Abp. Sample, meet Portland. Portland, Abp. Sample. A "melo" blow by blow.

The following is a play by play description of the progress of the installation of Archbishop Sample's Installation Mass as of 2pm PST. Imagine I sound like Vin Scully mixed with the late great Chick Hearn. Only then will it make sense. It took a while for the web live-stream to kick in, so.....




The first musical impression I have is that the tempo of Jesus Christ is Ris’n…lacked forward momentum, and seemed to tire to the end of the pulse throughout. Loved the third verse organ arrangement, subtle and surely played.
The Choir (under Ms. Westhoff-Johnson) and Brass exhibited fine training and were not “pushing” volumes.

Noticed Abp. Vlazy’s first reference to HHF as the “new archbishop of Rome,” unlike Abp. Vigana’s clear first reference to him as “pope.”

In a more humorous vein, some have quipped if HHS Francis will have a “Pirate Themed Mass?” Maybe that question will still be at play with the “fidgety” bishop "epistle side" behind the papal nuncio, resplendent with a black eyepatch.

(“Shepherd’s staff….” “people of God”….As the “heart longs for…Prayers of the Faithful or Universal Prayer, hello” sigh) how I love commentators.”sigh

The Greatest Hits Collection of Triduum (the Duruflé, Palestrina…) also rendered cleanly and without affectations) definitely established the Catholic cultural ethos well.

I’m happy that Randy DeBruyn is getting some just props in this (his MR3 new Mass), his retirement year from OCP. It was a safe, convenient choice for the setting, over say Mayernik’s more challenging setting.

Now there’s an irony: all prelates should “sample” Sample’s tenor voice when canting orations and collects. I didn’t hear the ascending whole step Amen cadence coming from the tone he used, though.

The new chant for the responsorial was rendered well, though it seemed a bit mensurate (did anyone find icti patterns?) and the presence of two “animateurs” was wholly unnecessary as the verses were chorally sung. In that regard, a fauxbourdon or two would have been most welcome.

Due to losing the live stream, I didn’t hear the Gospel Acclamation, arghh.

But I think the program listed Alleluia VI, fine by me.

I’m not a competent, qualified homilist, so I won’t respond to all but one little aside, the order in which Abp. Sample cited Benedict XVI first in his mention of the dictatorship of relativity in our global morals.

Another irony crossed my mind: is it also a coincidence that there’s been a very recent announcement of the dating of the Turin shroud and the bishop’s motto demanding we behold the FACE of the Living Christ. I’ve always marveled at how the Shroud is a true prism to reflect upon the living face of Christ, even if in an iconic manner.

I wonder if Abp. might have actually benefited by invoking an actual silent prayer from his flock, and avoiding the requisite applause. OTOH- he is on top of his singing game, leading the response as much as the quire!

“Exaudi nos” would have done fine in the polyglot UP as a response as I didn’t hear any Urdu! ;-) In addition the response seemed a bit major seventh augmented,, tee hee. Under the Indigenous Native intention, did anyone else hear the organist go into a pentatonic background? It’s time to start talking about the purpose of a lingua franca for such ceremonies, IMO. This most lengthy of liturgical accretions only has its civil counterpoint in waiting in line at the local DMV. “Okay, who’s next, who’ve we left out?”

Okay, Offertory now, right? Still within the first blush of the Octave of Easter, yes? So, UBI and SICUT have a direct association. But the Beibl Ave Maria? Does not the cathedral have a Regina Coeli handy, Rheinberger, anyone? Or is this, in point of fact, a “Greatest Hits” approach so often opted for by eager DM’s? And now I’m noticing some of the helden baritones singing the tenor lines of the Biebl in a vocal manner similar to a well known basilica in the capitol of Italy, or actually in the country within its city limits. Seriously, singing the Biebl at that moment, in SATB and with those vocal aspects results in distraction. Sorry, just saying.

Brass Händel, anyone? No moment left unfilled by sound. (Where e’er you walk…)

Bishop tends to aspirate between certain vowel-led syllables, but his pitch is pretty darn tight! (Sursum corda) We should have another Chant Intensive in New Orleans, pay his ticket and then the good fathers there can supply him with allergen-free incense. (It is out there, you just have to look for it.)

I appreciate one comment in the USTREAM box about the over-emphasis by the announcers of the “supper” notion of the Eucharist,’ to whit:

During the Mass, Catholics celebrate 4 things:

1- Renew our Covenant with God through the Eucharist
2- Re-Present the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross for the Forgiveness of Sins
3- Remember the Passover Meal of Jesus at the Last Supper
4- Partake in the Heavenly Banquet continually celebrated in Heaven.

Of course I had hoped he would continue singing the narrative in its entirety. The missal “mysterium” and “per ipsum” when chanted require a complimentary setting of the three acclamations.
Again, loving Dr. Randy, setting the acclamations in an artful as well as accessible manner is a task with a doubtful outcome. If the result is less than beautiful, no matter the length, then we have failed in our obligatitons.

I wonder how many USA clerics are watching this? The foremost mandate to chant the Our Father is being modeled very well. But if it doesn’t show up on Rocco, oh well.

His oration modality definitely shifts, and it became apparent with the last “the Lord be with you” before the Agnus Dei., whose third verse had some definite barbershop harmonies as I heard them (not as in Samuel Barber.)

Communion:
Well, okay, a choral communio…when exactly is it to start again? Upon the communication of the celebrant. Oops.
I, too, appreciate Fr. Schiavone’s solid AMEN: EL CUERPO DE CRISTO, but this rendition, tempered to organ and about 33rpm instead of the 45rpm it needs, is somewhat rendered impotent with the rhythmic aspects that the much debated guitar/bass/piano rhythm section brings to the piece. Again, if we have the impetus to polyglot (verb) the Liturgy of the Word by multiple vernaculars, then it only makes sense to idiomatically represent the music in the genre in which it was created. And why is there some sort of need to keep the tempo of the Hurd UBI brisk. Shouldn’t it be directly referenced to the same freedom and languid tempo as was used in the Duruflé performance early? There is just as much opportunity to treat Hurd with rubato as the chant or other settings.
Same thing for Hurd’s “Come to Me and Drink,” we ask for our contemporary composers to write more chant-inspired lines, and then we bind their feet with a solid metronomic pulse. These aren’t examples of Catholic elevator music, but these three Communion songs seem to me only to have reached the second level of choral “affect,” namely mastery of pitch, vowel uniformity, blend/balance, dynamics, etc., but woefully lacking in breaking the fourth wall of suspension of disbelief, or in our realm, a mystagogia. I’ve always found the Palestrina (pars primo) SICUT a “romantic” setting rife with profound depth of feeling and inspiration. Well, Hurd’s “Come to me…” incorporates Ps.42 as well. But you wouldn’t have noticed any correspondence between their performance renditions here.

The Byrd-very well done. But, again in context, one has to be honest and say this is not either a devotional nor a liturgical calendar appropriate choice for this (greatest hit) work to be offered. But it is light years better than having some ersatz Pavarotti belting Franck's “Panis Angelicus” in St. Pat’s NYC while the red light’s on the camera.

All ye who are obsessed with GIRM issues: notice 1. a “communio was sung, 2. three option fours, 3. a choral motet (presumably another option four) and  4. the Nettleton as the “requisite” congregational hymn of praise. Still and all, not executed poorly or without too much rococo froo-froo.
I do appreciate it that Ms. Angela Westhoff-Johnson did prepare her singers and the brass ensemble to prepare pieces to accompany portions of action that take longer than expected.
Words, words, words…..”Eucharist” means “to give thanks.” Don’t prompt applause without a really compelling reason. Just sayin’.

See, he stayed in mode for the final blessing! Even with the yoo-hoos!
It’s my considered opinion that the non-solemn version of SALVE REGINA can be moved by the choir under the conscious direction of the director who is schooled both in practice and chironony.
LLANFAIR, great choice for a recessional: to sing or not to sing, that is not the question!

It’s been a pleasure serving as your liturgical musical attendant, thank you for flying MELOFLUENT AIR to this, your heavenly desitination.

The Ritual- Portraits down, portraits up?

One of the lesser mentioned effects of the abdication/inauguaration equation was the "ceremonial" aspect of removing the likeness of the reigning Holy Father from institutional buildings (parish centers, rectories, schools, etc.) and installing some sort of "official" portrait of the new pontiff in that place upon the ASAP principle and availibility of same.

In one's own house, well.....mine, it's a different story this time around. The Pope Emeritus lives yet, if not reigns. His portrait in my entryway still occupies the center of the archway entrance to the living room, with Bl. JPII and a blessing from his time flanking. On the right side of our tiny (entry) narthex, above my family geneological document and portraits remains the Benemerenti signed by Benedict, even if by some mechanical proxy. It is my most prized, non-animate possession now.

But, in all the hussle/bussle that the resignation prompted, and subsequent blitzkrieg of photos and info about good Papa Francesco available on the web and I'm sure in religious stores, I can't seem to work up the nerve to ensconce his portrait at the nexus between Benedict and Blessed JPII as of yet.
What am I waiting for. Der Heilige Geist hast gesprechen! Francis is Cephas. What compels me to delay the symbolic affirmation of that in the church of my home?

Ad Reorientem

Shark feeding frenzy. Indiscriminate, look for any opening, any spot, any open wound, bite anything that resists, including one of your own kind.....keep it going as long as possible until?

This serves, for me, an apt description of  blogdom's and the various media's approach to covering the stop-motion, every choreographed move of His Holiness, Francis just this week, not to mention his first days, the outcome is unpleasant. And that's fine. "He came to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable." Yeah, yeah, blah, yada yada. Francis is pissing off the establishment. "Damn right, God bless him."

Francis is giving the Socialists the bird. "Damn skinny, God bless him." But what unnerves all the gawkers, pretty much most of us, is "Okay, Francis is re-enacting his namesake's pure agenda, and certainly imitating Christ, even if beyond the socio-gender constraints of historical customs. And now, he's slamming that emPHAsis home with the Mass of the Mandatum (inwhich the institution of the Eucharist has been sublimated, it's okay, I'm still good) at a young people's prison in Rome this Holy Thursday. Fine.

He's the POPE OF THE POOR, the PEOPLE'S Pope, he's beyond Gregory I's Servant of the Servants, he's setting a Bonneville land speed record for example-making of being a TRUE CATHOLIC.

It has been long quoted that the Church isn't a hotel for paid up believers, but a hospital for sinners. Got it. But the hard and fast truth of the gospels is that Jesus once remarked "The poor will always be among us." Okay, got that too." The institutional aspects of raising hope and glory for the Jewish day of resurrection had its tangible outcomes in the manner and effect of the erection of the first and second Temples, stones and mortar, bricks and mortar, then adornment and ritual. And why would it inheritor institution eventually not seek out that tangible affirmation when it assumed social and legal legitmacy with the first affectation appropriating the Roman basilica as an institutional "statement." Well, probably like then when disaffected Roman citizens in all provinces eventually noticed and said "This will affect me and mine," to whom are these haste, damn the torpedos, full speed ahead evangelical tactics designed to convert? The poor, the outcast, the stranger, the starving artist, the despairing philosopher suffering in his bath of towels?

I'm advancing the notion that whether overt or covert, whether intentional or incidental, the target of all this papal "full, active and concious participation" is the vast expanse of the faceless herds of bison that are the Roman Catholic "silent majority." Francis doesn't (obviously) hold these hundreds of millions of souls as "know nothings" to which pearls of wisdom are occasionally tossed among pathetic homilies and inept managerial schedules evident at rectories and parish admin offices 24/7/52/365.25. No, Francis understands, that come hell or high water, this Church needs to get off whatever its dime is, and move. I don't question whether he's thought it all out. Benedict, my prince, has thought and thought and thought, and rightfully so, that's who he is. And if we, the great unwashed, had bothered to know how to answer his question, "Church, who do people say that I am?" correctly, we'd be a helluva lot better for it now. But we failed B16,

like we have most saints. I ain't the first to mention Padre Pio lately.

For some strange, almost perverse reason, the Beach Boys' opening phrase of the song "Wouldn't it be NICE...." inhabits, like the earworm, my thoughts.

But very little of this third millenial narrative could be called "nice." Nice is, in its way, is a rococo (sorry, used it twice) epithet that masques its true nature by an opposite inference. Nice is schiedt, as the Gaels would say.

We must, as a species, move forward announcing and articulating how we clearly act in this life "The Kingdom of God" with both abject simplicity (found in the scriptural texts unrefined) and with nuance (in the resultant theology.) But we cannot move forward with infidel warriors of all stripes saying we are a farce and a pox on humanity, not worthy of propogation, of respect, of dignity. We have to turn the other cheek every damn single time. First I say, to each other who professes the same Credo. Then to any other neighbor with whom we commerce. Then to the whole freaking world: Credo: St. Patrick's Breastplate.

And if Francis can help advance us from "Be not afraid" to "Be still, and KNOW that I am God" I say go head on Papa, do your thing rooted in a tradition and institution, for better or worse, that has kept the keys from crumbling before we get to the lock, and we'll be right behind you. Not demography, but in flesh and blood and water.

Benediction

Ave Joseph Ratzinger, Papa Benedict XVI, my heart is full of love and aching gratefulness for the gift of God you have been and shared with all the world.

With every breath you’ve taken you have let the Holy Spirit in-dwell within your soul. With every word and deed strengthened by that wind you have taught all who’ve known you close and from afar, the world and the very universe your classroom.

My own “nunc dimitis” is that God’s respite for you, your brother and your brothers in glory lasts long for our own sakes, and as bittersweet as your adieu is to accept.

You set a seal upon my heart. It was not that of your emblem.

As has always been your calling, it was the Cross of our Lord etched there.

And that has cleaved my oft hardened heart to open to the love of our Father.

Ave, mein Vater, Brüder und Lehrer.

OCP, the Not So Hidden Hand behind AmChurch Music

The “reform the reform” is not utterly foreign to OCP.

Thus alloweth Jeffrey Tucker in his erstwhile revisionist apologetic towards his own primal murmurs about the appointment of Bishop Sample to Portland and the "mark this day" ecstatics that resulted. Then the switchboards pulled a nutty (as I've been want to do over time), causing my friend Todd Flowerday all sorts of consternation that just isn't worth it. To quote my fellow native born Visalian, Doobie Brother founder Tom Johnston, all that matters is "Jesus is just alright with me."

I’d be much more comfortable and relaxed about conversing of these matters if everyone participating would drop the pretense of possessing “absolute knowledge” of what constitutes, motivates and defines as the mission and enterprise of OCP and the other usual suspects of the Liturgical Industrial Complex. I’ll buy a fruit pie for anyone who could utterly, in 25 words or less, provide a cogent meaning for the term “reform of the reform” apropos to Catholic liturgy. And, insult upon that injury, I suspect one could extract from such sure declarations characterizing this publisher the moniker “OCP” and insert “RCC” and the statement’s proximity to truth would roughly remain in tact. As in all industry, can we agree that despite the variety of personal concerns of the aggregate humans who staff any organization, the organization’s mission and purpose is simple self-perpetuation.


Allow a moment to sigh, and re-focus…

For all of those who yet harbor prejudices and misgivings about OCP in particular, I would ask: “Have you personally visited the complex and offices, the staffers and execs at OCP in Portland? Have you spoken with any OCP associate beyond a customer service representative?... more than once? Speaking of customer service encounters, has anyone with whom you’ve spoken (in any medium) ever personally represented OCP in a manner inconsistent with either Christian values or common courtesy? Whatever the answer to any of these pre-emptive questions, the point remains that it serves no noble purpose to malign or justify the existence of an organized entity based upon one’s own tunnel-vision experiences, or from imaginary or perceived notions of the personal inclinations and experiences of who and what OCP “is.”

I have yet to read Ken Canedo’s memoir KEEP THE FIRE BURNING (of which I recall Jeffrey Tucker’s review was quite positive,) but I can’t imagine that Ken would have not mentioned a major shift in the chronology of OCP, namely the period prior to the collapse of the self-standing North American Liturgy Resources (under Ray Bruno) from which OCP had an agreement with NALR allowing them to publish their pulp missal and hymnal products as melody/text WITH chord assignments. This was nothing new in the emerging “pop” catholic hymnal culture. In fact it was the standard modem of FEL, early WLP/Paluch and eventually GIA new product unveilings, as well as lesser houses such as Franciscan Publishing and the folks who put out the charismatic songbook series. Though it was de rigueur for serious folkies to purchase the whole collections of say, the SLJesuits, Dameans and later people like Bob Hurd and Marty Haugen, the mere convenience of a wonderful smorgasbord of new “literature” that was instantaneously digestible by all levels of guitarists, keyboardists who were empowered and hardly ever discouraged from plying their inventive and improvisational skills to these little templates was, in my opinion, the major toehold by which OCP captured the “new music” market. And then, as NALR expanded beyond their means, IP issues arose between their stable of artists and the NALR management which led to short off-shoots such as Pastoral Arts Associates and the like, NALR recognized their licensing agreement with OCP was actually working against their own interests in growth and market share. They withdrew, and I don’t remember but I think GIA did as well, their reprint permissions for at least one year’s Music Issue. OCP might have appeared to scramble to adjust, but in that Owen Alstott had at least three nom de plumes which were employed to present “new talent” and that songs by “Jim Farrell” such as “Sing a new song” were meant to emulate the now missing Glory and Praise classics from the OCP Music Issue had to have been prepared for in advance, and then added to the otherwise paltry offerings of OCP artists of the time like Sr. Misetich. There were reverberations from this publishing temblor that were exciting and continued. Artists like Ken Medema, Tobias Colgan and others filled the GP slots and gained favor and popularity eventually. The “Anderson (Alstott) “Gloria ‘clap-clap’” became a misappropriated staple of the Opening Rites out of this episode.

But that year of living dangerously paid off handsomely when OCP absorbed the defunct NALR, their catalogue and whole product line, existing contracts with the “talent” and the status of being now a part of the commissioning, editorial and publishing processes along with re-establishing themselves as the sole publisher of new material that also had an annual vehicle by which “cutting edge” new composers could lodge their works into the wide open liturgical music market demand. WLP tried, under the titular reputation of Rev. Jim Marchianda and a small stable of name composers to present an alternative to the Heritage Missal/Music Issue/Breaking Bread subscription model, but its artistic octane level was clearly second tier. And GIA put their marbles in the hard copy hymnal market, each having as minimal and overlap of styles that pastors and musicians who desired stability actually risked much credibility in that stoic approach. Pew pockets in many parishes could be found having not only Worship II and Gather, but also Glory and Praise (under OCP) in heaps, creating a musical Babel from Mass to weekend Mass. Another aspect of OCP’s model of versatility and reactive flexibility that contributed to consumer complacency and convenience was its ability to partner the hymnal to a missals that adjusted to revised scripture, psalter and celebrant texts. Anyone who has sat through three or more decades of Passion readings via OCP missal texts could attest to that reality. So add one more “c” word to the predominance of the OCP model: comprehensive, as in “when you buy this, you get all this too!” And, in fact, that led to the issue of local parishes needing to supplement the accompaniment resources for instruments and choirs et al for the paradigm shift towards new music replacing old.

Here’s the real deal in a nutshell. This acquisition of clout has had mixed results. But how is that different than other corporate experiences in the auto industry, computer and IT technology engineering and manufacturing, and infrastructure empires such as the steel, mining and travel industries? Dodge blew it on the K-Car, and hit it out of the park on the Caravan, go figure.

The dubbing and drubbing of the OCP rank and file catalogue in the hymnals as “pop music” or “inferior” by Jeffrey is lamentable on a number of counts: 1. Jeffrey’s tenure as both a Catholic musician and choir director is brief by comparison and influenced by his upbringing and eventual revulsion towards P/W that monopolized a reasonably august heritage; 2. Catholic post-conciliar music that most decry is not, a holistic entity such as the P/W music (think “Shine, Jesus, Shine”) that also sprang from a diverse heritage (compare Phil Keaggy to Keith Green) and eventually consolidated into M.W. Smith, Amy Grant and now Chris Tomlin. They, too, had precursors like we did Repp and Wise, such as Sandi Patti, Kurt Kaiser and the Gaither clan; 3. Catholic contemporary music was and is not easily classified by genre associations to popular music, For every critique that could, eg., relegate early Joncas pieces to the Broadway influences ranging from Sondheim, Schwartz and Lloyd-Webber, any decent music analyst could counter with arguments convincing a jury that the earliest to latest compositions have great resonance with chant modality, temperate polyphony (early homophony and tonality) of Palestrina, Victoria and even Monteverdi. It’s a hapless, hopeless enterprise to argue the genres, much less the main point of such an argument.

And, I wonder, what would Jeffrey Tucker make of Bach or Byrd’s efforts self insure their own artistic legacies and income streams were they provided the technology and legalities of IP law and rights that we now enjoy and curse. But does anyone doubt that if CPDL or even a Bensonarium/St. James/CanticaNova option were available to Renaissance, Baroque and inheritor composers that they would eschew the opportunity not only to share the posterity of their compositions but also reap the economic benefit of their popularity?

Jeffrey’s specific criticisms of OCP are subjectively on and off in his latest Café post. The variances he mentions between editions of choral volumes, accompaniments to hymnals, and loose octavos are common throughout the whole choral industry. GIA masques over their disparities according to their latest shill catalog by calling such resources “Legacy Editions.” So, why is OCP singled out for massive derision yet and still. Because it has both succeeded and failed at diverse enterprises quite magnificently, and dominated. Hence the enormity of the criticism from this latest article to JT’s famous “Hidden Hand” article. Singling out (erroneously) that “Sleepers Awake” is absent is an incredible mistake on his part. It has always been available in various missal and hymnal editions for decades to OCP’s credit, in that it, like today’s “In His Temple now behold Him” is in both missal and hymnal when either hymn is really relegated to one time only usage per year. Jeffrey deals macro. I deal in micro. And I know OCP content better than the marks on my hand, particular as old age marks increase on said hands.

OCP will not undergo a detailed scrutiny for content by (Abp.) Sample, near as I can foretell. He will hopefully set a tone among the community of musicians that Jeffrey described that will compel OCP to risk as they’ve done in the past. However, this time around OCP won’t pay the lip service by acquiring Trinitas, or upgrading the Choral Praise Edition. It will likely pay close heed to what Ostrowski, Bartlett and Oost Zinner et al have accomplished and re-orient their editorial ethos towards equanimity that respects an ethos of both artistic excellence and heritage (as called for) while maintaining a mission to empower and lead congregations to greater active participation.

Midnight Mass 2012 at the Mother parish

This year's preparations for music at service were challenging and, at times, daunting. I suffered two weeks of being laid out (that hasn't happened since the Swine flu around '73) which took me out for two solid weeks. In the midst of that will power muscled up to get through Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Guadalupe and the School Christmas Pageant (2 performances.) All went well. By the time we got to our last rehearsal prior to Christmas, Wendy had taken ill (which she is still the worse for wear) with a cold, and our organist lost a precious pet to a vet's errant diagnosis and treatment. So, without our accompanist, we worked as much a capella and then left the rest to Spiritus Sanctus.
If one considers we offered up the Bach MAGNIFICAT and Vivaldi's GLORIA last year, the singing of about four Gustav Holst carols and a couple by Charles Giffen prior to Midnight seems like feast to famine. But in such humility can much joy be discovered. One of those was providing one of our basses the opportunity to sing O HOLY NIGHT at his John Raitt-like best! This gentleman (an attorney) was one of those fellows who always got the lead in the school musical (he also went to HS with my wife and sister in law, who also were leads) but he enjoys just being a bass singer in the choir for the most part. But when he solos, you can expect a truly memorable experience. In the singing of carols and choir pieces the congregation/audience remained politely reverent. But after he finished there was that moment where the breath is taken in unison, and they cannot help but applaud. It did not at all seem inappropriate in that moment.
On the other hand, just before midnight I went to the epistle ambo (a very modest, portable wooden pulpit) and delivered the Kalenda 2012 in Latin, all six pages of it. Because of having the providence of a couple of chant intensives and colloquia behind me, it kept rolling and moving off my tongue quite well, despite rebounding from bronchitis. But when I finished, I immediately (eyes down) repaired to my place in the choir, but the congregation starting applauding very unexpectedly! I was totally caught off guard and didn't acknowledge anything and started the processional carol immediately. (I thought chanting the Introit after the Kalenda might be chant-overkill.)
But why the applause? I know I chant well, but I certainly am not a great singer like my wife or our bass. I remember, in the moment, praying that their appreciation was for the unmitigated, unapologetic or gratuitous use of real Latin chant. We use a lot of chant now, but mostly in English.
Another thing might be something that my friend Todd Flowerday always brings into the efficacy of music equation arguments: worthy artistic performance practice. Yes, on the extremes from "Abba Father" to the Verdi "Requiem" the music does, of itself, matter. But later on, for Communion after Richard Rice's exquisite Choral Communio, we sang the pairing of "Silent Night" (in English only for the first time in over a decade) with Dan Kantor's "Night of Silence." When we finally partnered the two songs over all three verses (women singing Kantor, men the Gruber) it lead to the most peaceful sacred silence I think I've ever experienced in twenty years here. And of course, that reflection served up "Joy to the World" perfectly at the missio.
We also returned to the Jeff Ostrowski "Mass of St. Ralph Sherwin" Glory to God, which was chanted in unison at a pretty good clip. I'm glad the acolytes weren't instructed to ring the Sanctus bells this year. The people haven't learned it well enough to join in, but they voted for this setting earlier in the year, and they seem to recognize its apparent catholic ethos.
So, humble and honest this year. Nice.

36...Nice number, but who are you folks, anyway?

I got phished over the holiday. The upshot, email contacts hacked, no major blowback yet, knock on wood. But in the amazing arcane process of trying to recover stuff, change stuff, make it all better, I, along with my ATT-Uverse, Internet Explorer, Google and Java pals human and borg, eventually got around to discovering I couldn't sign into my blog account. So, I randomly tried thinking like a toolbar, went into Internet Options and changed a few buttons. TaDa.
So then I find my dashboard and there are 36 of you people who've visited me today. And I haven't posted since Newtown. I've been rather quiet due to both the gig and a major bronchial infection. But, we (me and she who is to obey and who got a major cold the Night Before Christmas) got through the requisite four hour Midnight Mass and two others, and yet live to tell the tale. I'll get around to that.
Happily, I didn't in all this computer process cr*p didn't lose access to sites. So, one of my favorites is "CRISIS" which published the Holy Father's address to the College of Cardinals, Curia and the Governate. Here's the address:
http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/benedict-defends-traditional-family-in-christmas-address-to-roman-curia
I got through about half in which Papa reminds us all about the precipice humanity currently teeters at, and then moves onto the larger issue of what's Church got to do with it, got to do with it? This quote from the address stopped me dead in my tracks-

The Church represents the memory of what it means to be human in the face of a civilization of forgetfulness, which knows only itself and its own criteria.

 In my most truest and sometimes cynical moments I reduce the Church to the "splainer" of what we hope or fear is in store for us when we die. (Death comes before taxes, remember?)
The Catholic Church knows from death. Andrew Lloyd Webber and others may have made maudlin money aka "filthy lucre" off that adage that our hero and savior also knew from death and stared it down for three agonizing hours while never stopping to love ALL of us who mostly and mutely watched, like dumb rubber-neckers passed a nasty crash. Oh, and then what did He do before changing the Universe that first Easter morn? Oh yeah, went down to Georgia, I meant Hell, probably whispered in Lucifer's ear "We still love ya, bro', but you're still goin' down!" before gathering Abel, Moses, Abraham and the lot of 'em and transporting them through the pearlies.
"And became incarnate...." At once human and divine. And we aren't a hunnert percent sure that He passed His Word (He IS-The WORD!) onto to Simon Cephas? "Here's the keys, Rock, take care of Her best you can 'cause it's gonna run forever, dings or no dings, same here as in heaven. Do some good with Her, Pete, really."
We are a craven bunch, we humans. Within the skin and facade that holds the nastiness of pus, blood, waste, disease and decay still lies hearts that love and hurt, minds that know what is right to do and yet are self-disabled sometimes when choosing by themselves, and souls, some of whom can look in a mirror, and some who cannot. "Lord, to whom shall we go?" Indeed.
Emmanuel.
O come, O come.
Emmanuel.

O sweet mystery of life...."born to give us second birth."
If you 36 are among some of my buds at CMAA, yes you're right. Incoherent. rambling, pointless. And contrary to what my public persona jokes, I really don't enjoy being an enigma. I do like joking and messing with you, sometimes.
But when I forget, The Church will remember for me, remind me, remand me to her bosom, and help redeem me, so help me God.

I'll spill the beans about musical Christmas here in CenCA next time around.