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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

EF Homily: 9th Sunday after Pentecost

Guest Author · August 10, 2014

Originally given on 21 July 2013.

F I AM NOT MISTAKEN there are two instances recorded in the Gospels where Jesus is said to have wept. The one occurred when He heard that His friend Lazarus died. The other is in the incident recorded today. We know that weeping or crying is a very human reaction usually to a sad situation. It generally indicates a condition of helplessness. This is especially true when we weep at losing someone through death.

Weeping over Jerusalem: Because of His divine knowledge, Jesus knew the future, and He knew how His own people were going to reject Him. He knew that eventually the justice of God would demand that this beautiful city be destroyed, including the magnificent temple which was once the glory of its existence. As we read elsewhere in the Bible, “Because it did not know the time of its visitation.” Yes, God is merciful, but there is a limit to His mercy. As St. Paul says, God will not be mocked. Because of the way He made us, God will not interfere with our free will.

Handwriting on the wall: Recently our Bishops have alerted us to pray for our religious freedom because our government is going to force us to do things that are against our conscience. But quite bluntly, why should the government get alarmed about requiring Catholics to do things that are against their consciences if the majority of Catholics are doing those things anyway? I’m told that Catholics aren’t that ‘lily-white’ when it comes to practicing birth-control, or being opposed to abortion or same sex marriage. A good percentage of Catholics will vote for politicians who are in favor of such things. Aren’t we supposed to be consistent in our ethics? We had an Old Franciscan who years ago used to say: “O consistency; thou art a virtue!” If a presidential candidate says he sees nothing wrong with same sex marriages, don’t be surprised if he promotes that if he is elected.

The Epistle: The incident related in the epistle may not be too clear to us, but it would have been familiar to the Jews. It referred to the incident in the Old Testament when they made the golden calf and worshipped around it, and also committed all kinds of other immorality around it. Because of this God slew quite a few of them. Back in Old Testament times God didn’t seem to be as patient as He seems to be today. Incidentally, this doesn’t mean that these people lost their souls. Possibly God knew this was the best means for them to save their souls.

A recent conference: This past week I was at a conference for priests on how to be better preachers. One of the presenters somewhat jokingly and yet seriously said, “We have to bring back the notion of a ‘mean’ Jesus”. Well, we certainly have that in today’s Gospel. I have often wondered what Jesus would do if He would come to some of our Churches today and see the behavior and dress of some of the people. I wish Jesus had come around with some whips when they were destroying or wrecknovating so many of the churches, tearing out beautiful altars and beautiful communion rails, just so the people could ‘see’ what was going on. I wonder how much holier this has made any of the people. Unfortunately the Cathedral in Nashville was ruined just so there could be an altar ‘facing the people.’

The phenomenon of ‘denial’: In psychology we learn there is a phenomenon of ‘denial.’ Briefly stated, this means a bad or undesirable situation that we know exists, but we keep saying it doesn’t exist. Ordinarily we can only do that so long; then we accept the fact and then go on from there, and do something about it. It seems to me for the last fifty years, we have been denying the fact of the sad state of affairs and conditions in the Church. Some people are still saying how glorious and wonderful things are. In the meanwhile Churches and schools are closing, religious orders are dying out, and fewer Catholics are practicing their religion. And still some are still saying how wonderful things are now, and incidentally how terrible things used to be.

I have reasons for hope. Yes it comes from priests like the 75 or so who attended that conference in Nashville, mostly young priests. I was by far the oldest. I’m surprised they even allowed me to attend! But as St. Paul says, “God is faithful, and will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength.” It is through people like you; yes, you Latin Mass people especially that we shall overcome.


We hope you enjoyed this homily by Fr. Valentine Young, OFM.

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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President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 17th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (27 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Communion • “Ask & You Shall Receive”
    All of the chants for 27 July 2025 have been added to the feasts website, as usual under a convenient “drop down” menu. The COMMUNION ANTIPHON (both text and melody) are exceedingly beautiful and ancient.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Jeff’s Mother Joins Our Fundraiser
    To assist our fundraiser, Mrs. Kathleen Ostrowski has drawn several beautiful sketches which she offers to all our readers free of charge. If you have a moment, I invite you download them at this link.
    —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

The effectiveness of liturgy does not lie in experimenting with rites and altering them over and over, nor in a continuous reductionism, but solely in entering more deeply into the word of God and the mystery being celebrated. It is the presence of these two that authenticates the Church’s rites, not what some priest decides, indulging his own preferences.

— Liturgicae Instaurationes (1970)

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