• 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)

  • Our Team
  • Catholic Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

The Blessing of Daily Mass – Saint Mary’s Chapel, Boston College Reopens

Richard J. Clark · January 23, 2015

ANY OF MY earliest memories are of attending daily mass with my mother at St. William the Abbot parish in Seaford, New York. I’m sure I was quite a handful and disturbed mass frequently. (Some may argue this still occurs.) On days we did not go to mass, it was common that my mother would bring me into church for a “quick visit” in-between running errands. This seemed like normal life for me.

These days, I am at daily mass, but through no virtue of my own. I get paid to play and sing five days a week at St. Mary’s Chapel at Boston College, which includes a mass just for the Jesuit Community of about sixty priests. Mass is attended mostly by students, employees of the college, and some people from the neighborhood. There are also a few regulars who bring their very young children to mass most every day.

Ironically, the busier we are, the more we must make time to pray. When I began playing at St. Mary’s Chapel ten years ago, I thought I might only do this for a few weeks or months because I did not have the time. But quite quickly – if not almost immediately — I became completely hooked on playing daily mass. God has a way of drawing us toward him even when we resist.

ROFESSIONALLY, THE VALUE of playing and singing daily mass cannot be underestimated. Although I had studied organ with BSO organist James David Christie and already had a great deal of experience behind me, it was daily mass that taught me some very important things.

Most importantly, the relationship between the congregation and the organ becomes more intimate with people who sing most every day. It was at daily mass that I realized it is the people in the pews who are the “leader of song.” While the organ is the glue that keeps everyone together, it is ideally a cooperative relationship like chamber music. (Taking their lead, we sing all the verses of the hymns as they refuse to put their hymnals down after two verses.) Playing daily mass made me a much better hymn player – and not simply through repetition. I learned the subtleties of my role as organist which involves as much listening to the congregation as it does playing for them.

An extension of the idea that the congregation is the “leader of song” is that unaccompanied singing comes quite naturally when a congregation is allowed to find its own pace. When St. Mary’s Hall reopened after two years of renovation, the organ was not quite ready yet. So I sang the Psalms and ICEL chants unaccompanied in the beautiful acoustic of marble and wood. The singing was astounding because the people were freed up to sing the chants, yet were still supported by a warm acoustic. The organ would only have gotten in the way.

Perhaps most importantly, there is no replacement for following the continuity of the scripture readings from Sunday to Sunday. Many of us who work hard to prepare music for Sundays are well served by following the scriptures throughout the week. Most obvious are the readings from Isaiah during Advent and Acts during the Easter Season. But through every week there is a thread from one Sunday to the next. The daily life of Christ comes to life for us every day. Though no virtue of my own, I am blessed to experience this.

OST INTERESTINGLY, Boston College was originally named “Boston College of the Immaculate Conception.” Therefore, it was fitting that St. Mary’s reopened on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in 2014. Connected to St. Mary’s Hall on Boston College’s Central Campus, St. Mary’s Chapel opened in 1917. A beautiful wood carved ceiling and marble floors and side altars frame the chapel’s Gothic windows. In the choir loft sits an exquisite one-manual, eight rank D.A. Flentrop organ tuned to the Kellner (Bach) temperament, which is particularly gorgeous in certain keys. Stefan Maier has done extraordinary work in maintaining and preparing this wonderful instrument.

During the academic year, I have the opportunity to hear a few dozen Jesuits preach, and some on a very regular basis. The preaching on any given weekday from the Jesuits is remarkably thoughtful, substantial, well prepared—and brief, which speaks to the high level of preparation. I have been blessed to get to know many of these fine priests including one who has baptized all three of my children. I have also been fortunate to work for three exceedingly thoughtful and supportive rectors in addition to Assistant Rector, Fr. Michael Ford. This is another rare blessing for which I am grateful.

Wherever you are, go to mass during the week. You will be blessed with greater strength to live out what God calls you to do.

If you are at Boston College, mass is offered at seven different locations on campus. You may view the schedules (including St. Mary’s Chapel) here.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Boston College, Daily Mass Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

Richard J. Clark

About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

Can You Spare 33 Seconds?

Here’s an audio excerpt (33 seconds) of a setting for Kyrie VIII which was recorded live last Sunday at our parish in Los Angeles. The setting (“Missa de Angelis”) is by composer Richard Rice, and you can download the free PDF if you click here and scroll to the bottom. I think Richard’s composition is marvelous. I missed a few notes on the organ, but I’ll get them right next time.

—Jeff Ostrowski
5 April 2021 • When Girls Sing

Covid restrictions here in California are still extremely severe—switching “two weeks to flatten the curve” into “two years to flatten the curve.” Since 2020, we’ve had police breaking into our church to check if everyone is wearing a mask…even when only 5-6 people are present! But we were allowed to have a small percentage of our singers back on Easter Sunday, and here is their live recording of the ancient Catholic hymn for Eastertide: Ad Cenam Agni Providi. The girls were so very excited to sing again—you can hear it in their voices!

—Jeff Ostrowski
29 March 2021 • FEEDBACK

“E.S.” in North Dakota writes: “I just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU for all the hard work you have put—and continue to put—into your wonderful website. In the past two years, my parish has moved from a little house basement into a brand new church and gone from a few families receiving Low Masses twice a month to several families (and many individuals) receiving Mass every Sunday, two Saturdays a month, and every Holy Day. Our priest has been incorporating more and more High Masses and various ceremonies into our lives, which has made my job as a huge newbie choir master very trying and complicated. CCWatershed has been an invaluable resource in helping me get on my feet and know what to do!!! Thank you more than I can express! May God bless you abundantly and assist you in your work and daily lives!”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The free space which the new order of Mass gives to creativity it must be admitted, is often excessively enlarged. The difference between the liturgy with the new liturgical books, as it is actually practiced and celebrated in various places is often much greater than the difference between the old and new liturgies when celebrated according to the rubrics of the liturgical books.”

— Cardinal Ratzinger (1998)

Recent Posts

  • Can You Spare 33 Seconds?
  • The Great Reset—for Your Choir?
  • “Adze” • Do you know this word?
  • PDF Download • Vespers for Holy Thursday?
  • PDF Download • “Sanctus for Three Voices” (Soprano, Alto, and Bass)

Copyright © 2021 Corpus Christi Watershed · Charles Garnier 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.