As a burgeoning Catholic music director, I was taught to choose hymns that match the readings. That worked fine. There's nothing really wrong with this approach. But there's also nothing that necessitates this. "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" is a great entrance hymn for any day, regardless of the readings. However, now that the introits are coming back into vogue, more Catholics are recognizing that the introit is in fact the appointed text for the entrance. The liturgy is too complex and varied to force each Sunday into a "theme of the day" that is represented by a suite of hymns. If you are inclined to follow this logic, you might check the introit, and at least try to choose a familiar hymn that represents the spirit of the introit. At antiphonrenewal our resource "Last Verse Introits" can serve as a guide for suggesting hymns that match the introit. Even if you don't use my hymn adaptations of the introit, and only use the familiar hymn itself, you'll at least be choosing something that is similar to the introit. Again this approach isn't a mandate, but it does make a lot of sense to me. Here are a couple examples of my process, with some key words underlined, to show the semantic connections. 13th Sunday In Ordinary Time Introit: All peoples, clap your hands. Cry to God with shouts of joy!
V. For the Lord, the Most High, Is awesome, the great king over all the earth.
My hymn adaptation: All people clap your hands and sing
Cry out to God with shouts of joy.
The Lord o'er every land is King
Our songs of praise we now employ.
Familiar Hymn All people that on earth do dwell,
sing to the LORD with cheerful voice;
Him serve with mirth, His praise forth-tell;
come ye before Him and rejoice!
The parallels here are obvious!
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Introit: Your merciful love, O God, we have received in the midst of your temple.
Your praise, O God, like your name, reaches the ends of the earth;
your right hand is filled with saving justice.
My Adaptation:
In your temple, God, Your mercy
and Your love we have received.
Like your name, O God, Your praises
To earth’s farthest bounds exceed;
Filled with justice and salvation,
Your right hand fulfills our need.
Familiar Hymn Christ is Made the Sure Foundation...
V2 To this temple, where we call You,
come, O Lord of Hosts, today!
With your steadfast loving-kindness
hear Your servants as they pray,
And your fullest benediction
shed in all its bright array.
This introit speaks of God’s Temple in Zion, and his loving mercy, which begins there. The hymn Christ is Made the sure foundation mentions Zion and the Temple in verse two, and clearly connects Christ to that God of the Old Testament who dwells in Zion.
These are just 2 examples. We do this with almost every Last Verse Introit. We only use traditional, theologically sound, and public domain hymns. You can't go wrong!
Luke Massery
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