• 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)

  • About
  • Symposium
  • Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Showing Off During Mass

Aurelio Porfiri · January 20, 2015

440 John Vianney Mass Quote LEASE CONSIDER WITH ME the following scenarios: your doctor is curing a health problem for you and he demonstrates good medical skills, but you’re unhappy about that; your driver shows his ability to drive you properly, but that drives you crazy; the teacher of your children is so excellent it makes you insane…

Yes, you think there is something wrong here: it’s you.

Now, these apparently nonsensical situations are very common in one field: church music. It happens, quite frequently, that if the choir is singing well or in polyphony there is always the frustrated person that feels compelled to comment that they are showing off. Of course sometimes people show off, but going from one extreme to the other is not the right solution: IN MEDIO STAT VIRTUS (“virtue stands in the middle”).

We know that the choir also has to help the congregation to join in some parts of the Mass. But please ponder that carefully. “Also” is not “only,” but “also.” However the real problem here does not deal with liturgy, but rather with insecurities and frustrations of people raising this kind of objection. Where we should praise God for showing His greatness through the work of dedicated choirs, there are some who would rather take pleasure in having the whole world matching their level of mediocrity.

We need to know that it is good to resist to these ways of falling down to mediocrity. The American writer Scott Alexander says it very well: “All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, losing, cheating, and mediocrity is easy. Stay away from easy.” When people talk to me about lowering standards to meet the needs of the people, it is like wanting to help the poor by being sure to remain poor.

Many years ago I had a spiritual director that gave me a lesson that I have never forgotten: beware of the evilness of mediocre people. I came to realize that mediocrity is possibly the worst sin, because it’s the mother and father of many other sins. When we make ourselves beautiful for God, in our singing, painting, preaching and so on, we are doing what we would do for someone we truly love. We give our best for God, like the widow of the Gospel, giving little when you only have little, giving more when you have more. God is not a lover deserving to be loved with cheap stuff.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

About Aurelio Porfiri

Renowned as composer, conductor, theorist, author, pedagogue, and organist, Aurelio Porfiri has served the Church on multiple continents at the highest levels. Born and raised in Italy, he currently serves as Director of Choral Activities and Composer in Residence for Santa Rosa de Lima School (Macao, China).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

PDF Download • Trinity Sunday (22 pages)

Feel free to download this Organ Accompaniment Booklet for Trinity Sunday (Second Vespers). Notice how the modes progress by number. Psalm 1 is mode 1; Psalm 2 is mode 2; Psalm 3 is mode 3; Psalm 4 is mode 4; Psalm 5 is mode 5. I am told by an expert that other feasts (such as Corpus Christi) are likewise organized by mode, and it’s called a “numerical office.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
10 June 2022 • “Official” rhythm of plainsong

I continue to search for the most beautiful way to present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores. (Technically, the “pure” rhythm of the official edition is what everyone is supposed to use.) You can download my latest attempt, which is the Introit for this coming Sunday: Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Because this is not an ancient feast, the Introit had to be adapted (perhaps around 750AD). Prior Johner says the adaptation is “not an entirely happy one.”

—Jeff Ostrowski
7 June 2022 • FEEDBACK

From Chelan, Washington: “CCWatershed is a God-sent resource that I can’t function without! Such great work by the team to bring beauty back to our liturgy!” From Gainesville, Florida: “I am so appreciative of the work, of my brothers and sisters in music!” From Troutman, North Carolina: “Keep up the excellent work in service of the Liturgy!”

—Jeff Ostrowski

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)

Recent Posts

  • “How Has Nobody Done This Before?” • Vol. 1
  • “Exceeded Every Expectation!” • Mr. O’Brien’s Review
  • “81 Photos” • Sacred Music Symposium 2022
  • Photograph • Dom André Mocquereau (d. 1930)
  • “I Found Myself Weeping, Almost In Disbelief…”

Copyright © 2022 Corpus Christi Watershed · Gabriel Lalemant 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.