The Kyrie
Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me! (Mk 10:46).
* * *
After having bridged the gap between God’s love and our feeble love through penance, we feel the need to again express our joy. The presence of Christ makes us break into praise with the Kyrie and the Gloria, and into petition with the Opening Prayer or Collect.
* * *
To give glory to God and to beg his mercy are two reasons why man turns to God: It is because we know that God is almighty that we ask him to have mercy on us. All the nuances of these two inseparable purposes are expressed in the Kyrie.
Kyrie eleison means “Lord, have mercy.” This formula comes straight from the Gospel. Both the blind man of Jericho and the Canaanite woman cried, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”[1] And the lepers cried aloud, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” (Lk 17:13).
St. Josemaría Escrivá invites us to consider:
Don’t you too feel the same urge to cry out? You who also are waiting at the side of the way, of this highway of life that is so very short? You who need more light, you who need more grace to make up your mind to seek holiness? Don’t you feel an urgent need to cry out, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me”? What a beautiful aspiration for you to repeat again and again![2]
This cry of supplication passed into the liturgy of Christians, for we too have to call upon the divine mercy. But it is obvious that this prayer presupposes a previous declaration of our guilt: It is the completion of an earlier invocation. It is, in reality, the response to a litany. The Kyrie is a remnant of those litanic dialogues, of those frequently long prayers that accompanied the procession of the celebrant up to the altar. It originated in the Greek‑speaking East, where the Spanish pilgrim Eteria heard it sung in Jerusalem about the year 390. You probably know that Greek, rather than Latin, was the prevalent liturgical language of the early Church. From the East, the litany passed into the Latin Church.
Toward the eighth century, the pope reduced the acclamations to just nine. The first three were addressed to God the Father. The second group of acclamations, which in Rome became Christe eleison (“Christ, have mercy”), were addressed to God the Son; and the last three invocations to the Holy Spirit.
* * *
It seems that acclamations like these were also used as praises and hymns with which the people received a triumphant warrior after a battle. They celebrated his victory, as well as sought his favor. And that is precisely the meaning the acclamations keep, transposed to the supernatural level. The Kyrie is a song by which the faithful praise the Lord and implore his mercy.[3]
As in any acclamation coming from a humble servant, in the Kyrie we sincerely pay homage to our Lord and present to him our supplication. We have nothing, but we hope to receive everything from him—especially his mercy, which is indispensable for us to be justified.
The Kyrie is also a clear and vibrant profession of faith, because when we acclaim Christ as our Lord, we express our determined resolution not to serve two lords, but him alone.
* * *
Nowadays the Kyrie is prayed by all—that is, alternately by the congregation and the choir or cantor. As a rule, each of the acclamations is said twice; but in some circumstances, it may be said more than twice, or a short verse (called trope) may be interposed. If the Kyrie is not sung, it is to be recited, either in English or in the original Greek.
Footnotes:
[1]Cf. Mk 10:46‑52; Mt 15:21 ff.
[2]St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, Friends of God, no. 195.
[3]GIRM, no. 30; GIRM3, no. 52.
* * *
After having bridged the gap between God’s love and our feeble love through penance, we feel the need to again express our joy. The presence of Christ makes us break into praise with the Kyrie and the Gloria, and into petition with the Opening Prayer or Collect.
* * *
To give glory to God and to beg his mercy are two reasons why man turns to God: It is because we know that God is almighty that we ask him to have mercy on us. All the nuances of these two inseparable purposes are expressed in the Kyrie.
Kyrie eleison means “Lord, have mercy.” This formula comes straight from the Gospel. Both the blind man of Jericho and the Canaanite woman cried, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”[1] And the lepers cried aloud, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” (Lk 17:13).
St. Josemaría Escrivá invites us to consider:
Don’t you too feel the same urge to cry out? You who also are waiting at the side of the way, of this highway of life that is so very short? You who need more light, you who need more grace to make up your mind to seek holiness? Don’t you feel an urgent need to cry out, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me”? What a beautiful aspiration for you to repeat again and again![2]
This cry of supplication passed into the liturgy of Christians, for we too have to call upon the divine mercy. But it is obvious that this prayer presupposes a previous declaration of our guilt: It is the completion of an earlier invocation. It is, in reality, the response to a litany. The Kyrie is a remnant of those litanic dialogues, of those frequently long prayers that accompanied the procession of the celebrant up to the altar. It originated in the Greek‑speaking East, where the Spanish pilgrim Eteria heard it sung in Jerusalem about the year 390. You probably know that Greek, rather than Latin, was the prevalent liturgical language of the early Church. From the East, the litany passed into the Latin Church.
Toward the eighth century, the pope reduced the acclamations to just nine. The first three were addressed to God the Father. The second group of acclamations, which in Rome became Christe eleison (“Christ, have mercy”), were addressed to God the Son; and the last three invocations to the Holy Spirit.
* * *
It seems that acclamations like these were also used as praises and hymns with which the people received a triumphant warrior after a battle. They celebrated his victory, as well as sought his favor. And that is precisely the meaning the acclamations keep, transposed to the supernatural level. The Kyrie is a song by which the faithful praise the Lord and implore his mercy.[3]
As in any acclamation coming from a humble servant, in the Kyrie we sincerely pay homage to our Lord and present to him our supplication. We have nothing, but we hope to receive everything from him—especially his mercy, which is indispensable for us to be justified.
The Kyrie is also a clear and vibrant profession of faith, because when we acclaim Christ as our Lord, we express our determined resolution not to serve two lords, but him alone.
* * *
Nowadays the Kyrie is prayed by all—that is, alternately by the congregation and the choir or cantor. As a rule, each of the acclamations is said twice; but in some circumstances, it may be said more than twice, or a short verse (called trope) may be interposed. If the Kyrie is not sung, it is to be recited, either in English or in the original Greek.
Footnotes:
[1]Cf. Mk 10:46‑52; Mt 15:21 ff.
[2]St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, Friends of God, no. 195.
[3]GIRM, no. 30; GIRM3, no. 52.