Evangelization Outreach / Andrew Motyka

Music at ordination Mass helps engage the mystery of the sacraments

Music at Mass has many functions. It makes liturgical actions and texts more beautiful, it engages the congregation in participation by singing and listening, and it accompanies other liturgical actions.

Music which accompanies liturgical actions and has its place on specific days or in particular liturgies is called “ritual music.” Singing the Pange lingua while reposing the Blessed Sacrament on Holy Thursday is an example of ritual music.

Ordination Masses have quite a bit of ritual music that helps us to understand the celebration more deeply. On June 6, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis will ordain three new priests, and the ritual music will reflect the beauty of this liturgy.

Beginning with the Entrance Antiphon, we explore not only the sacramental priesthood but the universal priesthood of all believers. The text of the antiphon is: “Priests of God, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.” This excerpt from Daniel 3 is part of a long litany of the praise of all creation. We enter into this praise of God as all the priests of the archdiocese process into the Church.

Following the Liturgy of the Word, which looks just like an ordinary Sunday Mass (although the readings are proper to ordinations) begins the rite of ordination itself.

After the homily, the ordinands make their priestly promises and promise obedience to the archbishop. We then pray for the ordinands about to receive the sacrament. First, the Litany of Saints is sung. This is unlike the Litany of Saints that we are used to hearing during a baptismal liturgy. In the baptismal liturgy, the litany accompanies a procession to the baptismal font. At ordinations, the litany itself is the main liturgical action. We invoke the saints and offer intercessions while the ordinands lay prostrate at the front of the church.

The archbishop then calls on the Holy Spirit to come upon the ordinands, laying hands upon each of their heads individually. Every priest present at this Mass then comes forward and lays hands on the heads of the ordinands. There is no particular ritual music for this part, but at the ordination Mass on June 6 we will sing the Veni Creator Spiritus, a traditional hymn to the Holy Spirit.

After all the priests have laid hands upon the ordinands, the archbishop offers the prayer of ordination. Following this prayer, the newly ordained priests are assisted in switching their vestments from those of a deacon to those of a priest. This involves rearranging their stoles and donning a chasuble.

After this, the archbishop anoints the palms of their hands with sacred chrism, and then the gifts of bread and wine are brought to the altar. Appropriately, the music during this time is adapted from Psalm 110: “Christ the Lord, a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, offered bread and wine.”

Finally, the archbishop, and then in turn all the priests of the archdiocese, offer the newly ordained a sign of peace. A responsory is sung while this happens: “I call you servants no longer, but my friends, because you know all that I have done in your midst, alleluia. Receive the Holy Spirit, as an Advocate among you. He is the One whom the Father will send you, alleluia.” The Mass then proceeds as usual with the Liturgy of the Eucharist, which the newly ordained priests concelebrate.

Music at ordination Masses, like at all Masses, helps us to engage the mysteries of the sacraments in a way that plain speech does not. In a few weeks, we will offer the Mass in prayer and song as we welcome our newly ordained priests. Please pray for them as they begin their priestly ministry.
 

(Andrew Motyka is the director of Archdiocesan and Cathedral Liturgical Music for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.) †