Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
The following is the Holy Week schedule for the parishes of Holy Rosary and Visitation in Tacoma, Washington. There’s a lot here! Palm Sunday is a busy weekend, with extra Confession time. Wednesday Tenebræ is not to be missed. And of course, the Holy Triduum is essentially one giant liturgy (with some serious overnight breaks) that begins with the Introit […]
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This is a busy Lent. This week, I literally have some event or class or liturgy on my calendar every day of the week, including two Rites of Election. Fortunately, my role in those two (at least) is not as MC, but as RCIA Director and sponsor, and this is pretty low stress. On the other hand, I led last […]
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The following open letter can be found in various liturgical blogs, and it is well worth reading. Although I am not one of the signatories, I very much associate myself with the sentiments expressed here. A Statement on the Current Situation of Sacred Music We, the undersigned—musicians, pastors, teachers, scholars, and lovers of sacred music—humbly offer this statement to the […]
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At my parish of Holy Rosary in Tacoma, we are celebrating Sunday Vespers as we do each Lent. While some weeks, this will be simple chanted Vespers, most weeks this year it will be a form of Solemn Vespers. Father Wichert led us in Solemn Vespers last night, chanted in the Presence of the exposed Blessed Sacrament. This was followed […]
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Remember Man that you are dust and unto dust you shall return.” And with those words, our Lent has begun. Holy Mother Church calls us to make these next forty days until Easter a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Lent is a pilgrimage, in a sense, through time if not space, through death to resurrection. A pilgrimage of penitence. […]
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O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament, that animals should see the new-born Lord, lying in a manger! Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear Christ the Lord. Alleluia! O magnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum, ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, jacentem in praesepio! Beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Christum. Alleluia.
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As I do every year, I shall end this Advent chant sequence with the hymn assembled from the O Antiphons. I’ve also posted one of my favourite carols, which is particularly appropriate in the deeps of Christmas Vigil. Come to Midnight Mass! For those of you in Tacoma and environs, I invite you to come to our parish of Our […]
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We come to the last of the O Antiphons, for tomorrow is Christmas Eve, the Vigil of the Nativity. I mentioned yesterday that the O Antiphons were arranged backward into the song Veni, Veni Emmanuel. This was by design, for the Antiphons themselves are a backward acrostic. The first letters of the Messianic titles — Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, […]
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With Christmas just days away now, we hear the penultimate O Antiphon this evening. I mentioned a couple of days ago that the antiphons might sound vaguely familiar to you. In the 12th Century, an unknown composer compiled versions of the O Antiphons into a single Advent hymn, called Veni, Veni Emmanuel. You know the English version as O Come, […]
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It is altogether right and proper that we should celebrate Christ as the bringer of light on this, the day of the winter solstice. This was an ancient holy day in many religions, as indeed it continues to be. On this, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, where people for eons have begged their divinity for […]
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Continuing on with our annual tradition, we come closer and closer to the birth of the Messiah, “the holy one, the true, who holds the key of David, who opens and no one shall close, who closes and no one shall open” (Revelation 3:7). The key is the symbol of authority. Christ is the Key of the House of David […]
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By now some of you might be thinking that the O Antiphon words are sounding kind of familiar, even though you’re not really up on your Gregorian Chant. In fact, these antiphons are some of the earliest attested antiphons in the Divine Office, being mentioned in passing in the works of Saint Boethius in the early sixth century. They’re rooted […]
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Today is the second “O” antiphon, O Adonai. If you are in Tacoma, you may hear this sung at Solemn Vespers this evening at Holy Rosary Church. Please join us for this beautiful and holy liturgy at 6:00 PM. These videos, which I will be embedding each day until Christmas, were recorded by the Dominican student brothers at Oxford in […]
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O Wisdom! Advent is drawing to its close, and it’s time again for our annual look at the O Antiphons. These antiphons are part of the prayers at the liturgical hour of Vespers for the 17th through the 23rd of December – the 24th is of course the Christmas Vigil itself. They are ancient prayers, possibly dating back to the […]
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Tomorrow is Gaudete Sunday – the joyous third Sunday of Advent. Jimmy Akin gives us the scoop.
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This Advent, my parish of Holy Rosary in Tacoma will be celebrating Vespers in the church on Sundays at 6:00 PM. Please join us! There’s noting like chanted Vespers in a beautiful, echoing church to pull the heart and mind towards the Lord. Please note that due to last minute changes in Fr. Wichert’s schedule, we will only have solemn […]
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