“Blessed are those who have not seen, yet still believe.” These words have always struck me so profoundly – I give thanks daily that we have been given the gift of faith and our hearts were fertile ground for that seed to grow! “Doubting Thomas” could be any of us in this era of A.I. generated media – so often we cannot believe our eyes or ears and must verify everything that at first seems too good to be true.
Our Gospel choices on Easter 2 also include the Journey to Emmaus in which the Disciples unknowingly encounter and dine with Jesus before he vanishes and they realize their hearts had “burned within them when He spoke.” I pray that all those we encounter will see the risen Christ within us in our hopeful, joyous, and loving ways.
The Choir’s Prelude this Sunday is “O Lord, Increase Our Faith” by my mentor Richard DeLong, setting a text based on Luke 17: 5 used by numerous composers over the centuries, the best known of which is by Henry Loosemore. When DeLong’s work was published, the Choral Journal proclaimed it a worthy successor to the Loosemore and Gibbons motets, and I find it one of the most succinct and tender settings. Richard set the text “strengthen us and confirm in us thy true faith” with the entire choir singing on middle C to signify unity of purpose and strength, then he sets “in all our adversities” to aching harmonies before deploying ascending entrances from Bass up to Soprano imploring “sweet Jesus, say Amen!” begging Christ to make our adversities a blessing to us. Rarely have those words been needed more than today!
The Emmaus story is my inspiration for choosing the familiar Anthem “Draw Us In the Spirit’s Tether” by Harold Friedell. The powerful text about healing and Christ’s presence when two or three are gathered, set to unabashedly tuneful music, has made it a favorite since it was written for the students at Union Theological Seminary on the Columbia University Campus in New York City.
During the brief time of our Offertory, I have chosen Charles Tournemire’s “Quasi Modo Introit” based on the ancient Introit for this Second Sunday of Easter. The words “quasi modo” come from 1 Peter 2: 2 “Like newborn babes, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation; for you have tasted the sweetness of the Lord.” They are intended as encouragement to those who were newly baptized at Easter and the community of faith they have joined. Victor Hugo’s character by the same name was found on Quasimodo Sunday on the steps of Notre-Dame de Paris, where parents who could not raise their children would leave them to be raised in the Church’s orphanage. Because of the first words of this Introit, the first Sunday after Easter is nicknamed Quasimodo Sunday. This gave rise to the naming of the hunchbacked child left at Notre-Dame de Paris in the book by Victor Hugo. Little Quasimodo was found on this Sunday by Archdeacon Frollo.
My postlude is a Toccata on the chant “theme song” for Easter 2 “O Filii et Filiae”, “O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing.” The verses of this repetitive chant tell the story of Christ’s Resurrection, the women at Jesus’ empty tomb, doubting Thomas and so much more in its seven verses. Over the centuries there have been many variants of the ancient melody, and Canadian organist Lynwood Farnam chose a more chromatic variant for his “Toccata on O Filii et Filiae”. My father played this flashy liturgical work as an encore on recitals, and on Easter 2 at his Protestant church organist posts where the liturgical calendar was followed. This Toccata is Farnam’s only composition, but it is still played on this Sunday in churches around the world. Music Theory professors often use this work as the perfect ABA form – with the cantus firmus (chant melody) in full reeds in the pedal for the outer “A” sections with rolling arpeggios spanning the keyboard, and a dense chordal “B” section with the melody in hands and feet. As you can see in every YouTube video, the outer sections require complete concentration on the hands, while the dense middle section requires eyes back on the page. It’s great fun to play, and I have deployed this exciting work every Easter 2 for decades, and I actually got it recorded during our Pandemic live-streaming at Saint Mark Catholic Church in Plano.
I pray that our lives tell the Easter story of resurrection, new life and hope that overcomes even death!
