Bless, O Lord, us Thy servants

Six of us gathered in the church crying-room. Alan offered a prayer for choiristers which he had found:

Bless, O Lord, us Thy servants,

who minister in Thy temple.

Grant that what we sing with our lips,

we may believe in our hearts,

and what we believe in our hearts,

we may show forth in our lives.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Alan told us that he had received very positive feedback about the Mass on Sunday.

We reconfirmed dates. Cambuskenneth Mass is scheduled for 20th April. The Missa Cum Jubilo will be used.
The Edinburgh Festival dates are 3rd, 10th and 17th August. Alan will think about what psalms to sing, based on nearby saints-days or festivals. We will try to get a date in early June and July for a practice performance in Holy Rude.
I will ask whether we can pray vespers in St Margaret’s on a Saturday in May.

We went through all of the prayers in Cum Jubilo. In the Sanctus Alan reminded us about the notes being on the vowels. So Deus should sound more like Deyy-us and Pleni more like Play-ni. Then Bey-ne-dictus qui vey-nit. Here's a version:

Click to Enlarge

Later a few of us spoke about the depressing news about the Cardinal and the effect of it all on regular parishioners. I mentioned a blog post from the Vocations Director for the Archdiocese of Southwark. He has had to cope with the impact on the morale of men who are in seminary or considering a vocation to the priesthood.
http://southwarkvocations.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/a-word-of-encouragement.html

'How would we react if we were to discover that our father was committing adultery? I am sure there would be a range of emotions including anger, confusion and great sadness. But would we blame our mother? No. We would cling to her more closely. We would try to console her by the warmth of our love. We would stick with her. When the Church has been wronged by one of her members it should evoke within us a desire for reparation and a determination to respond with greater fidelity.

This isn't a time to get disheartened. It is a time to be more faithful. That is what the Lord is asking of you today. Please be assured that I am praying for you.'

We need some holy and effective bishops in Scotland.
I hope we get good news about a friend soon.

On a more cheering note, three of us are going to the RSNO's Come and Sing choir day on Saturday:

An earlier event

100 local singers will practice several pieces from 10.00am and sing them as a choir at 6.00pm.

Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus

Howard Goodall's Love Divine

Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine

Haydn's Little Organ Mass

It will be interesting for us, as Cantors of the Holy Rude to sing the Mass prayers in Latin in the church of the Holy Rude.