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“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Growth in Holiness

Fr. David Friel · September 4, 2011

The memorial of Pope St. Gregory the Great is one of my favorite feasts each year not only account of his patronage of music, but also on account of the beauty of the Collect given in the missal for his Mass.

It reads, in part: Ut de proféctu sanctárum óvium fiant gáudia aetérna pastórum. This clause is well rendered in the current English translation in the Sacramentary: “May the growth of your people in holiness be the eternal joy of our shepherds.”

I have been inspired by the beauty of that prayer from at least the time I began praying the Divine Office, the year before I entered the seminary. It takes on a new beauty for me, however, as I encounter this Collect as a newly ordained priest. In the estimation of Holy Mother Church, my eternal joy, as a chosen shepherd, should be the growth in holiness of the people entrusted to my care. How much I have experienced this already, in so short a time as a priest!

I wish the people of my parish could see things for a day as their priest sees them. I wish they could watch themselves coming up to receive Communion and be edified by the devotion on their faces. I wish they could experience their confessor’s fulfillment when he grants them pardon and peace through absolution. I wish they could feel the excitement of receiving a phone call from a woman interested in RCIA. I wish they could know their spiritual father’s joy when he hears the school children praying and singing to God.

Watching the people of my parish grow in holiness has been exhilarating already. It must be like a biological father watching his son or daughter excel in music or basketball or mathematics. It is the exhilaration of watching one’s charge become what he or she is supposed to be.

And we are all supposed to be holy.

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 served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

Alabama Assessment!

We received this evaluation of Symposium 2022 from an Alabama participant:

“Oh, how the Symposium echoed the words of Cardinal Merry Del Val: …choosing only what is most conformed to Thy glory, which is my final aim. In one short and fast paced week, the faculty and attendees showed me the hand of God and our Lady working in our lives. The wide range of education—from Gregorian Chant, jazz modes in organ improvisation, to ‘staying sane’ while leading a choir—were certainly first-class knowledge from the best teachers of the art. However, the most powerful lesson was learning how to pray as a choir. The sacrifice of putting songs together, taking time to learn the sacred text, meditating on the church teaching through the chants, and gaining the virtues required to persevere in these duties were not only qualities of a choir but of a saint. The sanctification of the lives of the attendees was a beautiful outcome of this event … and that in itself is worth more than a beautifully-sung Solesmes style chant!”

—Jeff Ostrowski
PDF Download • Trinity Sunday (22 pages)

Feel free to download this Organ Accompaniment Booklet for Trinity Sunday (Second Vespers). Notice how the modes progress by number. Psalm 1 is mode 1; Psalm 2 is mode 2; Psalm 3 is mode 3; Psalm 4 is mode 4; Psalm 5 is mode 5. I am told by an expert that other feasts (such as Corpus Christi) are likewise organized by mode, and it’s called a “numerical office.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
10 June 2022 • “Official” rhythm of plainsong

I continue to search for the most beautiful way to present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores. (Technically, the “pure” rhythm of the official edition is what everyone is supposed to use.) You can download my latest attempt, which is the Introit for this coming Sunday: Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Because this is not an ancient feast, the Introit had to be adapted (perhaps around 750AD). Prior Johner says the adaptation is “not an entirely happy one.”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The free space which the new order of Mass gives to creativity it must be admitted, is often excessively enlarged. The difference between the liturgy with the new liturgical books, as it is actually practiced and celebrated in various places is often much greater than the difference between the old and new liturgies when celebrated according to the rubrics of the liturgical books.”

— Cardinal Ratzinger (1998)

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