December 2005 Archives

I have been getting so many "Thank yous" for the Simbang Gabi. It was probably, for me, the best preparation, the most prayerful preparation for Christmas I have ever experienced.

During the new year may you have....

Enough happiness to keep you sweet.
Enough trials to keep you strong.
Enough sorrow to keep you human.
Enough hope to keep you happy.
Enough failure to keep you humble.
Enough success to keep you eager.
Enough friends to give you comfort.
Enough wealth to meet your needs.
Enough enthusiasm to make you look forward to tomorrow.
Enough determination to make each day better than the day before.

People can't seem to stop talking about how generous the parishioners were this year. The Christmas collection was more than $20,000 more than expected or budgeted. We have never had a $52,000 collection before. This will go a long way to pay off some of those old debts.

An excellent article found on ZENIT. Thanks to The New Liturgical Movement for pointing it out.

The Mass will be chanted from the Sign of the Cross to the Go in Peace. The Deacon will chant the gospel.

Prelude
Premiere Suitte de Noels, Claude-Benigne Balbastre (1727-1799)
The Prophecies, Traditional Vatican Chant
Proclamation of the Birth of Christ, Chant

Procession
Adeste Fidelis, O Come, All Ye Faithful

Incensation, Crèche and Altar
Dominus Dixit Ad Me, Graduale Romanum

Kyrie, Missa Cum Jubilo
Christmas Gloria, Daniel Laginya
Responsorial, Psalm 96, Today is born our Savior, Proulx, based on Puer Natus
Christmas Alleluia, James Chepponis

Preparation of the Gifts: Silent Night, Guitar and Organ
The Glory of the Father, Egil Hovland
Eucharistic Acclamation, Community Mass, Richard Proulx
Agnus Dei, Mass XVIII

Communion:
In Splendoribus, Graduale Romanum
Child of Mercy, Haas
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Silent Night
Closing: Joy to the World
Postlude: Noel X, Luis Claude Daquin (1694-1772)

The Christmas Schedule for St. Edward can be found here.

Last night was our annual Christmas Concert. The choir and the assembly did a marvelous job. It was a evening of readings and carols. It was a delightful and prayerful evening. My favorite moment was when the choir sang the Victoria "Ave Maria." The Bethlehem reading from Micah was read by a first grader. It was a wonderful Advent evening and after the closing hymn there was a restful silence in the church. It clearly had not been entertainment and applause would have broken the effect. Outside the people were animated, delighted and complimented the choir.

This was a parish that ended every mass with applause. The movement from Nashville to Rome is not complete. There are still some who long for the flesh pots of Egypt. There is still a smattering of applause after Mass on Sunday, but we are doing our best to discourage it. It is difficult work, but I want this to be Sacred Space again.

The last two mornings have been quite festive and I am looking forward to seven more before Christmas. Responding to an inquiry and a request, I permitted the Filipino community to hold their traditional novena of dawn masses before Christmas. In some communities this is known as Misa de Gallo, but more widely as Simbang Gabi. They have more than surpassed my expectations. A Full church, lots of young people, fabulous choir, traditional music in Tagalog...It has been fabulous. Traditionally in the Philippines these Masses cn be held as early as 4:00am. We are having them at 5:00am, with the traditional Filipino breakfast in the Hall afterwards. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, they asked me to sing these masses.

With the Mananitas for our Lady of Guadalupe last week, it means a lot of early mornings this December and lots of afternoon naps too,

The NPM report is found here.

This is actually one of the greatest pastoral challenges today, when a faithful Catholic hungers to sing a song that is heterodox, when they find great meaning and hope in a song that points us in a wrong direction.

We have to be pastoral and gentle and non-judgemental, but here we are not going to sing "Voices that Challenge," unless it it becomes a song about the voice of God. It is not someones condition that challenges me to respond, it is the voice of the Blood of Jesus that challenges me to respond.

He, himself, he alone is our peace. Here we shall never sing "...let peace begin with me." It may be someone's sentimental favorite, but the purpose of Music in Liturgy is to bear the word of God, not to confirm my sentiments.

Actually there are some pretty good songs among the top 25.

On another note, other Bloggers have noted that Dan Schutte has composed a keeper, "Christ, Circle Round Us." Sr. Mary Mark shared the song with me this morning. It is delightful.

I've seen this linked to on a number of Blogs already. I have access to a few more details about the Archbishop's moves into his new apartment, including some pictures, but Fr. Lopes has sworn me to silence. But now that Fr. Steven Lopes has himself in this news article, I plan to do some bragging.

Fr. Lopes was a student of mine when he was in Grade school.

He will be helping out here with the Christmas Masses on his vacation. He is a native of this parish. His Mother sits about 10 rows back on the right every morning for Mass, and she is my part time private secretary.

I wish I could share some pictures, But Fr. Lopes would have my hide.

(English version below)

Una voz cláma en el desierto: “Prepáren el camino del Señor, enderecen sus senderos.”

Juan el Bautista anunció el camino. Hemos sido invitados a un nuevo camino, “EL CAMINO”. Hemos sido invitados al Camino de Jesucristo. Entramos profundamente en la experiencia de Adviento dejando ir los caminos del mundo y poniendo nuestra atención en el que nos va a bautizar con fuego. En el Evangelio de San Marcos, él no tiene verguenza acerca de quien es él. Es Jesús, el Cristo. El Hijo de Dios.

El mundo nos invitará a otro camino. Será un camino de ganancia, de mercado, de propaganda, que nos convencerá que no podríamos ser felices a menos que compremos éste o aquél producto. En este mundo el dinero viene a ser el mayor símbolo del valor humano, estamos invitados a sustituir nuestras relaciones con carros, computadoras, objetos de entretenimientos y cuentas bancarias. En un mundo donde la vida no tiene valor, donde no hay valor, solamente el dinero cuenta. En un mundo así la violencia viene a ser un valor, la persona no es incluida, cosas (por ejemplo: armas) son necesarias para la victoria. Cuando nos convertimos en una cosa, no podemos ser lastimados. El cuerpo se convierte en una cosa, las relaciónes pierden su valor separados de la persona humana.

El camino de Jesús es diferente. Los profetas antiguos anunciaron esto generaciones antes de su venida:

Consuelen, consuelen a mi pueblo, dice nuestro Dios. Hablen al corazón de Jerusalén, y díganle a gritos que ya terminó el tiempo de su servidumbre y que ya ha satisfecho por sus iniquidades, porque ya ha recibido de manos del Señor castigo doble por todos sus pecados.

Es un camino de perdón. No es que nosotros podemos hacer algo para alcanzar a Dios. El hace camino junto a nosotros y su gran deseo es establecer una relación de amistad junto a nosotros. Es un camino que nos nutre. El rompe todas las barreras y viene a nosotros como comida. Es un camino de honestidad. No necesitamos ser más de lo que somos. El nos hizo, y ahora nos redime con su misma sangre, así podemos ser libres, libres para ser su pueblo. Es un camino de amor. Dios amó tanto al mundo que nos dio a su único Hijo, entonces en El aprendemos su camino de amor. Es un camino de sacrificio.

El mundo nos dirá: “Este es mi cuerpo puedo hacer con él lo que yo quiera”.

En Jesús escuchamos una voz completamente diferente: “Esto es mi Cuerpo, que será entregado por ustedes.”

Es verdaderamente un desierto ahí afuera y el camino del Evangelio sigue siendo una voz clamando en el desierto: “Preparen el camino del Señor, enderecen sus senderos”. Depende de nosotros que en estos días de Adviento examinemos nuestros caminos, para ver si nuestra elección de seguirlo a El es real. Si tomamos todo para nosotros, estamos siguiendo al mundo. Si nuestro camino es de perdón, de nutrirnos interiormente, de honestidad, amor y sacrificio, solamente ahí, sabremos que estamos siguiendo a Jesús y haciéndonos parte de su cuerpo.

Apostle to the East
Co-patron of the Missions
Patron of the Missionaries and Adorers of the Precious Blood
Patron of the Apostleship of Prayer
feast day, December 3

Francesco de Jassu y Xavier was born in 1506 in the Basque region of Navarre. Instead of following his older brothers into military service, he went to the University of Paris when he turned eighteen. After he finished his master's studies, Francis served as a professor. He hoped to complete a doctorate in philosophy and eventually be ordained a priest. As a member of the nobility, he aspired to a prestigious position as canon of the cathedral in Pamplona.

Francis and his friend Pierre Favre acquired an unusual roommate in 1528, a former soldier who had experienced a remarkable conversion while recovering from serious wounds -- Inigo de Loyola. Though Francis first resisted Loyola's enthusiasm, he became one of Ignatius' original company. They made religious vows in 1534 and made their way to Venice. They served in hospitals while waiting for an opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Francis, along with Ignatius and several others, was ordained in 1537. Since the wars with the Turks continued to make their pilgrimage impossible, Ignatius and his followers left Venice and offered their services to the pope as missionaries.

The Society of Jesus was officially approved as a religious order in 1540. Ignatius immediately sent Francis to Portugal, since King Joao III was eager to have the Jesuits serve as missionaries in the Portuguese colonies in Asia. After spending a winter in Mozabique, Francis set sail for India.

The story of his journeys is an epic adventure. He arrived in Goa in May 1542 and went on from there to Cape Comorin in the south of India. Here he spent three years working among the pearl fishers, or Paravas. From there he went on to the East Indies, to Malacca (a major city on the Malay Peninsula) and to the Molucca Islands (south of the Philippines, now part of Indonesia). In 1549, he set out for Japan. He died on December 3, 1552, on the island of Sancian, off the coast of China near Canton.

Thus in ten years, he traversed the greater part of the Far East. When one considers the conditions of travel, the means of transport, the delays and difficulties which beset him at every stage, it is, even physically an astounding achievement. It is even more remarkable when one considers that he left behind him a flourishing church wherever he went and that the effects of his labors remain to the present day.

Many miracles have been attributed to Saint Francis. He is said to have possessed the gift of tongues, to have healed the sick and even to have raised the dead. That he possessed the gift of prophecy seems to be certain, but he can hardly have possessed the gift of tongues. The evidence is, on the contrary, that he had to rely throughout on interpreters to translate his message into the different languages he required. The real miracle of his life, as has been said, was the miracle of his personality, by which he was able to convert thousands to the faith and win their passionate devotion.

The body of Saint Francis was brought back to Goa. His tomb is in the church of the Bom Jesu, the Good Jesus. It is perfectly preserved!

Francis Xavier and Saint Gaspar del Bufalo

Saint Gaspar's family lived near the Jesuit Church of the Gesu in Rome, where there is a shrine to Saint Francis Xavier, including his right arm. When Gaspar was about eighteen months old, he contracted smallpox. Fearing that her son would be blind even if he lived, Gaspar's mother prayed at the shrine of Saint Francis. Her prayers were answered! Gaspar's lifelong devotion to this great missionary led him to place the community under his patronage.

The Liberal Side always challenges all to speak of the songs we would choose along with their qualities, rather than nixing the songs we dislike. The problem with failing to critiqe the bad music is that it may seem to some as acceptable for Catholic Worship, like the time that the editor of GIA personally defended the use of Let There be Peace on Earth for Catholic Liturgy.

I have already spoken of my favorite Advent Music. With the O Antiphons, Rorate Caeli and Conditor Alme Siderum you have wonderful melodies which serve to support the prayer text or the text from Scripture. The mark of the good liturgical piece is that it is the appropriate music to serve the Scripture text it bears.

I must confess to actually liking a selection by Marty Haugen, My Soul in Stillness Waits. It is a modern setting of the O Antiphon text.

The important thing is the Text. Music is the servant of the text.

I cannot believe that it is December already. Most of the spare time in the past few months has been spent poring over numbers, the annual ritual with the budget. This is such a large place, and the budget is over a million. It takes a while to figure it all out and apportion things properly. The final draft is an act of faith. We cut $180,000 in spending for next year. Donations are up, but expenses are way up.

This is a great day to stay indoors. The weather is nasty.

Advent is a beautiful season, my favorite. I can hardly wait to hear the “O” Antiphons again. Conditor Alme Siderum, Rorate Caeli are among my most loved melodies. I especially love the text of the Rorate.

My Advent reading so far has included “The Strangest Way” by Robert Barron and “Redeemer in the Womb” by John Saward.