Repertoire 6: Lord, have mercy
Introductory Note
As a preliminary note to this blog, I'd like to respond to a recent helpful comment from one of my readers. Regarding the Penitential Act, she pointed out how it is not merely an occasion for us to exercise the proper dispositions I had mentioned; it is also a sacramental gift which imparts grace and the forgiveness of our venial sins – even when our dispositions are less than perfect. Now while I had assumed that those who read this would already have understood and embraced this truth, I can see – thanks to this person's comment – how important it is for all of us to return again and again to an essential principle which is applicable not only in the Penitential Rite but also throughout the entire Mass: that the Sacred Liturgy, in both the Roman Rite and all the other Rites of the Church, is essentially a transcendent gift of God, instituted by Christ for the glory of God, and for our sanctification and edification. It is definitively not something that we can create (although it does call forth the full cooperation of our human capacities), but rather a great Gift to be received with reverence, understanding, and gratitude. It seems obvious to many of us, that untold harm has been done by those who have lost this reverent awareness of the holy Gift of the Mass, and instead have approached it more as a field for their own religious creativity.
With this in mind, I have changed the wording at the end of the first paragraph of my last blog, so as to read (regarding the Penitential Act):
“...it is intended as a fitting act of humility and contrition in preparation for our worthy participation in the Mass, in which we also receive the grace of forgiveness for whatever venial sins we might have committed since our last Confession.”
Having established this firm foundation – that the Mass is a transcendent Gift of God in Christ, with all its inexhaustible depth and nuance of meaning – it is still true that the focus of these blogs and podcasts is our faithful stewardship vis-à-vis liturgical music, in which we are called upon to exercise all our natural and supernatural capacities so as to fully cooperate with this great Gift of God. As Pastors and church musicians, we must do our best to exercise diligence in the dimensions of repertoire, musicianship, and spirituality[i] if we are to be counted as good stewards of the Treasure with which we have been entrusted. To follow correct exterior forms to the exclusion of such diligence would be to dismiss or marginalize the great commandment to love God with “all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.”
And the whole point of this diligence is not to draw attention to ourselves, or to great musical performances, but rather to be faithful “iconographers” who (in organic continuity with our holy traditions) humbly reveal the glory of God in the Liturgy, and thus draw believers and all people of good will to reconciliation and communion with God in Christ.
Kyrie eleison
Anyone familiar with the Mass of Paul VI knows that its Penitential Rite and the Lord, have mercy are closely connected to one another: the latter either follows the former, or is interwoven with it (as is the case with the third option provided in the Missal.) And this is fitting, as the Kyrie gives voice to our contrition and need for the forgiveness of our sins, as is evident in both the Old and New Testaments. As King David cries out in Psalm 51:
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin![ii]
And as our Lord tells us in the parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee:
...the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other...[iii]
Such acts of humble contrition, and the gracious divine gift of forgiveness and justification, are indispensable preparations in order for us to enter fully into the meaning of the Mass – to worthily “celebrate the sacred mysteries.” But the sacred text of the Kyrie eleison, kept thus in its ancient Greek form even in the Latin Rite throughout the centuries, has a wealth of meaning that while including this aspect of penitence and forgiveness also goes far beyond it. This can be seen clearly through studying the precise meaning of the word “mercy” in both Greek and English, and through looking at the use of this sacred text in the Catholic and Orthodox Liturgies of the East, from whence it came.[iv]
In the New Testament, we see the Greek word for mercy, eleos (ἔλεος) being used not only to communicate interior acts and attitudes such as forgiveness, compassion, and kindness, but also for the concrete acts of assistance which spring from these attitudes. Christ commended the good Samaritan for “having shown mercy (eleos)” in bringing practical help to the man who had been attacked on the road to Jericho.[v] When Elizabeth became pregnant with John the Baptist, her neighbors and relatives rejoiced that God had showed great mercy (eleos) to her in bringing about this miraculous event. And after John's birth, his father Zechariah praised the “Lord God of Israel” for having “performed the mercy (eleos) which he promised to our fathers”, in having “raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.”
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Good Samaritan, 1633
This essential active dimension of mercy – rooted as it must be in a disposition of the heart - is also seen in this word's meaning and use in the English language. We speak of the seven corporal and the seven spiritual “works of mercy”, which are understood by Catholics to be the responsibility of all Christians. Of these fourteen works, eleven require us to give practical, concrete assistance to others, while only three are essentially interior acts.[vi] On a related note, our English words alms and eleemosynary (= “having to do with alms-giving or works of charity”) are both derived from the same Greek word for mercy, eleos, as mentioned above.
And so how does this broad meaning of the word “mercy” inform our understanding of this part of the Mass? Doesn't it show us that to pray “Lord, have mercy” or “Kyrie, eleison” is not merely to ask for forgiveness, but also to express our radical need for God's gracious help in every dimension of our lives, including our ability to worship him now in “spirit and in truth”? And in light of Christ's commands to “love one another as I have loved you” and to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”, and St. Paul's exhortation to “pray for all people”,[vii] doesn't this sacred text also call us to ask for God's mercy on all people, especially those in greatest need?
In fact, such an intention is revealed clearly when we study the meaning and use of the Kyrie eleison in the great liturgical traditions of Eastern Christianity. Their Divine Liturgy is in its essence the same as our Mass, insofar as both trace their origin, theological meaning, form, and identity to the Eucharistic Liturgy instituted by Christ at the Last Supper. And so from the perspective of the Roman Catholic tradition, the differences between Western and Eastern Rites are seen as complementary rather than being in conflict with one another:
“Since, in fact, we believe that the venerable and ancient tradition of the Eastern Churches is an integral part of the heritage of Christ’s Church, the first need for Catholics is to be familiar with that tradition, so as to be nourished by it and to encourage the process of unity in the best way possible for each.
Our Eastern Catholic brothers and sisters are very conscious of being the living bearers of this tradition, together with our Orthodox brothers and sisters. The members of the Catholic Church of the Latin tradition must also be fully acquainted with this treasure and thus feel, with the Pope, a passionate longing that the full manifestation of the Church’s catholicity be restored to the Church and to the world, expressed not by a single tradition, and still less by one community in opposition to the other; and that we too may be granted a full taste of the divinely revealed and undivided heritage of the universal Church which is preserved and grows in the life of the Churches of the East as in those of the West.”[viii]
Back to the Kyrie eleison / Lord, have mercy: this supplication is sung repeatedly throughout the Divine Liturgy, in numerous “Litanies” which take place in the early, middle, and late parts of the celebration. The timing of the “Great Litany”, also called the “Litany of Peace”, corresponds to that of the Kyrie at the beginning of the Mass; in this series of sung prayers God's mercy is invoked on a very broad spectrum of our needs and the needs of all people. I heartily encourage everyone to listen to a magnificent recording of this Litany, set to music by the Ukrainian-Canadian composer Roman Hurko, the link for which is found below!
And so, we can see from the precise meaning of the words “Lord, have mercy” in Greek and English, and from the extensive use of this phrase in the ancient Christian Liturgies of the East, that latent within this text is a fervent plea for God's merciful assistance in every aspect of our lives and the lives of all people. Such a plea is not one of cowering fear, but rather of confidence in the tender love of God who delights in blessing and giving good gifts to his children: as the Divine Liturgy proclaims:
For You are a good and loving God, and we give glory to You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever.
Kazimirowski Eugeniusz, Divine Mercy, 1934
Such a broadened understanding of the Lord, have mercy can help us in turn to appreciate the importance and depth of these words when we recite or sing them in our Mass – in the opening Kyrie as well as when they return in the Glory to God and later in the Lamb of God. And it can help us to see how it has been fitting that in the great sacred music traditions of our Roman Rite, we have an abundance of beautiful chant and polyphonic settings of this text. When these musical settings are sung clearly, skillfully, and with spiritual depth by church musicians, they can powerfully help us – whether we are singing or listening - to enter more fully into the meaning of their words.
This does not mean that longer and more elaborate musical settings of the Lord, have mercy are necessarily better than shorter and simpler ones... or that more repetitions of this text will necessarily assure a deeper and fuller participation on the part of the faithful in this supplication! However, it does mean that however short or long the setting might be, and however many times we repeat this text, we do have a responsibility to sing or say it with our understanding united to our heart, as well as with our voices.
Let's listen now to the Lord, have mercy from the Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit which we are following. This setting is an English adaptation of the Kyrie from my Missa Parva, and the score is included below. As always, you are warmly invited to join us in singing this setting. And by the way, you will notice that in this piece, as in the Introit, there is a good deal of humming indicated for different voices at certain moments. These passages of humming, known in the Byzantine traditions as isons, are a wonderful gift from the East which when done well have the ability to communicate something of the transcendent dimension of the texts which they accompany.
Again, I would encourage everyone to listen to Roman Hurko's setting of the Great Litany, as well as the rest of his marvelous Liturgy No. 3 (in English) to which this setting belongs. For those who have the time to do so, I would also encourage you to listen to other wonderful chant and polyphonic settings of the Kyrie from our Western tradition; links to a few of these are also found below.
In my next blog we'll be studying and singing the Gloria in excelsis Deo, in which we are called to “sing with the angels”! In the meantime, let's keep asking for, trusting in, and living out the mercy of God: for ourselves, our Church, our country, our world, and all those people in need whom we meet.
Roman Hurko - Great Litany from his Liturgy No. 3 (English):
https://open.spotify.com/album/17pId9VBcagz77aR8ntQA4
Palestrina – Kyrie from Missa Papae Marcelli (Tallis Singers):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRfF7W4El60
Missa Orbis Factor (Gregorian chant) – Kyrie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ_MA-1Rv9c
Vittoria – Kyrie from Requiem Mass:
[i] By “spirituality” I am referring to our interior growth toward maturity in Christ, and our fidelity in responding to the guidance and gifts of the Holy Spirit. This includes the development of our dispositions: these are not our own “creation”, but rather the cooperation of our heart (in its deepest sense) with the Word of God, by divine grace. As such they surpass the human capacities of our will, while requiring the assent of our will. Dispositions are not the same thing as feelings, which we cannot control and which are never to be pursued as an end in themselves. Nevertheless, the normal (but not invariable) “fruit” of holy dispositions is an emotional dimension which corresponds to these dispositions of the heart. [I write these thoughts as a layman's humble attempt to define Catholic / Christian “spirituality” and to explain some important distinctions between dispositions and feelings, which have also come up as an issue in readers' comments.]
[ii] Psalm 51:1-2
[iii] Luke 18:13-14
[iv] The New Advent website describes the history of this and many other parts of the Catholic Liturgy. For the history of the Kyrie eleison, click here.
[v] Luke 10:37
[vi] See here for a concise listing of these works of mercy
[vii] 1 Timothy 2:1
[viii] Orientale Lumen, Apostolic Letter of Pope John Paul II, 1995, no. 1