Church Music

We are up to Psalm 145 for the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A as set by Paul Mason in Psalms for All Time Vol 3.

Mason’s notes for this are in Volume One, because he did the setting for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A and he has kept the much same music with adaptations for the changes in the the text. You can see how using nothing but Mason psalms would build up a knowledge of his tunes.

My BIAB backing is in a gospel style and if Paul doesn’t want me doing that, he shouldn’t write such good gospel songs as psalms.

Response

The Lord is near to all who call upon him.

O, the Lord is near.

1 I will bless you day after day,

And praise your name for ever.

The Lord is great and highly to be praised;

His greatness cannot be measured.

2 The Lord is kind and full of compassion,

Slow to anger, abounding in mercy.

How good is the Lord to all,

Compassionate to all his creatures.

3 The Lord just in all his ways,

And holy in all his deeds.

The Lord is close to all who call him,

Who call on him in truth.

Paul Mason set Psalm 128 for the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B.

The sheet music can be found in Psalms for All Time Vol 3 at Liturgical Song. There is a short extra verse compared to yesterday’s psalm, but the melody for the other verses is unchanged.

Response

May the Lord bless, may the Lord bless us,

All the days of our lives.

Alternative response

May the Lord bless us, bless and protect us,

All the days of our lives.

1 Blessed are all who fear the Lord, and walk in his ways!

By the labour of your hands you shall eat.

You will be blessed and prosper.

2 Your wife like a fruitful vine in the heart of your house;

Your children like shoots of the olive around your table.

3 Indeed thus shall be blessed the husband that fears the Lord.

May the Lord bless you from Zion.

May you see Jerusalem prosper all the days of your life.

4 May you see your children’s children.

On Israel, peace!

This is Psalm 128 for the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A by Paul Mason from Psalms for All Time Vol 3.

This is a glorious setting for a dubious psalm addressed to smug successful men.

Response

Blessed are those who fear the Lord.

O blessed are those who fear the Lord.

1 Blessed are all who fear the Lord, and walk in his ways!

By the labour of your hands you shall eat.

You will be blessed and prosper.

2 Your wife like a fruitful vine in the heart of your house;

Your children like shoots of the olive around your table.

3 Indeed thus shall be blessed the husband that fears the Lord.

May the Lord bless you from Zion.

May you see Jerusalem prosper all the days of your life.

We are up to Psalm 121 from the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C in our survey of Paul Mason’s Psalms for All Time Vol 3.

It is also used in various blessings especially for refugees, the addicted, the sick and their carers

The sheet music is at Liturgical Song.

Mason’s clip below has only verses one and four, but my backing has all the verses to sing along with and learn.

Response

Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth;

The Lord, who made heaven and earth.

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall come my help?

My help shall come from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

2 He will keep your foot from stumbling. Your guard will never slumber.

No, he sleeps not nor slumbers, Israel’s guard.

3 The Lord your guard, the Lord your shade at your right hand.

By day the sun shall not smite you, nor the moon in the night.

4 The Lord will guard you from evil; he will guard your soul.

The Lord will guard your going and coming, both now and forever.

I am up to Psalm 119 for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A. It is from Paul Mason’s Psalms for All Time Vol 3. The sheet music can purchased at Liturgical Song.

Sometimes this rendering of the psalms makes you yearn for paraphrases. Was “than large quantities of silver and gold” really the best they could do, it’s not very poetic.

Response

Lord, I love your commands.

Lord, I love your commands.

1 You, O Lord, are my portion;

I have promisd to obey your words.

The law from your mouth means more to me

Than large quantities of silver and gold.

2 Let your merciful love console me

By your promise to your servant.

Show me compassion, that I may live,

For your law is my delight.

3 That is why I love your commands more than finest gold,

Why I rule my life by your precepts, and hate false ways.

4 Your decrees are wonderful indeed;

Therefore my soul obeys them.

The unfolding of your word gives light,

Gives light and understanding to the simple.

This is Psalm 119 for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time for Year A as set by Paul Mason from Psalms for All Time Vol 3.

I suppose it is a sung Old Testament Beatitude.

Response

Blessed, blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord.

1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,

Who walk in the law of the Lord.

Blessed are those who keep his decrees!

With all their hearts they seek him.

2 You have laid down your precepts to be carefully kept.

May my ways be firm in keeping your statutes.

3 Deal bountifully with your servant,

That I may live and keep your word.

Open my eyes that I may see the wonders of your law.

4 Lord, teach me the way of your statutes,

And I will keep them to the end.

Grant me insight that I may keep your law,

And observe it whole-heartedly.

I always forget just how much is in each volume of Paul Mason’s Psalms for All Time until I actually sit down and do each psalm. It’s not just the psalms of course it’s the keyboard arrangements – that my BIAB backings don’t touch- his commentary and all his fine music that suggest applications beyond just when that psalm is in the liturgy. The YouTube clip below lets you know just how good the keyboard arrangements are.

This is Psalm 117 from Volume 3 is for the Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C and the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C, as well for St Patrick (and many other saints) and the Common of Pastors. It is obviously a song that could be used as a Recessional as well.

My backing sounds nothing like his version:

Response

Go out to all the world, and tell the Good News.

Tell the Good News.

Tell the Good News.

1 O praise the Lord, all you nations;

Acclaim him all you peoples.

2 For his mercy has prevailed over us;

And the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

This is Psalm 113 for the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary time Year C by Paul Mason from his Psalms for All Time Vol 3.

We use ‘The Cry of the Poor” a lot for Gifts, so this could slot in there as well. Mason notes its association with Passover.

Response

Praise the lord who lifts up the poor,

Who lifts up the poor.

1 Praise, O servants of the Lord,

Praise the name of the Lord!

May the name of the Lord be blest

Both now and forever.

2 High above all nations is the Lord,

Above the heavens his glory.

Who is like the Lord, our God,

Who dwells on high,

Who lowers himself to look down upon heaven and earth.

3 From the dust he lifts up the lowly,

From the ash heap he raises the poor,

To set them in company of princes,

Yes, with the princes of his people.

This is Psalm 93 for Christ the King (properly known as Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King) Year B. It is by Paul Mason and found in his Psalms for All Time Vol 3.

If you don’t have the cantor resources to use this as a psalm it could solve the perennial problem of finding a song for this liturgy each year.

For choirs there are SATB parts for the response. I don’t like long held “D”s so it’s down from G to F at least for me.

It’s meant to be majestic but I suspect the timpanis in BIAB are over the top somewhat. My bad.

Response

The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.

Robed in majesty; O the Lord is king.

1 The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed.

The Lord robed himself with might;

He has girded himself with power.

2 The world you made firm, not to be moved;

Your throne has stood firm from of old.

From all eternity, O Lord, you are.

3 Truly your decrees are to be trusted.

Holiness is fitting to your house,

O Lord, until the end of time.

This is better:

I keep forgetting just how much Paul Mason packs into each volume of his Psalms for All Time.

I’m still in Volume 3 with Psalm 91 for the Feast of the Holy Angels. He has SATB for the response again, if you are using a choir.

This is an alernative to the YooHoo song (aka “On Eagles Wings”) if you need a break from that one. It is more subtle and has the original text so why not.

My backing is just the melody on BIAB as usual.

Response

He has put his angels in charge of you,

To guard you in all of your ways.

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High,

And abides in the shade of the Almighty,

Says the Lord, “My refuge, my stronghold,

My God in whom I trust!”

2 He will free you from the snare of the fowler,

From the destructive plague;

He will conceal you with his pinions,

And under his wings you will find refuge.

3 You will not fear the terror of the night,

Nor the arrow that flies by day,

Nor the plague that prowls in the darkness,

Nor the scourge that lays waste at noon.

4 Upon you no evil shall fall,

No plague approach your tent.

For you he has commended his angels to keep you,

Keep you in all your ways.