Since around Easter time, we have been singing the “Kyrie eleison” chant at our Masses with music, and at the Masses I celebrate, I’ve been using these Greek words instead of “Lord, have mercy.” Some folks wonder why I’ve switched to doing this, so I’d like to share some of my thoughts.
The Kyrie eleison became a part of the Mass in the late 5th century. How exactly this all came about is fascinating to me, but in brief: it was part of a long litany of petitions where the people responded with Kyrie eleison. This all happened well after the Roman Church had begun praying the Mass in Latin, meaning that the Roman Church specifically chose to add these words to the Mass in Greek.
There are several other words that the Church chose, specifically, to never translate. The Church chose to maintain the original language of these words for a reason: because they are something we receive. They link us to where we came from. For fourteen centuries, we said and sang nearly everything in Latin, but the Church kept Amen, Alleluia, and Hosanna in Hebrew and the Kyrie in Greek. In a way, using these words unites us with Christians across time and in many places, because faithful Christians in both the Roman Church and the Eastern Churches have said these words for centuries upon centuries.
Over time, the Church developed beautiful ways to sing these words, especially the words of the Kyrie. On October 3 & 4, the cantors and choir will begin singing a different version of the Kyrie than we have been singing. It is one from what is called the “Missa de Angelis,” the Mass of the Angels. It is more elaborate and a little longer, but I encourage you to spend these extra seconds remembering that our petition of God is not mere forgiveness, but for him to have mercy on us. To have mercy on us means for God to act on our behalf out of his faithful love. The blind men outside Jericho in Matthew 20 asked Jesus, with these same words, to have mercy on them, and he gave them their sight. And as you listen, imagine what this petition would sound like if the angels in Heaven sang it.
I suspect it would sound a little bit like what we’ll hear starting on October 3 & 4.
Thanks,
FM