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Views from the Choir Loft

Divine Intimacy

Fr. David Friel · February 3, 2013

E THINK WE KNOW PEOPLE. All of us do. Maybe it’s a spouse or a roommate or a best friend. We think we know them because we know their handwriting; we know their pet words & phrases; we can predict the play-by-play of their morning routine; we can identify a sweater as theirs just by the smell; we can recognize their footsteps coming down the staircase.

Every single one of us has a few people in our lives that we know that well. But even all that, I daresay, is shallow by comparison to the way we are known by God.

The thirteenth chapter of the First Letter to the Corinthians is home to the famous passage that begins, “Love is patient, love is kind.” After all the talk about love, St. Paul goes into a comparison between life on Earth and life in heaven. He says: “At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

So many people wander through life longing to feel like somebody truly knows and understands them, with all their intricacies and subtleties. To be “fully known” by God must be an extraordinary sensation! The good news is that we don’t have to wait to get to heaven to experience it. God has known us fully since the moment He created us. As He says to the Prophet Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I dedicated you” (Jeremiah 1:5).

Is it possible to reach a very deep level of intimacy with a human person? Absolutely. But no human relationship can measure up to the incomparable intimacy we have with God, Who knows us better than we know ourselves.

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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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Hymn by Cardinal Newman
    During the season of Septuagesima, we will be using this hymn by Cardinal Newman, which employs both Latin and English. (Readers probably know that Cardinal Newman was one of the world's experts when it comes to Lingua Latina.) The final verse contains a beautiful soprano descant. Father Louis Bouyer—famous theologian, close friend of Pope Paul VI, and architect of post-conciliar reforms—wrote thus vis-à-vis the elimination of Septuagesima: “I prefer to say nothing, or very little, about the new calendar, the handiwork of a trio of maniacs who suppressed (with no good reason) Septuagesima and the Octave of Pentecost and who scattered three quarters of the Saints higgledy-piddledy, all based on notions of their own devising!”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Introit • Candlemas (2 February)
    “Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here's a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.) We still need to improve, but we're definitely on the right track!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3). I'm not a fan of chant in octaves, but we had such limited time to rehearse, it seemed the best choice. After all, everyone should have an opportunity to learn “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium,” which summarizes Candlemas.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The argument moves from the existence of the thing to the correctness of the thing: what is, ought to be. Or, a popular variant: if a thing is, it doesn’t make any difference whether it ought to be—the correct response is to adjust, to learn to live with the thing.”

— ‘L. Brent Bozell, Jr.’

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