Hymns for the Liturgical Year

I've been meaning to mention my booklet of hymns in this space The booklet was published last fall by CanticaNOVA Publications. If you haven't seen their catalog, it's worth a look. A deacon friend just showed me the Diaconale he'd ordered from them--what a clean publication! Very beautifully laid out.

My booklet is a collection of 27 (I think) hymn texts that can be sung to familiar foursquare-type tunes. A thorough list of suggestions is provided with each hymn--they can be matched up with the index of hymn tunes at the back of most hymnals, or with cyberhymnal.org's "tunes by name" feature. The collection includes a hymn for each of the major seasons and feasts of the year.

I usually strive for that delicate balance of spiritual joy and solemn sobriety that characterizes the best hymns from days gone by. Well, that's a high bar to clear, but I do my best. I don't have a lot to say about the environment, natural disasters, or the modern city--the market is pretty well flooded by now. And while I don't shun archaistic expressions altogether (2 of the hymns, in fact, quite literally use "thee's and thou's"), I usually try to use straightforward expressions, but with a limited vocabulary and usage that I hope resemble the heightened diction required in worship.

Most of all I try to focus on imagery that is really central to the Bible and Tradition. This is what I really want to publicize: the availability of a worldview deeply informed by the images of the Bible. Sometimes I maybe go off the beam a little in this regard, based on my own reflections on the images, and because of the way I put them together. But that doesn't change the fact that the Bible makes available a very happy world that God has given us to explore, in which to make ourselves at home.