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Views from the Choir Loft

The Joy of Penance

Fr. David Friel · March 25, 2017

NLY SOMEONE who knows very little about music would say that major scales make for happy music and minor scales make for sad music. To say this is a gross over-simplification. For one thing, it expresses a narrow viewpoint, in the sense that major and minor scales are a feature of relatively recent, European music. Such a claim also has to ignore an enormous number of counter-examples that seem to contradict it. The somber bugle call, Taps, for example, is comprised of notes from a single major chord. Meanwhile, the popular Christmas carol, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, which extends “tidings of comfort and joy,” is written in E minor.

So it’s not as simple as “major = happy” and “minor = sad.”

Within any key or mode or major or minor scale, melodies can be composed that evoke a vast array of sentiments and responses. Music is the purveyor of a great richness, a true wealth of complexity.

IMILARLY, only someone who knows very little about the Church would say that Lent is a sad time and Easter is a happy time. To say this is another gross over-simplification. Such a claim, in fact, has to ignore counter-examples. Is there not a twinge of sadness, for example, in the feast of the Ascension, when our Lord’s Presence among us undergoes a change? And, in Lent, are there not moments of great joy, such as the Palm Sunday procession recalling our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem? Indeed, there is more subtlety to both Lent and Paschaltide than might first appear obvious.

Does not our Lord acknowledge this very reality? On Ash Wednesday, the Gospel reading recounts this admonition from Jesus: “When you fast, do not be sad like the hypocrites.” Indeed, the Lord, Himself, recognizes that sadness and joy are never a strict duality, in total opposition to one another. Rather, it is often the case that the experience of one entails a little bit of the other, too.

This is important for us to remember in Lent. Most Catholics (and even many non-Catholic Christians) undertake a personal program of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving during these penitential days. But the fruit of penance ought not to be sadness or dullness or melancholy. Our Lenten practices are not intended to make us gloomy or sullen or miserable. The fruits of our Lenten observance, rather, should be joy, peace, generosity, kindness, forbearance, love. Said another way, “being sad” is not intrinsic to penance and mortification. If our works of penance are accomplishing their purpose—namely, to conform us more closely to Christ—then should we not expect them to produce within us a spirit of joy?

UST over halfway through Lent, the Church reminds us of all this by giving us Laetare Sunday. The strictures of the season are lightened for today: the altar can be decorated with some flowers, the organ can be played on its own, and the priest wears rose-colored vestments.

We find further encouragement in the magnificent introit for today, from the Book of Isaiah, in which the Church sings: Laetare Ierusalem! “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and gather round, all you who love her. Rejoice in gladness, after having been in sorrow! Exult and be replenished with the consolation flowing from her motherly bosom.”

Lent and joy are not mutually exclusive. The penance of Lent teaches us, in fact, that joy does not derive solely from things that “feel good” and satisfy our appetites. It is actually by embracing difficult things that deny our appetites in an effort to satisfy the spiritual longings of our hearts that we derive the highest joys.

Sarah rejoiced when the Lord brought forth a son from her long barrenness. The crowd of five thousand was overjoyed when the Lord used a meager five loaves and two fish to transform their hunger into a superabundance. The Israelites praised God for bringing forth water from a rock in the desert. Let us not be surprised, therefore, if the Lord should use our Lenten mortification to bring about the fruits of joy and gladness.

Editor’s Note : It is also worth recalling that many melodies in the Graduale Romanum used for Lenten Sundays are also used for Eastertide. This fact is quite uncomfortable for those who insist upon a superficial relationship between text and melody.

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 Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. However, on the feasts website, the chants have been posted for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), which is this coming Sunday: 6 July 2025.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)
    With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    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

Random Quote

“What matters is to prefer God to all else; to be ready to sacrifice all, rather than commit one sin.”

— Cardinal Merry Del Val (shortly before his death)

Recent Posts

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  • Bishop François Charrière Vs. Hannibal Bugnini
  • 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • “My First Year with the Latin Mass” • A Music Director’s Perspective
  • Boston Auxiliary Bishop: “In offering the Traditional Mass for the first time, after removing the vestments, I knelt in the back pew and wept.”

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