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Views from the Choir Loft

Homily: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Guest Author · August 10, 2014

HE MAIN THING that spiritual writers and commentators on the Bible find in the first reading for today is this: God does not ordinarily speak to us in extraordinary ways like earthquakes and rushing winds and fires, but in a tiny whispering sound. And one could develop this thought by saying that if one wants to hear this, one certainly has to be very quiet.

If there is one thing that the modern day world does not like, it is peace and quiet. One can hardly go anywhere and not have to listen to some kind of noise, be it music or some kind of broadcasting. I’m not in a position to say why this is. I just know the fact. I’m particularly annoyed when I visit someone’s home, and they don’t even have the courtesy to turn off the TV. However this topic is perhaps getting us off the subject. The point that I want to make is that if you want to have a conversation with God, it is best to do in a quiet atmosphere or surroundings. In my opinion that is why a quiet condition in our Churches is so important. I don’t think I need say more about what we experience in so many of our modern day Churches.

Probably one part of today’s Gospel that is passed over is the section where we are told that Jesus went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone. Now we can only speculate as to what kind of praying Jesus did. But if you take a definition of prayer that I frequently use, namely that “prayer is simply a conversation or talking with God,” then Jesus praying would simply be conversing with His Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit. Now their conversation would not be like anything we would have or could imagine. We simply can’t imagine what it would be like, because, we are not divine; we are not God. Again this activity on the part of our Lord is bringing out a part of that wonderful mysterious blend of His two natures, the human and divine. We will never understand it.

THE REACTION OF THE DISCIPLES when they saw someone walking on the water was very natural. We probably would have reacted in the same way. But Jesus reassures them that they have nothing to fear. I don’t want to sound disrespectful to St. Peter, but I have always felt that he spoke out without really thinking ahead of time what he was saying. I have often had reason in sermons to say that I think that St. Peter in many respects seemed to be the most ‘human’ of all the apostles. We certainly seem to have more of his faults and failings recorded than of anyone else. So often he seemed to speak before he thinks. I’m not here to criticize him. If anything we might find some encouragement for ourselves from his frailties.

We can all probably identify with the disciples when it comes to their having fears. It’s easy now to say that they had nothing to fear since Jesus was so close. But that is not how it works in real life situations. And the same can be true for us. If you are anything like me, then you probably have had many fears or worries in life that later you found out to be groundless. But at the time they can be very real. The important thing to do to overcome them is to live in the here and now; to enjoy what we have here and now and not to be always projecting into the future. God has certainly taken care of us up to this point. He has probably had reason many times to say to us also, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” If we could only enjoy what God gives to us right now and not worry about the future!

When I attended Franciscan College they had an excellent man as our dean of students, Fr. Ignatius Brady, OFM. One of the spiritual books that he highly recommended was Christ in His Mysteries by Abbott Marmion, OSB. The general theme of this book was to take the events of the life of Christ and see them not only as events long past, but as events still happening in the life of the Church, especially in the Liturgical year, especially as portrayed in the Gospel selections each Sunday. He would encourage us to reflect on each Sunday’s selection and try to make it alive in our own lives for inspiration and imitation. Hopefully some of the ideas which I have presented in this homily will be helpful in your being able to do so.


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

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —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 unity of language in the liturgy is so great a treasure for the Church that no advantage could compensate for its demise.”

— Dom Anselmo Albareda (2 January 1953), Father Nicola Giampietro, page 249

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