Hymnody and Chant

Solemnity of Christ the Universal King

                Ezekiel 34:  11-12, 15-17

                Psalm 23

                I Corinthians 15: 20-26, 28

                Matthew 25: 31-46

When the Solemnity of Christ, the Universal King was established by Pope Pius XI in1925, it was observed on the last Sunday in October (which, not coincidentally, is Reformation Sunday).  At the calendar revisions of 1969, the solemnity was moved to the Last Sunday of the Church Year.  So, in each year of the Lectionary, we see the concept of the Kingship of Christ through a different angle of the prism, as it were.  In Year A,  the Gospel for the last Sunday is the Gospel of the old “Last Sunday after Pentecost,” with its parable of the Great Assize.  The visioning of Christ as King on this Sunday is multi-layered; it includes Ezekiel’s announcement that God Himself “will tend my sheep,” and that “I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats,” which likely influenced the word painting in today’s Gospel; and the vision of the resurrection of the dead as given in the Second Reading from First Corinthians.  The Responsorial Psalm, of course, is the ‘shepherd psalm’ which concludes on the theme of today, “and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come.”

St. Hippolytus of Rome says about today’s passage from the Gospel:  “ ‘Come, My Father’s blessed ones, inherit the kingdom prepared for you’ who did not make an idol of wealth, who gave alms to the poor, help to orphans and widows, drink to the thirsty, and food to the hungry.  Come, you who welcomed strangers, clothed the naked, visited the sick, comforted prisoners, and assisted the blind.  Come, you who kept the seal of faith unbroken, who were swift to assemble in the churches, who listened to My Scriptures, longed for My words, observed My law day and night, and like good soldiers shared in My suffering because you wanted to please Me, your heavenly King.  Look, My kingdom is ready, paradise stands open, My immortality is displayed in all its beauty.  Come now, all of you, ‘inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’”  (The Consummation of the World, and the Anti-Christ)

This Sunday has an embarassment of riches, musically.  The recording "Music for the November Feasts" has six tracks devoted to hymns, chant, and anthems for today.  The Responsorial Psalm is represented on two cds:  "This is the Feast: Music of Richard Hillert" and "Praise to the Lord: Great Hymns of the Church."  The Second Reading is given in a verse-anthem setting called "Christ Being Raised from the Dead" by John Blow, on the cd "Music for the Paschal Triduum;" and the Gospel is sung in verse-anthem form in a setting by Matthew Locke on "Sing the God of Ultimate Justice: Music for the End Times."  That reading also is represented in an anthem by James E. Clemens called "When You Shall Come," which is also on "Sing the God of Ultimate Justice."  All of these recordings are of the Schola Cantorum of St. Peter's in the Loop," published by The Liturgical Press (www.litpress.org).

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