Music Ministry Series: Part VI (Communion Song)

Come to the Banquet, come to the feast,
Eat the bread of life!
Share in the singing, share in the joy,
Drink the cup of love!

From “Come to the Banquet,” James J. Chepponis, b. 1956,
© 2000 by GIA Publications, Inc.

The Communion Song
So...we come together, this Sunday as every Sunday, a community in Christ. We have gathered at the Table of the Word to experience Christ’s presence in Sacred Scripture. We have offered our community’s prayers to the Lord, and we have brought forth our community’s gifts. Our priest celebrant has, on our behalf, offered prayers of praise and thanksgiving, and called upon God to send the Holy Spirit down upon our humble gifts of bread and wine, so that that same Spirit might transform them into Christ’s own Body and Blood. And then we move forward, together, to share in this wonderful banquet—we take the Body of Christ into ourselves, and become what we receive.

From a music ministry standpoint, the song we sing at Communion is one of the most challenging of the entire liturgy. People are walking to Communion, moving in and out of pews, picking up and putting down hymnals...many people wish to spend time in silent prayer before and after receiving. In many ways it would be much easier if the music at Communion time were just offered by the choir or cantor. However, the documents on the liturgy clearly invite us to sing together, as an assembly, at this time: “[the Communion song’s] purpose is to express the communicants' union in spirit by means of the unity of their voices, to show joy of heart, and to highlight more clearly the ‘communitarian’ nature of the procession to receive Communion.” (General Instruction on the Roman Missal, #86)

That’s a powerful statement! It is also a clear indication that music in the liturgy is about much more than adding beauty, or making the Mass lovely to listen to—the act of singing together, our Church teaches us, is itself a symbol of the very Communion we gather to receive. We don’t go to Communion in this way simply because it is the most efficient way—we process, a people walking together, singing together, receiving together, being changed together.

This is why, at Communion time, the music we sing is usually in “song” form—it has an easily singable refrain, one which hopefully has been used often enough that most people can sing it from memory as they walk to Communion and return after receiving. Songs like “Take and Eat,” “Draw Near,” or “Blest are They,” just to name a few, are perfect choices: they are flexible enough to invite people to sing or give them time to listen and pray, and they remind us of who we are: the Body of Christ in the world, rejoicing in Jesus’ great gift of Himself.