Walking Through Divine Worship (Part Three): the Kyrie and Gloria

Interestingly, perhaps prophetically, groups of Anglicans - received into full communion with the Catholic Church through the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus - are restoring to the Roman Catholic Church much of its heritage and identity.

Anglicanorum Coetibus

III. Without excluding liturgical celebrations according to the Roman Rite, the Ordinariate has the faculty to celebrate the Holy Eucharist and the other Sacraments, the Liturgy of the Hours and other liturgical celebrations according to the liturgical books proper to the Anglican tradition, which have been approved by the Holy See, so as to maintain the liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion within the Catholic Church, as a precious gift nourishing the faith of the members of the Ordinariate and as a treasure to be shared. 

Calling All Fowls (Catholics) Luke 13:19

It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.

The Ordinariate Mustard Seed

Often enough, when you attend an Ordinariate Mass, i.e., Divine Worship, you will hear and pray in Greek and Latin the (Greek) Kyrie and a magnificent (Latin) Gloria in addition to stunning settings using the hieratic (sacred) vernacular. That is, settings in Prayer Book English.

When these texts belonging to the Ordinary of the Mass, i.e., the unchanging texts of the Mass (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei), are chanted by priest(s), choir and people. More often, they are chanted in the (sacred) vernacular employing one of many familiar and often ancient melodies.

You are not likely to hear at an Ordinariate Mass the first part of the Gloria (Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth... or the ideologically deformed and theologically abased Glory to God in the highest and peace to all people on earth) turned into a refrain. Nor will one find the text hammered to rhythms that practically render the text unsingable and not infrequently comedic (cf. p.49, Sacred Treasure: Understanding Catholic Liturgical Music by Joseph Peter Swain).

The Kyrie

By chanting the Kyrie, we acknowledge the thrice holy sovereign Lord.

Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison

Christe eleison, Christe eleison, Christe eleison

Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison

Lord have mercy...

Christ have mercy...

Lord have mercy... .

We chant three times each phrase. The symbolism of 'three times three', the ninefold Kyrie, is not useless repetition but a deeply meaningful acknowledgement of the Trinitarian holiness of God.

The ninefold Kyrie of the Mass is obviously directed to the Holy Trinity, as its oddness of number blocks any impression of “call and response.” It is not a dialogue between “presider and assembly” but a cry of the faithful to the Most Holy Trinity. - NLM

The phrase is found throughout scripture. For example: Matthew 15:22.

And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. Ἐλέησόν με κύριε υἱὲ Δαβίδ

The first certain example of its use in the liturgy is in that of the eighth book of the "Apostolic Constitutions". Here it is the answer of the people to the various Synaptai (Litanies) chanted by the deacon (Brightman, Eastern Liturgies, pp. 4 and 5; cf. "Ap. Const.", VIII, vi, 4). That is still its normal use in the Eastern rites. The deacon sings various clauses of a litany, to each of which the people answer, Kyrie Eleison.

- Kyrie, Catholic Encyclopedia

It has been said that the Greek Kyrie eleison could be translated as O Lord, thou art merciful! The Kyrie, as typically sung in the Western Church, is a remnant of a much longer litany. The Ordinariate has preserved something of the ancient practice. See, for example, p.1046, Divine Worship: the Missal, Appendix 3, The Decalogue.

The Gloria - Earth meets Heaven

The Gloria, the "companion" to the Kyrie, has the liturgical assembly joining the angelic chorus (Luke 2:13-14).

Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will towards men. We praise thee, we bless thee, we (bow) worship thee, we glorify thee, we (bow) give thanks to thee for thy great glory, O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty. O Lord, the Only Begotten Son, Jesus (profound bow when sung; simple bow when said) Christ; O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive (bow) our prayer. Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father, have mercy upon us. For thou only art holy; thou only art the Lord; thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, + (Sign of the Cross) art the Most High in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

This magnificent hymn of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and supplication is chanted syllabically, such as one would find in the Burgess books, and has been set in parts by the greatest composers throughout history.

Thanks be to God, the Ordinariates established under the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus preserve and promote the very best settings of the Gloria by which worshipers offer their very best to honour and celebrate the truth, beauty and righteousness of God.

CCC294 The glory of God consists in the realization of this manifestation and communication of his goodness, for which the world was created. God made us "to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace", for "the glory of God is man fully alive; moreover man's life is the vision of God: if God's revelation through creation has already obtained life for all the beings that dwell on earth, how much more will the Word's manifestation of the Father obtain life for those who see God." The ultimate purpose of creation is that God "who is the creator of all things may at last become "all in all", thus simultaneously assuring his own glory and our beatitude."

It may be noted, in conclusion, that the communities of the Personal Ordinariates do well to reintroduce Catholics to their own history, a history saturated with extraordinary beauty through which the Holy Spirit continues to reach into the hearts of the faithful, drawing us closer into the mystery of the Triune God.

A chant as simple as the Merbecke setting of the Gloria, that gives primacy to the liturgical text, entwines sound and theology in a way that allows the soul, graced by God, to enter into dialogue with Him, to approach the Creator as word returning to the Word, the creature and Creator in an intimate communion.

Pope Benedict XVI in his homily on the occasion of the beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman, said

Cardinal Newman's motto, Cor ad cor loquitur, or "Heart speaks unto heart", gives us an insight into his understanding of the Christian life as a call to holiness, experienced as the profound desire of the human heart to enter into intimate communion with the Heart of God.