Views from the Choir Loft

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

Readings & Propers from the SAINT ISAAC JOGUES PEW MISSAL.

Entrance Chant • (Years ABC)
Salus pópuli ego sum, dicit Dóminus: de quacúmque tribulatióne clamáverint ad me, exáudiam eos: et ero illórum Dóminus in perpétuum. Vs. Atténdite, pópule meus, legem meam: inclináte aurem vestram in verba oris mei. (Ps 36: 39-40, 28; Ps 77: 1)
(Score in English) • (Organ Accompaniment) • (Rehearsal Video) • (Carmen Gregorianum)

Responsorial Psalm
Dóminus suscéptor est ánimae meae.
(Responsorial Psalm in English) • (Rehearsal Video) • (Official Latin)
(Responsorial Psalm in Spanish) • (Rehearsal Video) • (USCCB Spanish)

Gospel Acclamation
Deus vocávit nos per Evangélium, in acquisitiónem glóriæ Dómini nostri Jesu Christi.
(Gospel Acclamation in English) • (Gospel Acclamation in Spanish) • (Official Latin)

Offertory Antiphon • (Years ABC)
Si ambulávero in médio tribulatiónis, vivificábis me, Dómine: et super iram inimicórum meórum exténdes manum tuam, et salvum me fáciet déxtera tua. (Ps 137: 7)
(Score in English) • (Organ Accompaniment) • (Rehearsal Video) • (Carmen Gregorianum)
(Offertory Antiphon in Spanish)

Communion Antiphon • (Years ABC)
Tu mandásti mandáta tua custodíri nimis: útinam dirigántur viæ meæ, ad custodiéndas justificatiónes tuas. (Ps 118: 4-5) — Note: We will sing this SEASONAL COMMUNION at our Masses, which includes this text in its verses.
(Score in English) • (Organ Accompaniment) • (Rehearsal Video) • (Carmen Gregorianum)
(Communion Antiphon in Spanish)

About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Michigan. —(Read full biography).

“Entrance Chant” • 3rd Sunday of Easter

You can download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the Third Sunday of Easter (4 May 2025). Corresponding to the vocalist score is this free organ accompaniment. The authentic version—on the words ómnis térra—sounds exactly like the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. However, it only sounds that way if you follow Dom Mocquereau’s rhythm, which adds syncopation (in spite of the fact that Mocquereau claimed to abhor syncopation). The Germans do not syncopate the rhythm. If you’re someone who enjoys rehearsal videos, this morning I attempted to sing it while simultaneously accompanying my voice on the pipe organ.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Reminder” — Month of April (2025)

On a daily basis, I speak to people who—though they’ve followed our blog for years—don’t realize we publish a free newsletter. We have no endowment, no major donors, no savings, and refuse to run annoying ads. As a result, our mailing list is crucial to our survival. Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“Music List” • Easter Sunday

Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the Easter Sunday (20 April 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. Several of the selections are quite beautiful.

—Jeff Ostrowski

When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962

There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop

—Veronica Brandt

The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum

Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.

—Daniel Tucker

Antiphons Don’t Match?

A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music).

—Corpus Christi Watershed