THEOLOGICAL CLUE

Cantate, the Fourth Sunday after Easter, with its theme of "sing a new song for the Lord," which came to be known and celebrated as "Church Music Sundays" in many parts of the church, finds expression on the Fifth Sunday of Easter. In the older liturgies, because Cantate had become a "cause" Sunday, the Easter celebration was interrupted or was lost entirely. The Cantate theme is not mentioned specifically on this Sunday, but it is set forth in the appointed Psalm for the Day - Psalm 33:1-11 - "sing for him (the Lord) a new song" and renews the response of the believers to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and continues the celebration of the great fifty days of the Pasch. The specific themes for the Fifth Sunday of Easter continue to be articulated in the readings for the…