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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

“Sacred Time” Framed on our Wall

Veronica Moreno · January 2, 2023

UR LITURGICAL CALENDAR is now on the wall. But our hearts are somber to know that our dear Pope Benedict XVI has died. The lighthearted mood of this post reflects late Advent, before any news of the illness of our Pope Emeritus, as we basked in the glow of soon to be opened gifts and tamale feasts.

Pope Benedict was on my mind, since my husband had offered words from The Spirit of the Liturgy, from 2000. That year seems so far away, but it’s only a blink of an eye. Memento mori. Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine.

Our hero is dead; let us pray for his soul.

An Advent Purchase • In late November, my husband rushed to interrupt me with an urgent request to discuss a purchase. Wives probably understand my eye-roll hesitation when faced with this situation.

Reader, he had a good idea. It was a liturgical calendar he saw on Twitter.

OwenCyclops Twitter post about Liturgical Calendar

We ordered it, it arrived, and it has brought us great joy to walk by and gaze at it.

Cardinal Ratzinger on “Sacred Time” • I asked my husband to find some quotes to help me with this blog post, because to be honest, words are not enough to convey its beauty. You really must see it.  So instead of me pathetically attempting to describe it, I turn to the words of Pope Emeritus (then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger) from his 2000 book, The Spirit of the Liturgy, in the chapter called “Sacred Time.”  The words in bold are my emphasis.

As we begin to consider the significance of sacred time in the structure of Christian liturgy, we must remember all that we said…about the significance of time and space in Christian worship. All time is God’s time. When the eternal Word assumed human existence at his Incarnation, he also assumed temporality. He drew time into the sphere of eternity. Christ is himself the bridge between time and eternity…In the Word incarnate, who remains man forever, the presence of eternity with time becomes bodily and concrete.

All time is God’s time. On the other hand, as we saw above, the time of the Church is a “between” time, between the shadow and the reality, and so its special structure demands a sign, a time specially chosen and designated to draw time as a whole into the hands of God…But now there is no escaping the question: What is time?

Cardinal Ratzinger proceeds to give us a sort of mental break here, before he continues, “Needless to say, this is not the place to plumb the depths of this question, which has exercised the minds of all the great thinkers of history.”

To which I say phew and thank you for that tiny pause, because this here homeschooling mother hasn’t delved THAT deep into cosmic physics with the children yet!

He continues:

However, a few hints at an answer are imperative if the contact of the liturgy with time is to be properly understood. The first thing to say is that time is a cosmic reality.

The orbiting of the sun by the earth (or, as the ancients thought, of the earth by the sun) gives existence the rhythm that we call time – from hour to hour, from morning to evening and evening to morning, from spring through summer and autumn to winter. In addition to this rhythm of the sun there is the shorter rhythm of the moon – from its slow growth to its disappearance with the new moon and the new beginning. The two rhythms have created two measures, which appear in the history of culture in various combinations. Both show how much man is woven into the fabric of the universe. Time is first of all a cosmic phenomenon. Man lives with the stars. The course of the sun and the moon leaves its mark on his life.

People Didn’t Understand? • It hurts to remember that Cardinal Ratzinger was once Pope, to see his recent pictures and remember that his time has left a mark on my own life. (I saw him offer Mass in Rome once!) Further along the chapter, he mentions this very liturgical calendar, before the reforms after Vatican II:

The liturgical calendar used before the postconciliar reforms contained a strange transferal of the seasons, a use which, of course, had long eluded people’s understanding and was interpreted in a much too superficial way.

I add to our Pope Emeritus to say, “if people had calendars like this one back then, maybe they would have understood better.” Take a look.

Merry Christmas Season!

detail of OwenCyclops Liturgical Calendar

detail from Liturgical Calendar by OwenCyclops

detail from Liturgical Calendar by owen cyclops

Liturgical Calendar by OwenCyclops

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: liturgical calendar Last Updated: January 3, 2023

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About Veronica Moreno

Veronica Moreno is married to a teacher and homeschools five children. She has been cantor at her local Catholic parish for over a decade.—(Read full biography).

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President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 30th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Readers have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I’ve prepared for 26 October 2025, which is the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). 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 top-notch feasts website alongside the official texts in Latin.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Little Encouragement?
    In the Gospel, our Savior tells about 10 lepers who were healed. Only one went back to give thanks. Precious few express gratitude, yet many have endless energy to complain. For that reason, I deeply appreciate receiving messages like the following, which arrived a few days ago (about the parish where I direct in Michigan): “Last Sunday, a couple I knew from Grand Rapids was at Mass at 10:00 a.m. I got a chance to talk to them after Mass. I wanted to let you know what they said about the choir. They were absolutely floored by our sound!!!!! They both said they could continuously listen to our choir and the beauty of it. They asked me: “Do you always sound like that?” And they were also very surprised at how packed the church was. They said it was nice for them to be in such a full church. I just thought you would be interested to know their thoughts about our choir.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    (Part 2) • Did they simplify this hymn?
    Choirs love to sing the resplendent tune called “INNSBRUCK.” Looking through a (Roman Catholic) German hymnal printed in 1929, I discovered what appears to be a simplified version of that hymn. Their harmonization is much less complex than the version found in the Father Brébeuf Hymnal (which is suitable for singing by SATB choir). Please download their 1929 harmonization (PDF) and let me know your thoughts. As always, the Germans added an organ INTRODUCTION. For the record, I posted a different harmonization a few months ago which was downloaded more than 2,000 times.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    “Our Father” • Musical Setting?
    Looking through a Roman Catholic Hymnal published in 1859 by Father Guido Maria Dreves (d. 1909), I stumbled upon this very beautiful tune (PDF file). I feel it would be absolutely perfect to set the “Our Father” in German to music. Thoughts?
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    New Bulletin Article • “12 October 2025”
    My pastor requested that I write short articles each week for our parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The latest article (dated 12 October 2025) talks about an ‘irony’ or ‘paradox’ regarding the 1960s switch to a wider use (amplior locus) of vernacular in the liturgy.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)
    The American Catholic Hymnal, with IMPRIMATUR granted (25 April 1991) by the Archdiocese of Chicago, is like a compendium of every horrible idea from the 1980s. Imagine being forced to stand all through Communion (even afterwards) when those self-same ‘enlightened’ liturgists moved the SEQUENCE before the Alleluia to make sure congregations wouldn’t have to stand during it. (Even worse, everything about the SEQUENCE—including its name—means it should follow the Alleluia.) And imagine endlessly repeating “Alleluia” during Holy Communion at every single Mass. It was all part of an effort to convince people that Holy Communion was historically a procession (which it wasn’t).
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“We must remember that the important elements of a rite are not the things that will first be noticed by a casual and ignorant onlooker—the number of candles, colour of the vestments and places where the bell is rung—but just those things he would not notice: the Canon, fraction and so on, the prayers said in a low voice and the characteristic but less obvious rites done by the celebrant at the altar.”

— Fr. Fortescue explaining that Anglicanism does not preserve Sarum

Recent Posts

  • “Music List” • 30th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • “Our Father” • Musical Setting?
  • Little Encouragement?
  • Children’s Repertoire • Mueller’s Recommendations
  • PDF Download • “Marian Antiphon Booklet” (4 pages) + Five Rhythmic Considerations

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