“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)
Seminarian Ryan G. Duns, writes, “…it’s not about me putting on a show, about making something happen. My Jesuit training and my musical training converge: I think I’ll be my best when I am noticed least, when I can get out of the way so that those who approach the Lord’s Table are treated, not to a dose of Duns, but to an encounter with the Risen One…”
VENI, SANCTE SPIRITUS, the Sequence for Pentecost Sunday is one of the great jewels of the Roman Rite. The text alone is a treasure—short, simple, profound, and transcendent.
Church musicians carry “battle scars” of the profession. We can all tell “war stories.” But Thomas à Kempis writes in “The Imitation of Christ,” “…the measure of every man’s virtue is best revealed in time of adversity—adversity that does not weaken a man but rather shows what he is.”
Is the cantor the “leader of song”? It may be surprising that there are a few answers to this question, but it leads towards one ideal.
In Boston we send up our sighs, our mourning, and our weeping in this valley of tears. Great suffering compels us to move towards Christ, and Christ in turn embraces us lovingly in his comforting embrace. Therefore, the sacred liturgy is essential at the time, more than ever.
This attack happened within my parish. St. Cecilia Parish in the Back Bay section of Boston, is around the block from the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Several historic churches literally surround the finish line. So where is God in all of this?
Working for the Church is often not conducive to family life. But, in my children, I found God. Children have helped me focus on what and who is important.
The road to the ideal must travel through the hearts and minds of real flesh and blood. If in our ministry we are not teaching love, then we have failed.
A crowd of nearly 1,000 people, many who don’t come to mass, many who may not prefer Gregorian Chant, many who know nothing about chant—fell silent.
“Why the Cross?” Little children are rarely afraid to ask the questions that adults are afraid to ask.
While speaking to his secretary, the Holy Father came down the hall and I greeted him with the traditional kissing of his ring, and we spoke for a little over a minute.
Free download of Communion Propers for the Easter Season, Year C
The Church’s vast treasury of sacred music belongs to the people! This is the truth that will bear out.
Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, Priest Secretary to His Eminence Seán Cardinal O’Malley, shares his heartfelt reflections from St. Peter’s Square on the historic day of March 13, 2013.
Sometimes we do our best work while in exile. Today, the Chair of Peter lies empty. This Lent, we will certainly end up in a different place than where we started. Hopefully, we will be transformed individually and as a Church.
In his book “The Spirit of the Liturgy,” Pope Benedict reminds us that Israel’s flight from Egypt had two distinct goals. One was to reach the Promised Land. But the second is perhaps far more important: Exodus 7:16 “Let my people go, that they may serve me.”
Christ’s love has gathered us into one. True, we may be united in the love of Christ—but not necessarily in other things. Our differences may be vast. This is where the bounds of love and Christian charity are truly tested.
The “Alleluia” was literally buried in the cemetery, leaving the people with the hope and anticipation of its Easter Sunday resurrection.
For the sacred musician, full and active participation not only includes mindfulness during mass . . .
A beautiful model of the evangelization we must do in our churches and faith communities
