• 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

The Church Is Alive And Strong!

Jeff Ostrowski · May 23, 2013

AY 18, 2013, was a powerful day of Grace. My brother, Mark, was ordained to the Transitional Diaconate by the Most Reverend Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann.

The image you see toward the upper right was taken the night before, while the seminarians were practicing. After that, we all took part in a beautiful Sung Vespers and Holy Hour.

The music for the Ordination was sensational. Lucas Tappan has created an unbelievable “school of singing.” He currently directs forty (40) children and a whole bunch of adults. Their “sound” was so beautiful. I was not expecting to hear such a beautiful “sound.” Musicians will understand what I mean when I refer to the “sound” of the voices: lovely, unforced (as Fr. Finn would say!), and trained well. By the way, they used a Chabanel Psalm I composed, and it sounded amazing the way they sang it. They had all the high voices sing every other verse, and the low voices sang the alternate verses. All present joined each Refrain. Lucas is to be commended for his fine work.

Archbishop Naumann gave the finest sermon on priestly celibacy I ever heard. You can read it here:

      * *  Sermon on Celibacy by Archbishop Naumann

A few excerpts:

Of all the of these ordination promises, celibacy is perhaps the most counter-cultural.

In its first chapters, the scriptures speak to us the truth that human beings are not meant to be alone. We are built to be in communion with others. The relationship of marriage has a special place of importance above all other human friendships and bonds. The Bible tells us for this reason a man and woman leave father and mother in order to become one in flesh and spirit. According to the scriptures, the love of husband and wife most closely approximates the love of God for His people. Even heaven itself is described as a wedding banquet.

The Church asks those who will lead and shepherd her communities of Faith to give up the possibility of marital love as a prophetic witness that there is something even more important to our happiness than even beautiful intimacy possible in Christian marriage. More essential to our joy as human beings – no matter if we are married or single or a religious sister or priest – is intimacy with God.

In a world that mixes up physical sexual intimacy with love, this bold witness of celibacy is crucial. In a world where many are confused about something as fundamental as the nature of marriage, where many no longer are able to distinguish between pornography and beauty, where the lie of the sexual revolution – that physical sex is essential for happiness – continues to dominate our music and movies, prophetic celibate love is desperately needed.

Our culture continues to cling to the deception that sexual pleasure is the key to happiness, even though we are surrounded by the collateral damage of the sexual revolution – more that 50 million children aborted, epidemics of depression and physical disease, high divorce rates, and children deprived of the love of a father and a mother.

But the most astonishing thing was to hear my brother preach on Sunday. He did an incredible job.

May Jesus Christ be praised. In spite of all the evil in the world, He still takes care of His Church. The Church is strong. The Church is vibrant. Jesus Christ still offers His Grace to those willing to accept it.

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

At papal Masses, the regulations against tardiness were more stringent than at Masses celebrated by cardinals or bishops. Giovanni Maria Nanino records that any singer who is not in his place—and in his vestments—by the end of the repetition of the “Introit” will be fined eight vinti. At papal Vespers, the singer who is not present at the “Gloria Patri” of the first psalm pays a fine of fifty balocchi.

— Giovanni M. Nanino (d. 1607), Papal “Maestro di Cappella”

Recent Posts

  • 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”
  • Introit • Candlemas (2 February)

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.