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Views from the Choir Loft

Weddings & Funerals

Fr. David Friel · September 28, 2011

If we were forewarned about anything in the seminary, it was those Saturdays when the parish has both a funeral and a wedding. Seemingly every semester, one of our professors would admonish us that these situations were coming. Then, as the stock plot went, the priest would emphasize the need for us to be prepared to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.

Fair enough. No dispute. But…

It occurred to me today that there really isn’t so great a difference between the two celebrations. It’s often said that laughter and tears aren’t far apart. The same, I think, is true of weddings and funerals. Fundamentally, both weddings and funerals are celebrations of the Paschal Mystery. Does not the Paschal Mystery, itself, involve the Passion, Death, & Resurrection of the Lord? Mysteriously, life and death are not opposites. They are more like two faces of a single coin.

I had my first such Saturday within weeks of ordination. It admittedly makes for a strange day, but not a day that should place the priest in conflict. The Gospel is the same, whether we weep or rejoice. Our whole human experience is really participation in the Paschal Mystery—and that means both life and death.

In Holy Matrimony, two become one. In Christian death, we hope for the same.

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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Fr. David Friel

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at St. Anselm Parish in Northeast Philly. He is currently a doctoral candidate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America.—(Read full biography).

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Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Church officials frequently asked Tomás Luis de Victoria for his opinion on cathedral appointments because of his fame and knowledge. He was faithful to his position as convent organist even after his professional debut as an organist, and never accepted any extra pay for being a chapelmaster. Held in great esteem, his contract allowed him frequent travel away from the convent, and he attended Palestrina’s funeral (in Rome) in 1594.”

— ‘Dr. Robert Stevenson, 1961 (mod.)’

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