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Views from the Choir Loft

Knowledge of the Infant Lord

Fr. David Friel · December 10, 2017

MARVELOUS line from St. Therese of Lisieux graced the front of a Christmas card I once received: “A God Who became so small could only be mercy and love.”

That wise remark from the saint of the Little Way caused me to think of all the characteristics of God we can know simply from looking to our Infant Lord. Numerous words came to mind. Here are some of them:

Mercy. Love. Humility. Peace. Life. Joy. Sacrifice. Subtle. Captivating. Real. Inviting. Youth. Curiosity. Hope. Spirit. Power. Glory. Strength. Weakness. Truth. Goodness. Beauty.

It is astonishing to me that King Herod felt threatened by the coming Messiah. How could a grown man be afraid of a Baby—even a Baby Who possessed all the powers of the world? A thousand years earlier, another king, David, expressed it thus: “The Lord is my light & my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Ps. 27:1).

That God would become so small testifies to Whom He is. Yet, who are we to have this insight into His nature, much less to benefit from His extraordinary gift of Self? In the words of St. Augustine of Hippo: “Ask if this were merited; ask for its reason, for its justification, and see whether you will find any other answer but sheer grace.”

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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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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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

“Unfortunately, on the one hand a deadly error in judgment placed the official leadership of this committee into the hands of a man who—though generous and brave—was not very knowledgeable: Cardinal Lercaro. He was utterly incapable of resisting the maneuvers of the mealy-mouthed scoundrel that the Neapolitan Vincentian, Bugnini, a man as bereft of culture as he was of basic honesty, soon revealed himself to be.”

— ‘Fr. Louis Bouyer, an important member of the Consilium’

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