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“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

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Views from the Choir Loft

In This Time Above All

Fr. David Friel · May 5, 2013

ID YOU EVER THROW a party? I mean a really big party. How much time did you spend preparing for it? It’s not uncommon for people to start a few days early. Early in the week, you do the shopping, then you clean the house, and you might even do some of the cooking the night before. By the time everything’s ready, it’s fairly easy to spend more time preparing for the feast than actually enjoying it.

One of the things I love about being Catholic is that we don’t do that. When we have a feast (and the Church has lots of them) we do it right. Take Easter, for example. We prepare for Easter with 40 days of Lent, but then we celebrate Easter for a full 50 days—ten days more than we spent preparing! For this reason, even though we’re six weeks beyond the Easter Vigil at this point, it is still perfectly appropriate to greet one another with “Happy Easter.”

Perhaps you know that one of the hallmarks of the Roman Rite is its changeable Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer. I’ve been transfixed this Easter season, however, by the similarity of the Easter Prefaces. In the opening line of each, the priest prays the same words: “It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, at all times to acclaim You, O Lord, but in this time above all to laud You yet more gloriously, when Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.”

This is a daring statement. It claims that during Easter, “in this time above all,” we are supposed to praise God even more gloriously than we do the rest of the year. Why? Because of the enormity of the Paschal Mystery we are celebrating.

The Passion, Death, & Resurrection of Christ is more wondrous than any of the other things we celebrate as a Church. The Easter Mystery is more wondrous than Christmas or the Annunciation or the feast of the Archangels. It’s the most wondrous of all the mysteries, and, because the mystery we’re celebrating is more wondrous, our celebration must be more festive. We sing “All Glory, Laud, and Honor” on Palm Sunday, but we owe the Lord even greater laud throughout Paschaltide.

Lent is long, because we need an annual period of prayer & fasting & retreat. But Easter is longer, because we need that amount of time to do justice to what we celebrate. We’re not celebrating a good report card or a promotion at work or a World Series victory. We’re celebrating the triumph of Jesus Christ over the grave! Are we really still celebrating, or has the enormity of Easter passed us by?

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

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. However, on the feasts website, the chants have been posted for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), which is this coming Sunday: 6 July 2025.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)
    With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    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

Random Quote

“Those who teach Latin must know how to speak to the hearts of the young, know how to treasure the very rich heritage of the Latin tradition to educate them in the path of life, and accompany them along paths rich in hope and confidence.”

— Pope Francis (7 December 2017)

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