As many readers may know, the Gospel and Epistle readings assigned in the Lectionary of our Prayerbook are the same texts that were used in Lutheran churches in the early eighteenth century, when Johann Sebastian Bach was composing hundreds of cantatas for use in worship. Those cantatas often resonate with the theological themes of the liturgy in our own church, which is one reason why I dedicate so many pages on this site to Bach’s cantatas. There are two cantatas from Bach’s collection that were composed for this Sunday: Es ist das Heil uns kommen her (“Salvation has come to us”) and Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust (“Contented peace”). You can…

On this page, you can read all of the Propers that are appointed to be chanted during this Sunday’s Mass. That page also includes some links to hymns, motets, and cantatas associated with this Sunday. The hymns that we’ll sing this Sunday are: PROCESSIONAL HYMN: O God of earth and altar (#521)   SERMON HYMN: O God of truth (#547, MARTYRS)   COMMUNION HYMNS: Come, risen Lord, and deign to be our guest (#207, EDSALL) O God, unseen yet ever near (#198, ST. FLAVIAN)   CLOSING HYMN: Jesus shall reign where’er the sun (#542) Our Processional Hymn is a setting of a poem by G. K. Chesterton, first published in…

The anthem sung during the Offertory today is a setting of the Offertory Proper by a little-known Renaissance composer, Ivo de Vento (1545–1575). The text is taken from Psalm 13: Illumina oculos meos, ne unquam obdormiam in morte,   Lighten mine eyes, that I sleep not in death.Ne quando dicat inimicus meus, Praevalui adversus eum.   Lest my enemy say “I have prevailed against him.” Vento’s compositional style is reminiscent of one of our choir’s favorite composers, Orlande de Lassus (1532–1594). Lassus also composed a setting of Illumina oculos meos, and our choir has sung it twice in recent years. A rocording of that setting is on the page containing today’s Propers,…

This Sunday the choir’s Offertory is an anthem composed by Thomas Tallis (1505–1585). You can read about Tallis’s life and work in an article I wrote for Touchstone in 2018 which is posted here, a post that includes embedded performances of musical works mentioned. This week’s anthem is “A new commandment give I unto you,” a text taken from St. John 13:34–35: A new commandment give I unto you, saith the Lord, that ye love together, as I have loved you, that e’en so ye love one another. By this shall ev’ry man know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. At Communion we will…

The Propers for this Sunday and all of the Psalms appointed for the Daily Office this week are displayed here. The Gradual for this Sunday is taken from the first two verses of Psalm 120. Many Latin-language settings of the text for this Gradual are designated as Ad Dominum cum tribularer, “To the Lord, in trouble.” The verb clamavi (“I called”) used in the opening verse is implied in the title of these works. To learn about and listen to three remarkable settings of this text, see the page for Psalm 120. This page introduces one of the cantatas J. S. Bach composed to be sung on the Second Sunday…