484 - Hosea (Norbet)

**Keep in mind that verses 1 & 2 are split across two lines before going to the refrain. Also, this song will go by pretty quickly, so we'll likely repeat verses for time.**

Holy, Holy, Holy:
Mass of Remembrance (Haugen)

Eucharistic Acclamation:
Mass of Remembrance ('We Proclaim Your Death') (Haugen)

**We haven't used this Acclamation before, so please take a look before Saturday!**

Doxology/Amen:
Mass of Remembrance (Haugen)

Lamb of God:
Mass of Remembrance (Haugen)

**Let's plan to use the Alternate Tropes -- "Lamb of God...", "Bread of Life...", "Prince of Peace...", etc.. We'll still repeat this 3-4 times, depending on how much time the ministers need.**

Communion:
GC3 #480 - Mercy, O God (O'Brien)

**Please take a look if unfamiliar! We just introduced this piece last year. I'd like to include at least the tenor & alto harmonies if possible. We'll spend a bit of extra time on this during rehearsal.**

Closing:
SS #101 - Beyond the Days (Manalo)

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