North of the Shire

I have wondered why it is that I like this piece so much. Listening to it once more I begin to wonder if it is the fact that the voices are balanced, unlike many chorale pieces.

I had thought it was simply because of the basso profondo but it is more than that. The deep bass voices are there and prominent but I think the beauty is in the way they are balanced with the tenors, altos and sopranos. So much of chorale music stresses the high tenors and sopranos.

I suppose to me this gives a more rounded feel of the human voice and there is nothing as beautiful as the human voice in music. That is why the a cappella chorale is the best.

Here’s another that I love because it features an alto soloist who I find amazing.

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Several times I have heard the idea expressed from some Protestant quarters, that the Sermon on the Mount and other such teachings of Jesus Christ seem to tend toward obedience to the Law, fasting, penitential living and generally tending toward “works” because Jesus was speaking as a Jew, to Jewish people and was still himself under the Law as a Jew. This was because he had not yet died and risen from the dead and therefore the New Covenant was not yet in force. This explanation, of course, is a result of Sola Fide or Faith Alone, and is a necessary part of its foundation. Continue Reading »

A long time ago I made the error of judging the truth of a religious belief and system of beliefs, based upon the actions of a few that were leaders of a local congregation of that particular belief system. Hypocrisy can be found almost anywhere and among religious we look more intently for it if we are so inclined.

As it happened, I discovered that there were other reasons, sound legitimate theological reasons for leaving that faith community behind and I entered the Catholic Church. By then I realized that the truth of the faith is not measured by how seriously its adherents take it. Indeed, at the time I entered the Church the clerical abuse scandal in the Boston, Mass area was at its peak. But there had been other scandals and most recently it has been the same thing all over again in Ireland.

I think that in this case, while the details of the problem are terribly sad and a real indictment of the leadership of the Church in Ireland, the report that was commissioned was very instructive, and well worth reviewing for its clear assessment of what went wrong, who was responsible and what it was they were thinking.

Here’s an excellent article by Michael Kelly on that report called, The Wolves Roamed Freely.
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Well, the dissenters are at it again. There is even a new blog for a petition not to correct the errors in the English translation of the Mass, what is called the Ordinary rite by Benedict XVI.

Here’s the blog and a sampling of some of the links at the blog from the usual suspects.

Here.

Here.

Here.

Here’s a thought. The translation we are discussing, which Benedict XVI and the USCCB is attempting to correct, is an English translation of what is official in Latin. How is it such a terrible thing to want to get the English version to match the Latin standard?

I think that there is a theological basis for this. Without examining it in any detail, isn’t that an interesting commentary that some would want to keep a translation of something so integral to the Church as her liturgy, that is flawed? Why? What is there in the correction that offends them so much? Or is it just the fact that the Pope is exercising his proper authority over the liturgy that offends them?

Here’s a reminder of how seriously we should take the liturgical dissenters. Given a choice between these people and Benedict XVI? Is there any question?

…for the Month of January 2010 are completed. This being the liturgical Year C of the Roman calendar.

You’ll find them at THOUGHTS.

I listen to this first because I love the sound of Russian sacred music and I can stand shoulder to shoulder with our Orthodox brothers in praying the prayer our Lord taught us to pray. So much almost goes without saying.

But I notice this video in particular has a quality almost of the old days of the Soviet Union, such that it has been done surreptitiously, and even the singing of the Lord’s Prayer would be dangerous to those participating. The church itself seems almost barren and the videographer takes time to show the pipe organ, not being used for this musical selection.

This seems to me almost symbolic in the sense that under oppression the Christians are tested and survive and they have become very good at singing a cappella, so good in fact that it has its own quality that surpasses the instrument supported music. And indeed, there is something so beautiful about human voices in chorale sans instruments when it is well done that in my own mind it is really the highest form of music and liturgically speaking the highest form of praise to God.

It would be nice to get the recording. Fascinating that the monastery has been going without interruption since 1133. That’s one that was out of the reach of the kings of England.

Just the other day I was listening to a priest discussing that very central part of our faith, the two natures of Christ, being both fully God and fully man.
In the course of his talk he reminded us that it was Mary who gave her son Jesus his humanity. That was her gift as it was the Holy Spirit in the conception of Christ that provided his divinity, so to speak.

This set me upon meditation on the Incarnation once more, a habit and practice that I have found very useful in understanding and deepening my Catholic faith. There is such wonder in that mystery, there is such depth of beauty and symmetry, there is such awe inspiring power in it yet such humility inspiring love. I shall never cease to meditate upon the Incarnation because I know I will never plomb its depths.

What did strike me the other day however, was a thought of how appropriate it would be, in the light of what the priest mentioned, to sing some form of Ave Maria during the collection and most definitely during the presentation of the gifts. Mary’s fiat was her giving of herself to God. “May it be done to me according to your word.” Thus, as she gave herself to the Holy Spirit to become the mother, the giver of her own flesh and blood to her son Jesus Christ, so too, as we give the gifts of bread and wine that the Holy Spirit will cause to become the body and blood of Christ on the altar, we are joining with her in our own small way, and following her supreme example. Would that we would also join her in our hearts, in giving ourselves over completely to Christ.