Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Our musical selections for today’s Mass were maddening. The only Trinitarian song was our closing hymn. In two cases, Broadway Bob chose sappy contemporary songs that directly followed Trinitarian hymns in the Missalette. It’s like he was one off the whole day. And one song he chose was clearly a funeral […]
» Read moreToday we celebrated the Ascension of our Lord. Our “guest priest” while our pastor is vacationing in Ireland with his family is an odd duck. An old, retired Irish priest, he fits the “Old Irish priest” stereotype. Despite being here for over fifty years, his accent is so thick that you can barely understand four words in a row. In […]
» Read moreToday is Ascension Thursday. Except that in my diocese, it’s not. In many places in the USA and UK, Ascension Thursday is this coming Sunday. This makes absolutely no sense to me. Part of the traditional music for this day is Viri Galilaei. It won’t be sung in my parish. Although I’m a member of a Latin Rite parish, I’ve […]
» Read moreAlso known as Palm Sunday. I lectored today. As we used the dialogue option for the Passion narrative from Saint Luke, I actually both proclaimed the Gospel title (“The Passion according to Saint Luke”) and the final versicle (“The Gospel of the Lord”). Normally, these (and indeed, all Gospel readings) are reserved to the Priest or Deacon. [liturgical geek moment] […]
» Read more… in the words of Fr. Z. Yesterday evening the Pope received in audience: His Eminence Francis Card. Arinze, Prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments; His Eminence Darío Card. Castrillón Hoyos, President of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei”. The Motu Proprio to liberalize the Tridentine Rite is coming, and soon. The question is, will […]
» Read more“The road to hell is paved with the skulls of bishops.” (attributed to Saint John Chrysostom (349-407), Bishop and Doctor of the Church) Mr. John Allen of the NCReporter writes that his excellency, Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, Pennsylvania has “challenged a recent ruling from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments that the Latin phrase […]
» Read moreFr. Z over at What Does The Prayer Really Say? is calling for “predictions” on the title of the new Motu Proprio. Sadly, his site seems to be down at the moment, or I’d comment there. Perhaps simply Introibo ad altare Dei ?
» Read moreThis morning’s Mass at the school where I work was sponsored by the second grade class. I am always of a mixed mind on these things. On the one hand, the children are involved in the planning and celebration of the Mass. They are gaining experience as servers, as lectors, as choir members. On the other hand, sometimes the pagentry […]
» Read moreFollowing up on a previous post, I continued my Haugen and Haas strike into its third week. And today, there were no hymns by either of those gentlemen. Sure, there were some St. Louis Jesuit bits, and we won’t even disuss the appropriateness of “Soon and Very Soon” as a “sending song”, but there was no Haugen, no Haas. So […]
» Read moreA brief follow-on to Fr. Z’s hopes, mentioned in a previous post, appears at Whispers. Change is in the air…
» Read moreThere seems to be a certain … something in the liturgical air. Anyone who has read Pope Benedict’s book on the liturgy knows him to favour more traditional liturgies than what generally passes for Sunday Mass in most parishes in the United States. Some Traditionalists have been upset that he hasn’t moved quickly (or perhaps at all) in correcting a […]
» Read moreFr. Z over at What Does The Prayer Really Say? is sitting on some great news, for which he asks prayers of thanksgiving in avance. In today’s post, true organic development has taken place, and a day of fasting offered for the renewal of the Bride of Christ has emerged for Friday (tomorrow). Please join him (and us) in both […]
» Read moreOr, putting the labora back into Ora et Labora One of my hobbies is book design. This is an honourable and ancient occupation of monks, and I worked at it long before I worked at amateur monasticism. I’ve gotten fairly proficient over the years, so I’m often asked to put together publications for folks. Currently, I’m working on two major […]
» Read moreThis story is breaking right now. Though many have expected for a long time, I doubt that many are actually prepared for it. POPE WILL BROADEN USE OF LATIN MASS Vatican, Oct. 11 (CWNews.com) – Pope Benedict XVI is preparing to release a motu proprio extending permission for priests to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass, Vatican sources have confirmed. The […]
» Read moreThis week, I am praying with a new breviary. For the last year and more, I’ve been using the four volume Liturgy of the Hours. It is an immense blessing to my prayer life, particularly the Office of Readings (Matins), which has introduced me to the works of the Fathers and other Saints and to some of the Concillar documents. […]
» Read moreI am reminded of something I wrote in another forum this time last year. Not a thing has changed, except that the renovations are done, and I’ve finished the book. When Pope Urban IV established the Feast of Corpus Christi, he asked St. Thomas Aquinas to compose hymns for it. This is one of the five hymns Aquinas composed in […]
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