This morning I sang the Exsultet for morning prayer. When I sing it as my morning prayer hymn, I don't usually get back to the rest of the regular morning prayer, but that's probably ok, esp. during Lent and Easter.

Thinking about that, I have some procedural things nagging at me.

One is that so many people have said that the Exsultet is "that long boring thing." How many parishes cut out half of it, usually using those horrible cuts in the missal that take out all the transcendent verses? Wouldn't it be better to move toward a more speech-based rendition, which converts those long, time-consuming "notes" into inflections? It would cut out at least one-fourth of the length, I bet.

I think I'll add that to my list of things to record. I've never heard it recorded that way, but it would be much more palatable to modern listeners, especially in non-acoustic settings.

My second reflection is about something that came up in the conversation at Sarah's First Communion last Saturday: namely that the priest is NOT supposed to sing the Exsultet at the Easter vigil. They said it is supposed to be the deacon, and if not the deacon, then the choir or cantor. I didn't think that was true, so I looked it up, and made a call to Rosemary at the Office of Worship to make sure it hasn't been changed.

The missal says that the Exsultet is sung by the deacon, or if there is no deacon, the priest. If necessary, the Easter proclamation may be sung by one who is not a deacon. In this case, the bracketed words [My dearest friend, standing with me in this holy light, join me in asking God for mercy, that he may give his unworthy minister grace to sing his Easter praises] and [The Lord be with you] would be omitted.

Why I, as cantor, can't ask for grace is way beyond me, but anyway, if parish musicians are getting bent out of shape because the priest wants to sing the Exsultet, they're all wet.
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Last night, the Holy Name Band played a concert at the Chapel of St. Philip (formerly St. Philip Neri Church in Louisville). I always like to go there. St. Philip Neri was closed at the same time St. Clare was supposed to have been closed. St. Philip has continued as a chapel, with regular morning and evening prayer, and a wonderful, well-attended Compline service on Sunday evenings (sung by Evensong).

I mention well-attended because Bob says his attendance at morning and evening prayer has fallen off, though it continues. (Been there, done that.) What does it take?

We were talking about how many people use MAGNIFICAT, and he was wondering why we can't make a connection to those folks. I was looking at an older copy of Magnificat, and thinking, what a nice venue for formal morning prayer with chant? Add two Latin antiphons, for the psalm and for the Canticle. Print them on a small card for those who'd want to pick them up. Be sure to have an extended prayer of the faithful, with personal contact. And probably do this 1/2-hour before mass.