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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

Readings & Prayers Used By My Family On Sunday…

Jeff Ostrowski · March 22, 2020

Will these be useful to you? I don’t know.

Nevertheless, below are some activities my family did on Sunday:


(1)

Five decades of the Rosary, with our children leading.


(2)

I read the Gospel, since we cannot currently attend Mass due to the Coronavirus situation in Los Angeles. Here is how the Saint Isaac Jogues Illuminated Lectionary prints the Gospel from Laetare Sunday, Year C:

*  PDF Download • Gospel from 4th Sunday of Lent
—To understand why Year C was chosen, see below.


(3)

Father Valentine Young, OFM, died a few months ago. But we still have his Homily that he gave on 31 March 2019. Therefore, I read the Homily:

Homily by Fr. Valentine Young, OFM (31 March 2019)

Introduction: Probably most, if not all of us can relate to this parable of the prodigal son. For a part of my life I have to admit that I did not really know the meaning of the word ‘prodigal.’ I finally looked it up and found out it means to be extravagantly wasteful. I guess I had somewhat surmised this from the context of the story. But more to the point: Most of us probably know or even have some relative or someone close to them who no longer practices their Catholic Faith. People frequently ask me what they should do in such circumstances.

The answer: I will start off by saying that I don’t have any ready-made or guaranteed answer. What I am going to say will be suggestions at best.

Example of the Father: First we have the example of the father himself. Now the story doesn’t really tell us what he did after his son left. The father didn’t seem to put up much of an argument when the son told the father that he wanted his half of the inheritance. I don’t think the father was so naïve that he thought his son was going to go out and work among the poor. The father probably figured that if his son had to learn in the school of hard knocks, then so be it.

Prayer: Jesus doesn’t say anything in this story or parable about the father praying for his son while the son was away squandering his inheritance. As a good Jew, the father would have been acquainted with the one hundred and fifty psalms, or at least some of them. Many of them contain prayers for forgiveness of sin, and can easily be prayed for oneself or for others. (I’ll admit I am only editorializing when I made these last remarks.)

The only sure thing: But in reality the only sure or certain thing that we can do for such persons is to pray for them. Believe me, I’m not saying this as a ‘cop out.’ I’m saying this because I know and believe it is true. And I’ll repeat a little incident I remember from my own mother. One of my brothers was out of the Church for years. My mother was asked once—and I happened to hear this conversation—“Do you worry about your son?” Without hesitation, she answered: “No. I don’t worry about him. I just pray for him.” I cannot think of better advice to give.

What not to do: The first thing is to be careful of what you say. Don’t be too aggressive. And if you are in doubt about saying something, it will probably be best not to say it. Early in my life I had two (2) bad experiences in taking the initiative: one with my brother, and another with an aunt who was a fallen away Catholic. Both back-fired and did absolutely no good. My mother’s prayers brought my brother back to the Church before he died. God will answer our prayers when and how he sees fit.

The Father: The father of this son had the joy of seeing his son return. I would like to think the father lived his life as normally as possible while the son was gone. And the father did not blame himself for what the son had done. Nor did the father ‘rub it in’ when the son returned. Those are also things we should remember. We can pray for those who may have gone astray, but we don’t have to lose our own peace of mind and happiness because of what they have done or are doing. God does not will that. And we are here on this earth to do the will of God.


(4)

Then, we watched this—which fit perfectly with the “Prodigal Son” theme:

[YouTube: Bishop Fulton J. Sheen speaks about Blessed Charles de Foucauld]


(5)

Finally, I recalled the prayer of Blessed Charles de Foucauld, shared with us by Fr. Robert Skeris:

Father,

I abandon myself
into Your hands:
do with me what You will.

Whatever You may do,
I thank You;
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only Your will be done in me,
and in all Your creatures—

I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into Your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to You

With all the love of my heart,
for I love You Lord, and so need to
give myself, to surrender myself
into Your hands without reserve,

and with boundless confidence,
for You are my Father.


In one of his articles, Dr. Lucas Tappan reminded us that families can be called a “domestic church.”

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: March 22, 2020

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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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 19th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (10 August 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    This Sunday’s Communion Antiphon
    This coming Sunday—10 August 2025—is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). The COMMUNION ANTIPHON is really gorgeous, and two of its features are worth mentioning. First of all, the Gospel reading assigned is from Saint Luke, whereas the the antiphon—although it matches the account—comes from Saint Matthew. (If anyone can point to a similar example, please notify me.) Furthermore, if you look at the authentic Gregorian Chant version posted on the feasts website, you’ll notice that it’s MODE III but ends on the ‘wrong’ note. A comparable instance of such a ‘transposed’ chant would be KYRIE IV.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Using “Ye” Vs. “You” Correctly
    Using “Ye” vs. “You” is rather tricky, because it depends upon which era one is trying to recreate—if that makes any sense. In other words, the rules haven’t always been the same for these two. Nevertheless, Father Philip George Caraman (the legendary Jesuit scholar) gives us a masterclass using Saint Luke’s Gospel. Father Caraman was close friends with Monsignor Ronald Knox, Evelyn Waugh, and Sir Alec Guinness.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“I have, on the other hand, retained several more or less traditional tunes, absolutely valueless and without merit from a musical point of view, but which seem to have become a necessity if a book is to appeal—as I hope this one will—to the varied needs of various churches.”

— A. Edmonds Tozer (1905)

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  • This Sunday’s Communion Antiphon
  • Using “Ye” Vs. “You” Correctly
  • Installment #3 • “Serious Problems with the Lectionary Translation”

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