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Jesus said to them: “I have come into this world so that a sentence may fall upon it, that those who are blind should see, and those who see should become blind. If you were blind, you would not be guilty. It is because you protest, ‘We can see clearly,’ that you cannot be rid of your guilt.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

“Soft Source of Calm Tranquillity”: The Quiet Mass

Dr. Peter Kwasniewski · April 24, 2014

EORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL is so well known for his multitudinous English oratorios and Italian operas that it can be hard to remember he was a native German-speaker for whom both of those languages were acquired in the course of a colorful, productive, and largely successful career. It is also surprising that he set to music very few German texts in his life. One lovely exception are the Nine German Arias (HWV 202-210), to which I have been recently listening. The text of the aria “Süße Stille, sanfte Quelle” (HWV 205), written by Barthold Heinrich Brocke in 1721, particularly caught my attention:

Sweet silence,
soft source of calm tranquility:
when after this time
of vain labor
I see in my mind’s eye
that rest which awaits us in eternity.

To me, this poem perfectly captures the feelings one often has at a quiet low Mass. And while I am admittedly an ardent advocate of the sung High Mass and the Solemn Mass, I also know from long and grateful experience how the low Mass (especially on weekdays) can be an oasis of spiritual rest in the midst of our labors, a foretaste of that eternal resting in God that we long for if we are awake and alert to His reality and our destiny.

At Wyoming Catholic College we have a calm, almost whispered early morning low Mass each Saturday. It is so still in the church that you are strangely aware of silent things like the sunlight pouring through the windows. You hear the birds singing around the church as the daylight grows. As the age-old and ageless dialogue of the priest and servers wafts over me, I feel my soul grow calm in the presence of the Lord: the “still, small voice” of God speaks to me through the sacred liturgy. I understand better what Dom Guéranger once wrote: “The Holy Spirit has made the liturgy the center of his working in men’s souls.”

The Novus Ordo almost never allows for this kind of experience. After decades of experiencing it in the best possible situations, with priests of unquestionable orthodoxy and piety, appropriate sacred music, and so forth, that profound tranquillity, simplicity, silence, and otherworldliness, so characteristic of the traditional Low Mass, has proved ever elusive. I think the main reason is that the Novus Ordo is often demanding that you DO something, SPEAK or MOVE or whatever; you are never left at peace for long. It’s like having a schoolmarm who is always there poking you awake from your daydream and demanding that you get back to your long division problems: no time to waste! We’ve got work to do!

We modern Westerners are so inured to (one might even say seduced by) activism, we sometimes end up losing in our feverish work the graces we could have obtained in peace of soul, “waiting on the Lord.” Perhaps what we need the most is to let ourselves simply “be” in the presence of the Lord, abiding with Him, breathing with His breath, watching for Him to show Himself in some small way that is nevertheless immensely precious. It’s very hard to express what I’m talking about to someone who has not experienced a truly prayerful Low Mass―and for those who have experienced it, no explanation is necessary.

Please visit THIS PAGE to learn more about Dr. Kwasniewski’s exciting new publication,
Sacred Choral Works, a 273-page collection of a cappella choir music for the Liturgy.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Dr. Peter Kwasniewski

A graduate of Thomas Aquinas College (B.A. in Liberal Arts) and The Catholic University of America (M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy), Dr. Peter Kwasniewski is currently Professor at Wyoming Catholic College. He is also a published and performed composer, especially of sacred music.

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Proof Which All Can Immediately See!
    “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” as the famous maxim goes. Over the years, I’ve observed malicious attacks on the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal. Rather than scoring a ‘hit’ on the Brébeuf Hymnal, those launching such attacks often reveal profound ignorance. I’ve been advised never to reply … but I break that rule today. Certain voices online assert that the Brébeuf Hymnal is “untraditional” because it includes both the Urbanite and pre-Urbanite versions of the hymns. If such people would pick up the 1913 VESPERALE (printed by order of Pope Saint Pius X) they would see how mistaken such statements are.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    New Bulletin Article • “8 June 2025”
    My pastor requested that I write short articles each week for the parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The latest article includes a few anecdotes about Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and Abraham Lincoln.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Gloria in Spanish” • Free Accompaniment
    Several people have requested an organ accompaniment for the GLORY TO GOD which prints the Spanish words directly above the chords. The Spanish adaptation—Gloria a Dios en el cielo—as printed in Roman Misal, tercera edición was adapted from the “Glória in excélsis” from Mass XV (DOMINATOR DEUS). I used to feel that it’s a pretty boring chant … until I heard it sung well by a men’s Schola Cantorum, which changed my view dramatically. This morning, I created this harmonization and dedicated it to my colleague, Corrinne May. You may download it for free. Please let me know if you enjoy it!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

It is unworthy that the stone holds Him, Who encloses everything in His hand, Locked in by the forbidding rock. (“Indígnum est cujus claudúntur cuncta pugíllo | Ut tegat inclúsum rupe vetánte lapis.”)

— SALVE FESTA DIES (Eastertide)

Recent Posts

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  • New Bulletin Article • “8 June 2025”
  • “The Adalbert Propers” • Six (6) Quotations
  • PDF Download • “Entrance Chant” for 29 June … Which Falls on a Sunday This Year!
  • “Music List” • 6th Sunday of Easter (Year C)

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