HERE’S A WONDERFUL expression in English: “He can’t see the forest for the trees.” Some—by focusing on details to the exclusion of everything else—end up looking ridiculous. For example, ROBERT F. KENNEDY was born into privilege. When he was a youngster he wanted to “work,” so he got a job delivering newspapers. The only problem is that he used the family chauffeur (!) and Rolls-Royce to deliver the papers. Readers are probably aware that many “trad influencers” often can’t see the forest for the trees when it comes to the sacred liturgy. By spreading false statements about the pre-conciliar liturgy, they often—in my humble opinion—do enormous harm to the so-called TRADITIONAL MOVEMENT. This disturbs me greatly. I believe the Extraordinary Form is extremely important because it emphasizes the continuity of the Catholic Church.
Sacred Liturgy • We sometimes encounter internet folks who insist that “everything before 1954 was absolutely perfect and can’t be improved.” Their minds are made up; it’s pointless to try to persuade them. In reality, however, numerous feasts were added to the liturgical calendar since TRENT which (arguably) should not have been. Especially painful were feasts that “replaced” or “annihilated” feasts whose propers went back at least 1,700 years. One could easily write numerous lengthy dissertations on feasts which have been modified, especially vis-à-vis the seasons of Christmas and Epiphany. Readers can get a ‘hint’ about how complicated these matters are by downloading a special chart created back in 2021.
O MAGNUM MYSTERIUM • The motet “O Magnum Mysterium” by Father Tomás Luis de Victoria (d. 1611) is world famous—and deserves to be. Abbat Joseph Pothier published a plainsong edition in the 1890s. Despite what some claim, this motet is appropriate throughout the season of Epiphany (which originally encompassed the our Savior’s nativity).
Submit Your Version • Do you sing this motet? If so, please send us a recording by your choir and we’ll post it! The following is a ‘live’ recording by my volunteer choir, sung a few weeks ago during Christmas Midnight Mass:
I created individual rehearsal tracks for each voice at #3792.
Season of the Epiphany • The readings after Christmas—that is to say, during EPIPHANYTIDE—talk about the events in the early life of our Lord: the naming of Jesus; His Baptism at the River Jordan; the finding in the temple; the Wedding at Cana; and so forth. The following hymn honors the HOLY NAME of our Savior:
