JANUARY 2024


“Music is the river upon which the Church’s worship flows.”


feel “weird” at first, especially if your paradigm was like mine where songs filled slots and we simply waited until it was “our turn.” When a rite feels bogged down, disjointed, or just “meh,” some of what might be missing is musical ritual flow.


Tere’s a saying, “Music is the river upon which the Church’s worship flows.” So we need to attend to the musicality of a ritual, its ebb and pulse, swiftness and calm, delight and contemplation created by the structured, intentional intermingling of words, music, liturgical action, and ritual space. Along this musical river, we then highlight those primary moments that communicate the rite’s meaning. We can do this with ritual integrity and creativity that is natural and engaging—even without learning new music—if we do two things.


First, read the actual rite from the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults—not a script or something you find online but the physical official ritual book itself. It’s not because I want you to scrupulously follow the text word for word. But you cannot play or sing a song with artistry until you learn the actual notes. In a similar way, you cannot sing the rites without knowing what the Church actually intends to be sung in that rite.


Note the places where an acclamation, processional song, or prayer is sung. Tese will likely be at the primary focal points outlined above or at transitions. Also read the rubrics (the directions, usually in red), which tell you whether you must use the given text or if another appropriate song can be sung.


Once you’ve mastered the structure, flow, and options, move to the next step, which is to intelligently and creatively discern how best to draw your specific assembly into the musical flow of the rite. Don’t feel that you have to sing every acclamation. Choose the climax moments; these will have the most impact. Year by year, keep adding until your rite feels like one unified action of the assembly.


If the acclamation you want to sing isn’t in your repertoire, check if the rubrics allow for other options. Or look for alternative psalm suggestions. For example, when we process into the church with the new catechumen in the Rite of Acceptance, the antiphon is, “Come, my children, and listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord” with verses from Psalm 34.8 You might not know a familiar setting of that antiphon, but you most likely have a good setting of Psalm 34. Use that! Or use another appropriate song that communicates the ritual’s meaning.


Be creative and courageous


I’m a new parishioner at an African American parish with a vibrant gospel choir made up of aging but powerful voices and even more powerful faith. We have a remarkable pianist and two percussionists, and the music we sing is taught and learned by ear.


During the pandemic we lost a lot of liturgical momentum. Our first few celebrations of the catechumenate rites after COVID were joyful but musically minimal, since we sang none of the acclamations. I knew we could do better. We just needed encouragement to try a different paradigm. For the next Rite of Acceptance, I worked with our music director to explore singing an acclamation for the signing of the senses. He was up for the adventure!


Te suggested acclamation after each signing is, “Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!”9


Te rubrics say


that another acclamation in praise of Christ may be used.


We could have used the Lenten Gospel acclamation we already knew with that text. But we had just introduced a new Gloria a few weeks earlier composed in the gospel style. It would be sung almost immediately after the signings, however the two settings sung back- to-back felt disparate. Te musical ritual flow wasn’t there.


So we came up with another plan. Te Glory to God has two phrases matching the acclamation’s intention, “We praise you, we bless you . . .” We added a later phrase, “Lord Jesus Christ,” and sang those two measures one after the other. Te result was a fitting acclamation that accomplished the rite’s intention, engaged the assembly with a melody they already knew


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