"Gather Us In" versus "Ego clamavi" (subtitled: How to use the Introit to select an entrance hymn)

In a recent address, Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth, Executive Director of the ICEL Secretariat stated,

“[The] proper texts are usually replaced by hymns or songs that have little relationship to the texts proposed by the Missal or the Graduale Romanum and as such a whole element of the liturgy of the day is lost or consigned to oblivion. For the most part, they exist only as spoken texts. We are much the poorer for this, as these texts (which are often either Scriptural or a gloss on the Biblical text) represent the Church’s own reading and meditation on the Scriptures. As chants, they are a sort of musical lectio divina pointing us towards the riches expressed in that day’s liturgy. For this reason, I believe that it is seriously deficient to consider that planning music for the liturgy ever begins with a blank sheet: there are texts given for every Mass in the Missal and these texts are intended for singing.”

A few weeks ago I drew your attention to the recent Sacred Music Project of the CMAA and indicated how a “ladder approach” to selecting music for the Mass might function.  This morning at Mass I witnessed the antithesis of this approach and why something like the Sacred Music Project is so necessary.

The entrance hymn was the ever popular Marty Haugen song, “Gather Us In.”  I could fill pages with objections to this song, not the least of which is the fact that the author is not Catholic and openly objects to many of the teachings of our Church.  (Though certainly he is not an idealist, as his objections don’t seem to preclude him from seeking a profit from the Church he publicly criticizes.)  However, I will limit my objections to just one.  The selection of this hymn has absolutely no connection to the text that the Church provides in the Introit proper.  The Introit given by the Church is the Ego clamavi.  In Latin, the text is

Ego clamavi, quoniam exaudisti me, Deus:

inclina aurem tuam, et exaudi verba mea:

custodi me, Domine, ut pupilam oculi:

sub umbra alarum tuarum protege me.

Exaudi Domine iustitiam meam:

intende deprecationem meam.

In the vernacular:

I have called out because you answer me, O God;

incline your ear and hear my words;

keep me, O Lord, like the apple of your eye;

protect me under the shadow of your wings.

Hear my just cause, O Lord;

attend to me supplication.

Here is a recording of the entire Introit, but its production is meant for instruction, not as an exemplar performance.

This recording is much better but only provides the first line.

The text comes from Psalm 16 and is the voice of the Psalmist crying out in prayer to the God in the universe.  The readings for today had everything to do with perseverance in prayer.  Recall that the first reading was from Exodus and told of the battle between the Israelites and Amalek.  So long as Moses kept his hands raised in the air, Israel had the better of the fight.  In the Gospel (Luke 18), Jesus tells his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to “pray always without becoming weary.”

In anticipation of these readings, the very first text of the Mass, even before the sign of the Cross, tells of the need for supplication and trust in the Lord that he will hear the prayers of his faithful.  Moreover, there is a subtle lesson here: not only does the text reinforce the necessity of prayer, but by the very fact that it comes from the book of Psalms, it reminds us that the Psalms are the prayer book of Scripture; they disclose the deepest longings and struggles of the human heart in its search for God, and they provide the words for satisfying these longings.

Of course, the Gregorian setting would be the ideal for this Sunday.  The perfect tone for the Mass would be set by having the priest process in solemnly with the sounds of the ancient melody reverberating through the architecture of the sanctuary.  However, in the spirit of providing a climbable ladder reaching up to the ideal, vernacular settings from the Anglican Use Gradual, Fr. Columba Kelly, Richard Rice, Fr. Samuel Weber, and a host of others could be employed.  Each of these is in continuity with the official text of the Mass for the entrance.  For a more detailed look at these sources, see my previous post on “Climbing the Musical Ladder.”

If a hymn must be chosen, (though I would recommend that choirs quickly move away from hymnody for the entrance*), then we should look for one that comes close to the text of the Introit.

A quick search of free databases online yielded the following hymn, surely more appropriate than “Gather Us In.”

I would be remiss if I didn’t emphasize that this hymn, while potentially appropriate if set to an organ accompaniment, is the bottom rung on a ladder that leads to the Gregorian Proper.  The texts we have been given for Mass are treasures of the liturgy, and as such they deserve to be sung.  The Mass deserves to be sung ... and that includes the propers.  It is time for music liturgist to put down their tabula rasa and to let the texts of the Mass serve as a basis for the music of the Mass.  The days of personal creativity are coming to a close, and when they do, room will be opened for authentic creativity.

*  Others may disagree, but if I had to choose one ingredient in the four-hymn sandwich to get rid of immediately, it would be the entrance hymn.  The fact is, this piece of music sets the tone for the entire Mass.  A poor choice of song can produce a very awkward rift between the processional and the penitential rite.  Moreover, there are Sundays throughout the years that are named for their Introits (Gaudete and Latarae Sunday are the two most obvious ones), names that are mysteries when their defining texts are unused.