The church is open and having Masses again this weekend, just in time to celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. There are many changes you will notice, one of them being that the Mass is shorter and there’s a lot less singing in order to help shorten it. For instance, the psalm and the other parts of the Mass that we usually sing like the Holy, Holy and the Lamb of God, will be recited instead of sung. Since we expel a lot more air and thus more germs when singing, the congregation at church will be asked not to sing. I have tried to choose music that is familiar but not known from memory to reduce the temptation to join in.

You at home, however, can sing as loud as you want! All the songs I have chosen this week are ones that you are likely to have heard before if you regularly attended Sunday Mass at 8:00 or 10:00 a.m., but they are all available on YouTube if you don’t recognize them.

You can find the lyrics to this week’s hymns in this attachment. You’ll notice that there are only three songs this week instead of four. That is because Communion will be received at the end of Mass after the final blessing so instead of a communion song and then a closing song, they have been combined and the focus is on communion since the congregation will be receiving it at that time.

Like all of you, I am looking forward to a time when we can all go back to Mass without fear of contagion and have everything back to normal, including my wonderful choirs. Until then, I hope that God will bless you all with continued good health and that the music we bring you will enhance your spiritual experience at Mass and leave you feeling uplifted.

I want to thank John Rodriguez for stepping in and bringing us wonderful music over the past couple of months. Great job, John!

This week’s musical selections are all focused on the Eucharist in honor of Corpus Christi Sunday.

“Panis Angelicus” (Bread of Angels) by César Franck https://youtu.be/vxD11GPICls
There were so many renditions of this song to choose from (even a duet by Pavarotti and Sting!) that it was tough to choose just one, but I finally settled on sharing this beautiful rendition by a boys’ choir for the crystalline purity and innocence of their voices.

“Remembrance” by Matt Maher https://youtu.be/d53V3OO9ihU
and a song that we have sung before and will sing again,

“How Beautiful” by Twila Paris https://youtu.be/jVu5VZsCNOI

I hope you enjoy them all!

May God bless you and keep you safe,

Janis Cantú