• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Why We Must Never Fail To Sing Holy Music At Mass

Jeff Ostrowski · March 24, 2013

HOULD WE SING holy, beautiful, dignified, and inspiring sacred music at Mass? Yes, because this is the very least we can do for God. To help illustrate this, I must talk about our daughter Carmen, who just turned two. Look at what God does for children: He forms them so perfectly. Their little bodies know just how to grow from the moment they are conceived (I believe their spinal chords have a lot to do with this).

Reader’s mind: “Wait a minute . . . say what?”

Why do I mention my daughter? Please let me explain. Tonight, as I was reading her bedtime stories, she exhibited more knowledge than ever. She speaks in complete sentences, knows the name of everything, uses the various parts of speech, syntax, grammar, and verb conjugations correctly (for instance, plural vs. singular), knows things we never even taught her, and can repeat any word she hears. Friends, this is marvelous. Our Heavenly Father “programmed” all these things in such a marvelous way. My wife and I did not “create” Carmen: God did. My wife and I are not responsible for the miracle of her little body, which is perfect in every respect down to her little tiny fingernails: God is. While my wife and I are Carmen’s parents, we’re not responsible for creating her perfect parts: eyes, mind, spinal chord, stomach, ears, and so forth. God did that, and (as I have already mentioned) God designed children to slowly learn and grow in a marvelous way. It is simply overwhelming to witness: I apologize that my poor writing skills are unable to do justice to such wonders.

For this reason, we must never say, “I cannot be bothered to spend half an hour studying the music for Sunday’s Mass.” We must never say, “I refuse to spend time preparing the music for the Eucharistic Sacrifice.” We must never say, “It would be unreasonable for God to expect me to actually make an effort to prepare the music at Mass.”

After all, God has already done the hard work!

To make a long story short, when we contemplate God’s wonders, and the daily miracles He works, it becomes easier for us to realize how lazy and complacent we can be when it comes to serving Him.

UPDATE: By the way, Carmen somehow remembers the titles of books she hasn’t seen in months. Why can she pronounce these titles so clearly now, although she has not heard them pronounced in months?

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

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

“In the Latin Church the pipe organ is to be held in high esteem, for it is the traditional musical instrument which adds a wonderful splendor to the Church’s ceremonies and powerfully lifts up man’s mind to God and to higher things.”

— Vatican II Council

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • Symposium Kyrie Revealed
  • Did Pope Francis Just Publicly Rebuke the Prefect of Divine Worship?
  • Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “The Normal Syllabic Value” (6 Feb 2023)
  • Hymn by Cardinal Newman
  • Church Music Shouldn’t Be “Headache-Inducing”

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.