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Views from the Choir Loft

Response to the Flood

Fr. David Friel · March 1, 2012

When the world seemed lost and gone too far astray, God brought mankind back by means of the great flood. Two-by-two, representatives of every creature had to pile onboard the ark to be saved.

Even now, God uses the same mechanism to bring us back. From the earliest Christian centuries, the great saints and Fathers have always seen in the ark a symbol of the Church. Indeed, now, in our times, we must all pile onboard the ark of the Church to be saved.

Although we can never be baptized again, God empowers His Church with another Sacrament that can bring us back from the evil and sin that still persists in our lives. God offers us the Sacrament of Penance so that, “through the ministry of the Church,” we may be kept safe from the floodwaters that surround us.

This Lent, let’s get on board. Let’s make use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Let’s climb aboard the ark of the Church. Waves are coming, I assure you. As a priest of Philadelphia, I know well that the tide is rising and, before this Lent is over, we will be surrounded by many floods. But the solution is not to break free—to somehow try to make a go of it on our own, jumping ship in the hope of finding our way to some illusory island of refuge.

Doing that, we are destined to drown. The real solution, as always, is actually to step closer to the heart of the Church. The Church, after all, is not just some incorporation founded by men. The Church is our Mother, given to us by Christ, Himself. The Church is the Ark of our salvation! This is what it means to believe that extra ecclesia nulla salus (“outside the Church, there is no salvation”). It was the ark that spared Noah from the flood; it was Baptism that spared us from original sin; and it is confession that spares us from our personal sins. Apart from Christ & His Church, we are nothing but hapless sinners.

Perhaps each of us could reach out to someone we know who has somehow become disenfranchised from the Church and invite them to come onboard with us. Even today, thousands of years after the flood, it’s still easier to go two-by-two than to do it alone.

God’s promise to Noah was that “the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all mortal beings” (Genesis 9:15). How similar are Christ’s words to Peter: “Upon this rock, I will build My Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). From another angle, Bishop Sheen once reflected that “there are not more than 100 people in the world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive to be the Catholic Church.”

This Lent, let’s fall in love with the Church for Who She really is. She is not a sinking ship. She is the Ark of our salvation.

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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    Tempo?? • 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘞𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦
    Once, after Mass, my pastor said he really loved the hymn we did. I said: “Father, that's Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—you never heard it before?” He replied: “But the way you did it was terrific. For once, it didn't sound like a funeral dirge!” Last Sunday, our volunteer choir sang that hymn. I think the tempo was just about right … but what do you think?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Don’t You Agree About These?
    If you want to make Jeff Ostrowski really happy, send him an email with effusive praise about the individual voice recordings for hymn #296. [Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass] They came out dazzlingly sensational, don't you agree?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Choral Vowels? Yes? No?
    Here's a live recording of one of the choral “warm-up” exercises my choir enjoys. It was taken during our rehearsal on 27 January 2023. It’s good to make sure each chord is perfectly in tune and balanced before moving to the next one. That only happens when each singer has the correct vowel. If you like, you can freely download that vocal exercise.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

If the homily goes on too long, it will affect two characteristic elements of the liturgical celebration: its balance and its rhythm. The words of the preacher must be measured, so that the Lord, more than his minister, will be the center of attention.

— Pope Francis (11/24/2013)

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