Music Ministry Series: Part V (Responsorial Psalm)

“Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord!”
Psalm 89:2


The Responsorial Psalm
The Responsorial Psalm, sung between the first and second reading, holds a special place within the liturgy—a place not shared by any other action of the music ministry. For in this moment the cantor becomes not so much a music minister as a Minister of the Word—the sung Word. It is for this reason that the psalm is normally proclaimed from the ambo, where Scripture is read, rather than the cantor’s more accustomed place at the cantor stand—here, he or she is not merely singing, here the cantor is proclaiming the Word of God.

These exquisite scriptural pieces of poetry are ancient and deeply beautiful; they were certainly known to and prayed by Jesus himself, as a familiar and deeply valued part of the Jewish holy texts. These 150 poems span the depth and width of human emotions—they sing of praise, of lament, of anger, of love, of war, of sorrow, of joy, of betrayal, of trust...anything we feel now, today, in our lives, was probably felt and sung about by the ancient psalmists.

While other pieces of music in the liturgy may be changed or chosen from week to week, the Responsorial Psalm functions as part of the proclamation of Scripture. As such, each week the Lectionary contains a particular psalm or portion of a psalm that was selected specifically to expand upon or respond to the themes in the first reading. While sometimes we may shift the psalm slightly or change to a “seasonal” psalm setting for Advent or Lent, generally the cantor/psalmist will lead the singing of the “proper” chosen psalm for the week.

When we say that the psalm is “responsorial,” we are not referring to its position as a “response” to the first reading (though it often functions as such.) “Responsorial” refers to the way it is sung, with the cantor intoning the brief refrain and the assembly “responding” by singing it back. (The Gospel Acclamation “Alleluia” is also sung “responsorially,” you may notice.) The cantor then sings the inner verses, the scriptural heart of the psalm, and invites the “response” of the assembly after each verse. When a choir is present to add support or the assembly’s familiarity with the psalm is particularly strong, you may even notice the cantor not singing the assembly refrain with you. (This is our goal, eventually, for all liturgies, so that the singing of the psalm may be the dialogue it is intended to be—and for any dialogue to occur, one person must speak and then stop speaking so that another may take a turn. )

So over the next few weeks, I invite you to listen closely: try to hear how your own moment in the psalm echoes your response to the spoken Word, and calls out to millennia of believers before you who have done the same.