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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 and teaches liturgy at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    PDF • “For the Season of Pentecost”
    During the season of Pentecost, you might consider using this 2-page Piece “for the season of Pentecost.” Rehearsal videos are available at #40691, but the lyrics are different. Therefore, make sure your choir members understand that one can rehearse songs that have different lyrics (“CONTRAFACT”).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Introit • (This Coming Sunday)
    Our volunteer choir appreciates training videos, so here's my attempt at recording “Exáudi Dómine Vocem Meam,” which is the INTROIT for this coming Sunday. This coming Sunday is Dominica Post Ascensionem (“Sunday after the feast of the Ascension”). It is sung according to the official rhythm of the Catholic Church.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Volunteer Choir Attempts “Kýrie Eléison”
    My volunteer choir attempted the polyphonic KYRIE that will be sung at this year's Sacred Music Symposium. If you're interested, you can listen to the live recording from last Sunday. The piece is based on the ancient plainchant hymn melody: Ave Maris Stella. Polyphony like this is truly intricate and wonderful. It reminds me of the quote by Artur Schnabel: “music that's greater than it can be performed.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“At the hour for the Divine Office, | as soon as the signal is heard, | let them abandon whatever they may have in hand | and hasten with the greatest speed, | yet with seriousness, so that there is no excuse for levity. | Let nothing be preferred to the sacred liturgy.”

— Rule of St. Benedict (Chapter 43)

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