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Views from the Choir Loft

Look What God Did For You!

Jeff Ostrowski · October 28, 2014

748 Cute AVE YOU spent any time admiring nature? Have you looked into a forest and admired the changing colors—red, orange, and brown—of the tree leaves? Have you gazed upon the sky during a beautiful sunset or sunrise? Have you looked at a corn field or apple orchard? Have you seen a peach orchard?

When we view the great outdoors, we realize how beautiful and wondrous our universe is. Moreover, we can take it to another level by considering how each molecule, atom, plant, insect, and animal lead to something higher. Think about it. Even though the outdoors is lovely, suffering and sacrifice are required for its beauty. Plants are eaten; insects devour one another; large animals eat small animals; and so forth and so on.

Have you ever wondered why God allowed this “suffering” on the part of, for example, insects? It probably isn’t fun to be eaten by another insect or animal. Why did God allow such a thing? I would suggest that God is showing us how valuable we are. Each sacrifice leads to something higher. All of this turns out to be made for our benefit … so that we can survive, and also look upon the beauty of nature, observing how God values us. But you will reply:

“Am I really that valuable? What’s so great about me? What’s so great about human beings?”

Well, when I look into the eyes of someone—for instance, my little son—the value of each human being becomes clear. That’s why it is so distressing to wake up (as I did a few days ago) and notice a homeless man collecting tin cans from a dumpster. Society thinks of that man as “garbage” yet values the tin. Can you imagine? We value TIN more than we value a human being!

Dr. Mahrt has explained that counterpoint in polyphony “shows forth the splendor, beauty, and order of the universe” and for this reason I chose to begin a 60-minute film about Sacred music with a lovely Chicago sunrise accompanying Kevin Allen’s “Tantum Ergo.” If you haven’t watched this, please click here and watch it now.

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 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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

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

“In all this mediaeval religious poetry there is much that we could not use now. Many of the hymns are quite bad, many are frigid compositions containing futile tricks, puns, misinterpreted quotations of Scripture, and twisted concepts, whose only point is their twist. But there is an amazing amount of beautiful poetry that we could still use. If we are to have vernacular hymns at all, why do we not have translations of the old ones?”

— Fr. Adrian Fortescue (d. 1923)

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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.

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