Just a caution in case anybody’s been trying to comment and hasn’t found their post …
For some reason, this site has been attracting an annoying quantity of spam comments for the past week. The usual trickle has been five to eight spams a day. But now the 24-hour count is into the several dozens.
Usually, I read through the email addresses in case an authentic comment has been waylaid by WordPress. But I have other priorities these days, and I’ve decided to just delete all spam, sight-unseen.
If, by chance, you had a comment that wasn’t posted, please email me and I’ll make sure your contribution is up within a day or two. I’m always willing to give a thoughtful commenter a larger platform. If you want to communicate with me and set something up, or ask for my input on something, I’m generally willing to entertain all suggestions. Especially if we can get serious about it in two weeks.
Also, I’m open to people commenting on funeral readings. You can email me with your intent and I can give you an assignment. I have forthcoming essays from FrMichael, Neil, and Fran in the pipeline. I’m sure our readers would appreciate hearing from regulars like Jim or Liam if they were willing to write up a pastoral/liturgical reflection. The general parameters would be fairly wide: anything that might help people decide on a reading and personal stories or connections would be welcome.
31 October 2011 at 11:52 am
I’ve been very delinquent on the funeral reading front. I started trying to pick one, aiming at that psalmody, and then got very curious about certain omissions from the approved lists, which led me on an interesting tangent in late July about the psalter lections for the preconciliar office for the dead, and compared to the propers in the postconciliar Gregorian Missal and the Byzantine office for the dead.
FWIW, here are the fruits of my labors for background reference when considering the psalmody choices in the current rite:
Procession from the home to the church: Psalm 130 [Psalm 122 in the OCF]
Gradual from Psalm 120 can be added (see below), as can other psalms as needed
Vespers (wake) [in the OCF, Psalm 27 [103 if being received at the church] is appointed, but you can use another psalm]
P: Ant. I shall please the Lord * in the lands of the living.
Psalm 116
Psalm 120
Psalm 121
Psalm 130 (in the Roman Ritual, this Psalm was prayed when the body of the deceased was removed from the home, accompanied by sprinkling rite, before the procession to the church; during the procession, it provides: Antiphon: “The bones you have crushed shall rejoice. The chanters begin psalm [51], which is carried on alternately by the clergy. This psalm is given elsewhere; but the ending “Glory be to the Father,” etc., is changed to “Lord, grant him (her) eternal rest,” etc. )
Psalm 138
Antiphon for the Magnificat;
P: Only one whom the Father entrusts to me will come to me; *
and when anyone comes to me, I will certainly not reject him.
Lesson From the Book of Job 7.16-21; 14.1-6; 17.1-3, 11-15; 19.20-27
Lesson From St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians 15.12 ff
The Holy Gospel According to St. John 11.11 ff
* * *
Matins (omitted due to complexity)
Lauds
Psalms 51, 65, 63; Canticle of Ezekiel in Isaiah 38; Psalm 150; Canticle of Zachary
* * *
Masses for the Dead
In the Tridentine rite, there was a Tract, no Gradual; and the Sequence followed immediately, followed by the Gospel from John 11:21-27.
The Gradual for the OF is drawn from 2 vv of 2 Esdras and Psalm 112; alternatively, graduals taking 2 verses from Psalms 90, Psalm 122, Psalm 23, or Psalm 27. The Gospel psalm versicle is taken from 2 Esdras, Psalm 130, Psalm 114 or Psalm 122 (the Tract for Lenten is not from Scripture, followed by Psalm 130).
After burial, the Canticle of Zachary is chanted, followed by Requiem versicles, Kyrie and the Our Father.
* * *
For baptized children dying before attaining the age of reason, Psalm 113, 119 and 24 and 148 are prayed:
P: Ant. Blessed be the name of the Lord, * both now and forevermore.
Psalm 113
2. While the body is being taken to the church the first two sections of psalm 119 are said.
Procession into the Church
As the procession enters the church the following antiphon and psalm are sung:
All: Ant. This child shall receive a blessing from the Lord, * a reward from God, his (her) Savior; such is the race that seeks the Lord.
Psalm 24
Procession to the Cemetery
The following antiphon and psalm are sung while the body is being carried out to the cemetery; or if this is deferred they are sung in church:
All: Ant. Let young men and maidens, old men and boys, * praise the name of the Lord.
Psalm 148
The rubric in the 1952 edition of the Roman Ritual directs that the celebrant and his ministers recite the Canticle of the Three Youths from the Book of Daniel as they return to the church. But according to “Ephemerides Liturgicae” 77.3 (1963) 188-89, it may now be omitted.
* * *
Masses for the Dead in the current Gregorian Missal
The Gradual for the OF is drawn from 2 vv of 2 Esdras and Psalm 112; alternatively, graduals taking 2 vv from Psalms 90, Psalm 122, Psalm 23, or Psalm 27. The Gospel psalm versicle is taken from 2 Esdras, Psalm 130, Psalm 114 or Psalm 122 (the Tract for Lenten is not from Scripture, followed by Psalm 130).
After burial, the Canticle of Zachary is chanted, followed by Requiem versicles, Kyrie and the Our Father.
* * *
In the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, Psalm 90 is prayed when the body enters the church. Psalm 51 is also part of the service, as are the Beatitudes with other prayers. The Epistle is from Thessalonians, and the Gospel is John 5:24-30.