Something We're Not Giving Up For Lent - the Psalms!

Since we've entered the season of Lent, we have once again given up (buried) the "A" word. (I can't print it here in case the Liturgical Police are watching, but it rhymes with "What's-it-to-ya?")

One we thing we're not giving up is the psalms. In fact, we are highlighting them with new musical arrangements by Luke Mayernik. He recently wrote a collection of psalms (called a "psalter") that sets each of the Sunday psalms in a uniform collection. He titled it The Five Graces Psalter. We'll hear and sing these settings for the first five Sundays in Lent.

I've not been able to find where the name came from, but I suspect it comes from a prayer by St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787). In his prayer, Alphonsus asked for five graces: pardon for all offenses, divine light, a share in God's love, confidence in the merits of Jesus Christ  and the intercession of Mary, and perseverance. Lutherans pause at the "intercession of Mary," but surely the psalter echoes these themes - minus overt references to Jesus and Mary.

The Five Graces Psalter brings together three elements.

First is the assembly refrain. The refrains are drawn from texts by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy. The ICEL prepare various liturgical texts in accordance with direction from "the Holy See." (The Vatican)

The second element is the text of the psalms themselves. They come the Revised Grail Psalms. For Roman Catholics, this is the official psalter for the English language used in their churches. In addition to translating the texts, thought was given to musical considerations so that these versions are especially suited to chanting and singing.

The third element is Mayernik's own style.  He wanted to create a psalter that would appeal to people who enjoy traditional AND contemporary music. The result is a psalter with enough musical substance for discerning ears, but also enough melodic appeal for someone who "isn't necessarily a professional musician but can carry a tune - and maybe even carry that tune throughout the entire week and sing it as a prayer. . ."

The psalms are sung like tones similar to the ones we often sing at St. Mark's. But they don't arbitrarily assign the last three syllables of a line to three specific notes. Rather, the syllables are artfully placed so that the listener has a stronger sense of a melody. The chords that accompany the melody run the gamut. They are sometimes traditional, often lush (jazzy even), and at times downright dissonant - depending on the nature of the text. This gives Mayernik's settings both harmonic freshness and melodic appeal.

Mayernik's psalms can be sung in a variety of ways - with choir or cantor/soloist, with guitar, piano, or organ.

This psalter is a beautiful addition to the church's song. We sing the psalms in a variety of ways at St. Mark's and I look forward to adding these to the mix. The Five Graces Psalter is published by MorningStar Music Publishers, part of the ECS publishing group.

Luke Mayernik - from the ECS website

sources:
A video interview with Luke Mayernik: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It6FNEo14Ro&t=327s
https://www.catholicity.com/prayer/prayer-for-five-graces.html

https://www.ecspublishing.com/
https://www.lukemmusic.com/home