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Views from the Choir Loft

Corpus Christi

Fr. David Friel · June 2, 2013

OST PEOPLE WHO FREQUENT THE WATERSHED are somehow invested in the work of sacred music. Very often, that work can become all-consuming. Instead of refreshing us like art should, the tasks associated with liturgical musicianship can drain us by becoming our sole focus. Especially for those who work full-time in churches, the role of the sacred musician can easily slip into less a role of service and more of a frantic effort to subsist. We may be responsible for Mass upon Mass and choir upon choir. Sometimes we recognize it as it’s happening to us, yet, even though we realize it is unhealthy, it happens to us anyway. We find ourselves powerless to change the situation.

As the Church celebrates this week the great solemnity of Corpus Christi, the remedy for this age-old affliction is set before us. In difficult times, as in peaceful times, we should turn to the Most Blessed Sacrament. The God we serve, after all, is not music; rather, we use music to serve our God. Consider this reflection from Archbishop Fulton Sheen:

“Hence the Mass is to us the crowning act of Christian worship. A pulpit in which the words of Our Lord are repeated does not unite us to Him; a choir in which sweet sentiments are sung brings us no closer to His Cross than His garments. A temple without an altar of sacrifice is non-existent among primitive peoples, and is meaningless among Christians. And so in the Catholic Church the altar—and not the pulpit or the choir or the organ—is the center of worship, for there is re-enacted the memorial of His Passion” (Calvary and the Mass).

This should be our remedy when we sit frazzled on the bench or stand beleaguered in the loft. Let’s leave the loft and spend some time in the pew. Even a short time spent before the Body of Christ can feed us with living waters that will sustain us.

We are called to worship at the altar, not at the organ. In doing the work of the Lord, we must never neglect the Lord of the work.

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 served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and teaches liturgy at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    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.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Tempo?? • 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘞𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦
    Once, after Mass, my pastor said he really loved the hymn we did. I said: “Father, that's Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—you never heard it before?” He replied: “But the way you did it was terrific. For once, it didn't sound like a funeral dirge!” Last Sunday, our volunteer choir sang that hymn. I think the tempo was just about right … but what do you think?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Don’t You Agree About These?
    If you want to make Jeff Ostrowski really happy, send him an email with effusive praise about the individual voice recordings for hymn #296. [Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass] They came out dazzlingly sensational, don't you agree?
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The Catholic Church holds it better for the sun and moon to drop from heaven, for the earth to fail, and for all the many millions on it to die of starvation in extremest agony, as far as temporal affliction goes, than that one soul, I will not say, should be lost, but should commit one single venial sin, should tell one willful untruth, or should steal one poor farthing without excuse.”

— Saint John Henry Newman (1865)

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