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

Corpus Christi Watershed

Jesus said to them: “I have come into this world so that a sentence may fall upon it, that those who are blind should see, and those who see should become blind. If you were blind, you would not be guilty. It is because you protest, ‘We can see clearly,’ that you cannot be rid of your guilt.”

  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • KYRIALE • Saint Antoine Daniel
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • Ordinary Form Feasts (Sainte-Marie)
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Secrets of the Conscientious Choirmaster
    • “Wedding March” for lazy organists
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • The Eight Gregorian Modes
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
    • Seven (7) Considerations
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Acts of the Apostles

Fr. David Friel · April 17, 2013

OUND UP WITH THE CELEBRATION OF EASTER is the reading of the Acts of the Apostles. It’s fascinating to me to read, year after year, about the initial fervor and drama of the Christian way. Among the most evocative episodes in the book is the scene wherein Stephen debates people from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, & Asia—folks from all corners of the world. Stephen’s words were so persuasive that the people “could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke” (Acts 6:10).

How do we reconcile that scene with our personal experience? Surely, we all know people who have heard the Gospel message but who have not been overwhelmed by it. Think of the Millennials who were raised by good, faithful parents but who have grown apathetic toward faith. Think of all the students who graduate from 8 or 12 or 16 years of Catholic education only to drift away from the Church. Think of the many catechumens & candidates who come through RCIA but fade back into oblivion after Pentecost. The faith was taught to them, but it wasn’t well received. How do we deal with this reality when we compare it to Stephen’s experience?

We ought not to feel inadequate if our children or friends or classmates have not swooned over our evangelatory efforts. It is a teaching of the Church that we receive grace only insofar as we are disposed to receive it. This helps to explain why it’s not possible to force faith upon anyone. Faith must be accepted. The closed doors of the hardened heart must be broken open if faith is to find a home. No mere man has the power to throw open the doors of another person’s heart, no matter how charming his rhetoric.

There are, however, tools one can employ to aid the process of conversion. The most compelling things in the world are Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, which philosophy dubs the “Transcendentals.” These three ideals transcend the things of earth and represent the universal aspirations of humanity. Every human heart longs for that which is true & good & beautiful. Nothing we experience in life is more compelling than truth that is taught clearly, goodness that is demonstrated sincerely, and beauty that is revealed intimately. These things can make stiff hearts supple, better disposed to receive the wisdom and Spirit of Christ.

There is something appealing about truths that are systematically laid out for us. There is something heartwarming about goodness that is freely given. There is something vital about beauty that is recognizable in art & music & architecture & liturgy & life.

While we cannot force faith upon others, we can strive to teach the truth clearly, demonstrate sincere goodness, and live life beautifully. By doing these things well, the witness of our very lives can become a convincing sign of the Kingdom.

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 Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 5th Sunday of Easter (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 5th Sunday of Easter (18 May 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. The Communion Antiphon was ‘restored’ the 1970 Missale Romanum (a.k.a. MISSALE RECENS) from an obscure martyr’s feast. Our choir is on break this Sunday, so the selections are relatively simple in nature.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Communion Chant (5th Sunday of Easter)
    This coming Sunday—18 May 2025—is the 5th Sunday of Easter, Year C (MISSALE RECENS). The COMMUNION ANTIPHON “Ego Sum Vitis Vera” assigned by the Church is rather interesting, because it comes from a rare martyr’s feast: viz. Saint Vitalis of Milan. It was never part of the EDITIO VATICANA, which is the still the Church’s official edition. As a result, the musical notation had to be printed in the Ordo Cantus Missae, which appeared in 1970.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • 4th Sunday of Easter (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 4th Sunday of Easter (11 May 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. I don’t know a more gorgeous ENTRANCE CHANT than the one given there: Misericórdia Dómini Plena Est Terra.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

If then Dom Pothier has sometimes adapted authentic melodies found elsewhere in the manuscripts to texts of the Mass it is not, as Mr. X. maintains, because he has “composed them from scratch and declared them as traditional.”

— Most Rev’d Henri Laurent Janssens (25 November 1905)

Recent Posts

  • A Gentleman (Whom I Don’t Know) Approached Me After Mass Yesterday And Said…
  • “For me, Gregorian chant at the Mass was much more consonant with what the Mass truly is…” —Bp. Earl Fernandes
  • “Lindisfarne Gospels” • Created circa 705 A.D.
  • “Music List” • 5th Sunday of Easter (Year C)
  • Communion Chant (5th Sunday of Easter)

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2025 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.