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Views from the Choir Loft

“Proper Of The Mass” (Ignatius Press) • Part 4 of 7

Fr. David Friel · April 19, 2015

HE FOCUS of my meditation this past Holy Thursday was tiredness. This focus arose not so much because I, myself, feel tired, but because it was a theme of Pope Francis’ homily during the Chrism Mass he celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica. I also picked up on a similar theme in the Prayer over the Offerings during the Chrism Mass here in Philadelphia.

Here’s an excerpt of what Pope Francis said to the priests of Rome:

The Lord . . . knows that the task of anointing His faithful people is demanding; it can tire us. We experience this in so many ways: from the ordinary fatigue brought on by our daily apostolate to the weariness of sickness, death, and even martyrdom.

The tiredness of priests! Do you know how often I think about this weariness which all of you experience? I think about it and I pray about it often, especially when I am tired myself. I pray for you as you labor amid the people of God entrusted to your care, many of you in lonely and dangerous places. Our weariness, dear priests, is like incense that silently rises up to heaven (cf. Ps 141:2; Rev 8:3-4). Our weariness goes straight to the heart of the Father.

And here is the Prayer over the Offerings that caught my attention, with the notable words highlighted:

May the power of this sacrifice, O Lord, we pray,
mercifully wipe away what is old in us
and increase in us grace of salvation and newness of life.
Through Christ our Lord.

What the Lord was sharing with me was a call for new fervor—an invitation to cast out the old leaven and to be transformed again by the Gospel and by my call to ministry. All priests need this renewal, no matter how young or old, especially on the day when we renew our priestly promises each year.

SIMILAR TRANSFORMATION is also needed in most parish music programs. How many parishes are stuck in the rut of crunching out four hymns each week (from a total repertoire of 20, maybe 30)? How many music directors are afraid of upsetting the apple cart by jettisoning the music they know in favor of the music the Church prescribes? How many parish music programs are stale, lacking in freshness & vitality? The answer is far too many.

Why is this the case? Mostly because “it’s always been this way.” In high school physics, I learned Newton’s first law of motion, also known as the law of inertia: “an object at rest tends to stay at rest, unless acted upon by an outside force.” Overcoming inertia is a difficult thing, and the inertia of “the way we’ve always done things” is the worst kind.

The last several years have seen the rise of several “outside forces” that threaten to overcome the widespread inertia of Catholic sacred music. We have witnessed the rise of the Simple English Propers, the growth of the CCW Chabanel Psalm Project, the publication of the Jogues & Campion Missals, the introduction of Andy Motyka’s Communion Antiphon project, etc. Now, the next big thing is here.

Fr. Samuel Weber, O.S.B. has given us a great gift in The Proper of the Mass, a volume that could only have been created by a master of vernacular chant and a lover of the sacred liturgy. I have used Fr. Weber’s The Office of Compline for years, and this new title is of the same high quality but on a much larger scale.

With the publication of The Proper of the Mass, parish priests & musicians are running out of excuses for not singing the music of the Mass, including the appointed propers. Immediately after the Second Vatican Council, there was a legitimate lack of resources, so parishes could reasonably be excused for falling into a bit of a tailspin. But now the resources are available in the Anglophone world, and there is no longer any legitimate excuse for avoiding them, apart from an entrenched desire to “stay at rest” or to hold on to “what is old in us” or to resist “newness of life.”

Money cannot be the issue, because most of the best resources for truly sacred music are available freely on the Internet or at very low cost. Nor can the difficulty of the chants be the issue, because Fr. Weber has crafted chants for every level of singing ability.

I suspect that Fr. Weber would not be interested in taking credit for the enormous contribution he has made in this new volume. He nevertheless deserves much credit and our sincere gratitude. Ignatius Press also deserves credit for having the vision to publish such a necessary companion to the Roman Missal.

The corollary to Newton’s law of universal motion is that “an object in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force.” There is no question that Catholic sacred music in the English-speaking world is moving, and the direction is clear. I hope that many music directors will use Fr. Weber’s latest work to move in that direction, to help them “wipe away what is old” & tired, and to welcome the bright future of liturgical music.

This article is part of a series on Fr. Weber’s Book of Propers:

Part 1 • Andrew Motyka

Part 2 • Richard Clark

Part 3 • Veronica Brandt

Part 4 • Fr. David Friel

Part 5 • Andrew Leung

Part 6 • Dr. Lucas Tappan

Part 7 • Jeff Ostrowski

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Authentic Liturgical Renewal Reform, Hymns Replacing Propers, Pope Francis, Proper of the Mass in English, Propers Ignatius Press by Fr Samuel Weber, Reform of the Reform, Simple English Mass Propers, Simple Steps To Improve Parish Music, Singing the Mass Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Fr. David Friel

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at St. Anselm Parish in Northeast Philly. He is currently a doctoral candidate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America.—(Read full biography).

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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

“And thus, when we renounce for Thee | Its restless aims and fears, | The tender mem’ries of the past, | The hopes of coming years, | Poor is our sacrifice, whose eyes | Are lighted from above; | We offer what we cannot keep, | What we have ceased to love.”

— Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman

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