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Views from the Choir Loft

Post-Pandemic Liturgy

Wilfrid Jones · May 15, 2020

As the Scottish historian Sir Tom Devine once joked, “the future is not my period”, but having just read Amy Welborn’s pithy article in Medium, it seemed worth sharing her observation with our readers.

  • No touching. Noli me tangere: not yet taken as an episcopal motto, but one for us all to adopt. Since offertory processions involve touching the sacred vessels, perhaps it will suffice for the priest to have the chalice and ciborium (if there is one) on the altar from the start of mass and the liturgical actions at the offertory could be enriched by the offertory antiphon.
  • No shared Sign of Peace. And with its suspension, perhaps also the permanent disappearance of the “song of peace” that still persists in some places before the Agnus Dei. Perhaps in the Church’s wisdom, this was one reason that the pax took a more ceremonial form until the liturgical reform in the first place.
  • No congregational singing. Meaning the need to rediscover the true liturgical participation which liturgical singing symbolises and promotes. It also gives us the opportunity to rediscover the proper antiphons which can enter into a dialogue with the other scripture readings casting light upon particular themes and drawing connections between them.
  • So any music should be provided by a choir or cantor. Meaning a greater need for an aesthetic of beauty now that the alternative, an aesthetic of “participation”, is not possible (a false binary, but an operative one).
  • People should be super cautious about receiving Communion. At least that isn’t new.
  • No Communion from the shared chalice for the congregation. As one Dominican student brother has observed: communion under one kind but only in the hand, so no one is happy. That said, with fewer people going to communion, the short antiphon from the Graduale Romanum or Graduale Parvum in Latin or English would seem a more appropriate length than a hymn.
  • Maybe even the priest should think about wearing a mask. Or better still, face in the same direction as the congregation to absolutely minimize contagion. Since he will have to do a lot of the singing to make up for the lack of congregational chanting, this will be particularly important.
  • No socializing before or after Mass. Though choir coffee will doubtless continue via Zoom/FaceTime even when the parousia comes.

All in all, if ever there was a time for a less busy, more contemplative, less wordy, more beautiful liturgy, that time is now. In this precedented time, let’s use the precedents already established by the Church to join in her worship of God and “never let a crisis go to waste.”

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: May 16, 2020

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Wilfrid Jones

About Wilfrid Jones

Wilfrid Jones is a PhD student in the theology faculty of the Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg, studying the theology and practice of sacred music.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

6 January 2021 • Anglicans on Plainsong

A book published by Anglicans in 1965 has this to say about Abbat Pothier’s Editio Vaticana, the musical edition reproduced by books such as the LIBER USUALIS (Solesmes Abbey): “No performing edition of the music of the Eucharistic Psalmody can afford to ignore the evidence of the current official edition of the Latin Graduale, which is no mere reproduction of a local or partial tradition, but a CENTO resulting from an extended study and comparison of a host of manuscripts gathered from many places. Thus the musical text of the Graduale possesses a measure of authority which cannot lightly be disregarded.” They are absolutely correct.

—Jeff Ostrowski
2 January 2021 • Temptation

When I see idiotic statements made on the internet, I go nuts. When I see heretics promoted by people who should know better, I get angry. Learning to ignore such items is difficult—very difficult. I try to remember the words of Fr. Valentine Young: “Do what God places in front of you each day.” When I am honest, I don’t believe God wants me to dwell on errors and idiocy; there’s nothing I can do about that. During 2021, I will strive to do a better job following the advice of Fr. Valentine.

—Jeff Ostrowski
31 December 2020 • “COMITES CHRISTI”

The feasts for Saint Stephen Proto-Martyr (26 December), Saint John the Evangelist The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved (27 December), and the Feast of the Holy Innocents (28 December) seem untouched by any liturgical reforms. These are very powerful feasts—I believe they once possessed octaves—and I believe they could sometimes “overpower” a Sunday feast. The rules for octaves in the olden days are extremely complex. These feasts are sometimes referred to as a single entity as: Comites Christi (“Companions of Christ”). This is just a guess, but there seems to be a triple significance: STEPHEN martyred after Christ lived, JOHN was a martyr who knew Christ personally, and the HOLY INNOCENTS were martyred before Christ’s birth.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“At the hour for the Divine Office, | as soon as the signal is heard, | let them abandon whatever they may have in hand | and hasten with the greatest speed, | yet with seriousness, so that there is no excuse for levity. | Let nothing be preferred to the sacred liturgy.”

— Rule of St. Benedict (Chapter 43)

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