Views from the Choir Loft

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

Readings & Propers from the SAINT ISAAC JOGUES PEW MISSAL.

Entrance Chant • (Year ABC)
Si iniquitátes observáveris, Dómine: Dómine, quis sustinébit? quia apud te propitiátio est, Deus Israël. Vs. De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. (Ps 129:3-4, 1-2)
(Score in English) • (Organ Accompaniment) • (Rehearsal Video) • (Carmen Gregorianum)

Responsorial Psalm
Reple nos misericórdia tua, Dómine, et exsultábimus.
(Responsorial Psalm in English) • (Rehearsal Video) • (Official Latin)
(Responsorial Psalm in Spanish) • (Rehearsal Video) • (USCCB Spanish)

Gospel Acclamation
Beáti páuperes spíritu, quóniam ipsórum est regnum cælórum.
(Gospel Acclamation in English) • (Gospel Acclamation in Spanish) • (Official Latin)

Offertory Antiphon • (Years ABC)
Recordáre mei, Dómine, omni potentátui dóminans: et da sermónem rectum in os meum, ut pláceant verba mea in conspéctu príncipis. (Esther 14:12-13)
(Score in English) • (Organ Accompaniment) • (Rehearsal Video) • (Carmen Gregorianum)
(Offertory Antiphon in Spanish)

Communion Antiphon • (Years ABC)
Aufer a me oppróbrium et contémptum, quia mandáta tua exquisívi, Dómine: nam et testimónia tua meditátio mea est. (Ps 118:22, 24)
(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).

Communion (3rd Sunday of Easter)

You can download the COMMUNION ANTIPHON (PDF score) for the 3rd Sunday of Easter (Year C). The piece is sung by either all men or all women. Those on the top rehearse with the Top Video. Those assigned to the middle use the Middle Video. Those who sing the bottom line use the Bottom Video. (Needless to say, the Latin version can also be sung.) A rather undesirable thing which took place after Vatican II—although not everywhere—was a “de-emphasis” or “neglect” of the Bible. In the pre-conciliar liturgy, the propers were proclaimed at every Mass, but these days many Catholics are clueless about the propers! Approximately 97% of the propers come directly from Sacred Scripture, as the COMMUNION ANTIPHON above demonstrates. You can hear a rehearsal video by clicking here.

—Jeff Ostrowski

“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 tried 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

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). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).

—Corpus Christi Watershed

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