Views from the Choir Loft

Christmas at Christ the King (late!)

Corpus Christi Watershed · February 4, 2013

EO LABRECQUE sent us an E-mail on 29 December 2012 letting us know about a beautiful blog on the Catholic Champion. Due to the volume of mail we receive, it is not always easy to get to things in a timely manner, but this blog seemed to good to pass up, even though it is no longer Christmastide.

By visiting this website [url], you can view splendid pictures of the candlelit Christmas Mass in Sarasota, Florida. We hope our readers will continue to send us notification of events that we can help to make known to a wider audience.

To learn more, you may want to visit their website [url].

The photographer says: We had another wonderful candle lit Christmas Mass this year at Christ the King in Sarasota, Florida. I went up front to the left of the altar to take some pictures and I was enraptured. I never went back to my pew. I just knelt on the floor, prayed and took pictures the entire Mass. Here are a few of them. Thanks again to Father Fryar for giving us such a memorable Christmas Mass.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

6 January 2021 • Anglicans on Plainsong

A book published by Anglicans in 1965 has this to say about Abbat Pothier’s Editio Vaticana, the musical edition reproduced by books such as the LIBER USUALIS (Solesmes Abbey): “No performing edition of the music of the Eucharistic Psalmody can afford to ignore the evidence of the current official edition of the Latin Graduale, which is no mere reproduction of a local or partial tradition, but a CENTO resulting from an extended study and comparison of a host of manuscripts gathered from many places. Thus the musical text of the Graduale possesses a measure of authority which cannot lightly be disregarded.” They are absolutely correct.

—Jeff Ostrowski

2 January 2021 • Temptation

When I see idiotic statements made on the internet, I go nuts. When I see heretics promoted by people who should know better, I get angry. Learning to ignore such items is difficult—very difficult. I try to remember the words of Fr. Valentine Young: “Do what God places in front of you each day.” When I am honest, I don’t believe God wants me to dwell on errors and idiocy; there’s nothing I can do about that. During 2021, I will strive to do a better job following the advice of Fr. Valentine.

—Jeff Ostrowski

31 December 2020 • “COMITES CHRISTI”

The feasts for Saint Stephen Proto-Martyr (26 December), Saint John the Evangelist The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved (27 December), and the Feast of the Holy Innocents (28 December) seem untouched by any liturgical reforms. These are very powerful feasts—I believe they once possessed octaves—and I believe they could sometimes “overpower” a Sunday feast. The rules for octaves in the olden days are extremely complex. These feasts are sometimes referred to as a single entity as: Comites Christi (“Companions of Christ”). This is just a guess, but there seems to be a triple significance: STEPHEN martyred after Christ lived, JOHN was a martyr who knew Christ personally, and the HOLY INNOCENTS were martyred before Christ’s birth.

—Jeff Ostrowski