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Views from the Choir Loft

Holy Purity & Anger

Jeff Ostrowski · December 6, 2017

JUST RECEIVED a call from the owner of a vehicle store who cursed at me, yelled at me, and then hung up. My only offense was doing business with him in the past. I chose not to respond to his evil words with anger. I simply said, “If that’s the way you wish to conduct yourself, so be it.” Someday, this foolish and dishonest bully will be forced to answer before God for his actions.

Jesus loved His enemies, who did Him great harm. Jesus wants me to love this bully. I must confess that I don’t have that love yet—but hopefully someday I will.

Musicians tend to be sensitive people.

Very few musicians (in my experience) are foolish and dishonest like that bully.

But musicians doing the Lord’s work are often subjected to bad treatment. And because musicians tend to be sensitive, a bully can wreck our whole day. When someone acts inappropriately, our minds keep dwelling on the imbecilic behavior. It echoes in our brains, and we ask: “How could this person think it appropriate to act like that?”

Let me share something that can help:

When we were young, our seminarians and priests taught us about “captivity of the eyes.” This means that whenever you see something that can cause temptation against the holy virtue of purity, you avert your eyes. Moreover, when thoughts against the sixth commandment come into the brain, you learn to block them out.

When a foolish bully tries to ruin my day, I apply the same rules.

When his foolish voice and curse words pop into my head, I do not allow myself to think about them. It’s difficult, but that’s the only way I know how to deal with this nonsense. 1

I hope you will email me, letting me know how you deal with injustice and bad behavior.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   It can also help to recall examples of what the Jesuit martyrs suffered. Or, it can help to laugh—my priest just laughs when people act evil toward him.

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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Jeff Ostrowski

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 Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—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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