The Hymn at Matins: Singing in the Night
Stretching Godward My own experience is that the Invitatory, with the repetition of its pressing call to adoration, establishes the soul in the realm of...
Ut sanaret filium ejus
Passing On the Tradition One of the best things about being a very small monastic household is the freedom to make use of the opportunities...
In Praise of the Octave of Pentecost
Days of Fire and of Light In the traditional Roman liturgical calendar the glorious solemnity of Pentecost has its own Octave: eight days under the...
Ubi mors Domini cotidie celebratur
This morning, to the accompaniment of birdsong at Vigils, a splendid text of Saint Maximus of Turin. Some of you may recognize this altar from...
Who by the mouth of our father David . . .
The stained-glass window depicts King Athelstan the Glorious. Acts 4: 23-31 “And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said,...
Oremus
The Prayer of the Faithful The Prayer of the Faithful for the Ordinary Form of the Mass poses a number of complex problems. The lack...
The Invitatory: Venite adoremus
Prepare Thy Soul One might say that, in the structure of monastic Vigils, Psalm 3 (see my previous entry) corresponds to the porch of the...
In the School of the Lord’s Service
Food for the Soul Over the past several weeks I have been reading two fascinating and inspiring biographies by Dom Guy-Marie Oury, O.S.B. The first...
Deus, in adjutorium meum intende
The Divine Office I am eager to address a number of questions that readers have raised about the Divine Office but, given that a good...
Invenisti gratiam apud Deum
Advent and the Annunciation Our Lady, the glorious Virgin of Isaiah’s prophecy (Is 7:14), is everywhere present in the liturgy of Advent, and this from...
Those Noble Hymns
Those noble hymns, which had solaced anchorites on their mountains, monks in their cells, priests in bearing up against the burden and heat of the...
And Yet That Wounded Side Sheds Grace
The hymn at Vespers of Christ the King evokes both the feast of Corpus Christi and that of the Sacred Heart. This is consonant with...
Aures habent et non audient
What is Useless “A Church which only makes use of ‘utility music’ has fallen for what is, in fact, useless. She too becomes ineffectual. For...
Father Schmemann on Masses in Yankee Stadium
When I first read The Journals of Father Alexander Schmemann, 1973-1983, about eight years ago, I was struck by Father Schmemann’s commentary on the Masses...
The Votive Mass of Saint Joseph
On this first Wednesday after the Octave of the Epiphany, I will celebrate a Votive Mass of Saint Joseph. (Votive Masses are celebrations in honour...
Father Weller’s Roman Ritual in Three Volumes
When I was a lad in New Haven, Connecticut, I had the privilege of knowing Father Philip T. Weller. He spent a year or two...
Weary With Holding In
I offered the Sunday Vigil Mass in a suburban parish last Saturday in order to help out a friend and brother priest. Father is very...
The Ignatius Press RSV Lectionary
The critique of the NAB Lectionary by Father Neuhaus reminded me that for some time I have wanted to recommend the two volume RSV Lectionary...
Ecce quam bonum et quam jucundum
What do these Catholic bloggers do when they meet? Pray. Sing. Talk. Eat. Pray. Sing. Talk. Eat. Did I mention the singing? This photo of...
Per antica tradizione
Leafing through the 1941 edition of the Usi Monastici of our Congregazione Cistercense di San Bernardo in Italia, I happened upon this interesting prescription: Per...