THE CHOIR II.

At practice tonight, we went over the Haydyn gloria again, as well as the Mozart Laudate Dominum (Which I don't know) and Tallis' If Ye Love Me. (Which I do know.) Also, the two hymns we're doing were gone over. We're doing something to 'Vigiles et Sancti', and we're doing the Vaugn-Williams setting of 'All People That on Earth Do Dwell'. I love the third verse of this. Moving the melody to the tenor and having the sopranos and altos sing alternate harmonies is wonderful.

From all appearances, the Red Mass is going to be a musical feast. It's next Monday at 5:15 at the Cathedral of Ss. Peter and Paul, if anyone wants to come.

COMPUTER WALLPAPERS.

I now have a rotation of different ones. This is my current, and I have lots of others. I've already shown This one, This one,and This one, but I hope to find a way to resize this Concept Art from the Thor movie, so that I can make it into a wallpaper.This was the one from last week, and This is for next week.[/immaturity]

And now,

Some music from my parish.

And also,

I'm changing the blog layout again. This was okay when I was 16 or 17, but it's too dark and gloomy now. I think I'd like to try something brighter, somthing with rainbows,something more cleaner and modern.

Thanks be to God!

THIS.

And now,

A lovely Cope.

I'm begining to think that what they say is true.

That when people die, there's no such thing as closure.Or at least, that it takes a long,long time for it to come.

Yeah I know, I'm depressing everyone again, but I've been thinking about my dad lately (That's probably the reason that I've been losing sleep) and I only feel a bit better now than I did two months ago this time. Maybe it's because I'm still not used to him not being around. Somwhere in my brain, it has'nt yet registered that he's not here anymore, so sometimes I'll be like "Wait till I tell dad about this!" about some stupid thing that happened, or that I saw, and I'll remember "Oh yeah. I can't do that." Last week, I was on my way home from classes, trying to call anyone, because I wanted to talk and see how the family was, and I nearly called his old cell number.

Pie Iesu,Domine, dona eis requiem.

And now,

A musical interlude.

Oh My.

In Western Civ. , the book we're using is a standard college textbok for this class. Or least, it's supposed to be. And if it is, I'm very very depressed about the state of American education, because it gives phonetic pronunciations for words they think students might not be familiar with.
Words like "Athens", and "Aristophanes","Pericles","Socrates",etc. These were words and subjects that I learned of in tenth grade.

Yet it is that they suppose that American students won't have heard of these yet.

America is doomed, I called it. Idiocracy is our future.*

*Look up "Idiocracy" if you've never heard of it.

A Proper Blessing.

Albs, long surplices, and gothic vestments in a white Gothic church.

Comper would have been proud. (Though it needs moar apparels on the albs.)

You know that I hate?

When you work hard on an assignment and stay up late, only to find that the assignment is due on a different date, and that you actually should have been doing some other assignment that was due that day. XP

Ritual Notes.

(This was the 12:15 English Mass)
Music:
Procession: Our Lady of Mercy, sweet and pure
Mass setting (Minus gloria and agnus dei) A community mass, Richard Proulx
Gloria: mass in b flat 'Orgelmesse', F.J. Haydn.
Agnus dei: Holy Cross mass, David Isele
Sequence: Plaudat Agmen Captivorum, mode VII
Alleluia Ave Maria, mode I
Creed: Credo III
Offertory: Ave, verum corpus, W.A.Mozart
Hymn:Mother of Mercy, day by day
Communion:
Hymn:Maria, mater gratiae
Motet: Ave Maria, Jacques Arcadelt
Recessional: This is the feast of victory
Postlude: Dialogue sur les Grandes Joux, Clerambault (Yes, really!)


Minus the rain, today was an excellent day. Besides being Mercy Day, the external solemnity of the feast of Our Lady of Mercy,the mass celebrated at the parish was wonderful. In a way, and I mean this as an extreme compliment, it seemed almost like an anglo-catholic rather than Roman Catholic mass.

Yours truly ended up in the procession rather than in the choir today, because I'm one of the postulants, and all the postulants, priests, and brothers were in the procession. We got the 'Bar Song' during the procession. (I call that hymn the Bar Song because, despite having lovely lyrics, it was written in the 30's, and the music relfects that. It sounds rather like an old bar song than a hymn to Our Lady, but the parishioners love it and they refuse to sing the text to any other tune. (And yes, that means they've tried.) There were a crucifer and two acolytes, thurifer, and four torches at the elevation.
The vestments were the gold gothic set with the tudor rose pattern that gets taken out on feast days (It's the one used at 40 hours and the one that's always used at the Easter vigil) The M.C. wore a surplice made entirely of lace (As in, no actual fabric. And it was'nt the sort that's made out of embroidered nylon, the kind that was popular in the 1940's. This is completely made of knit lace, which if it was'nt/is'nt an abuse, it ought to be.*)

The mass was celebrated ad orientem as well. The opening versicles of the mass were sung. rather than simply being said, and all the responses and prayers (including the final blessing and dismissal) were sung.As noted above, the Mercedarians have special sequences for the feast of Our holy Father, S.Peter Nolasco, and Our holy Mother and foundress, Our Lady of Mercy.
After the sermon (A good rousing one on secularism, islamic extremism, and the power and intercession of Our Lady, as well as the importance of devotion to her (The rosary, scapular, chaplets and novenas, etc.) the brothers renewed their vows, and then the creed was sung.

At the offertory, the missal was removed from the altar during the incensation, which is is now the common practice. Then, the celebrant, concelebrants,M.C., and then the people were incensed. At the sanctus, the thurifer and torchbearers came into the sanctuary, genuflected, and knelt. The sacred host and the chalice were incensed at the elevation, and the torchbearers and thurifer left after the amen at the end of the canon. (The Roman Canon was used.)

Communion was given standing, but with the M.C. and one of the taller servers holding the communion patens for the people's communion.

At the end of mass, we all recessed to the narthex for the versicle, response and blessing. ('Prosit', etc.) The organist then played Clerambault's lovely dialogue, which is an od coincidence. (I was just talking about it not too long ago.) It was lovely to hear the 16' pedal reeds in use with the 32' contre Bourdonne. It's a lovely sound, and gets you the sound of the 32' reeds but without the shaking of the windows near the organ loft.

Pretzels and water ice were in the parish hall after mass.

Sunday in the Octave.

"O virgo virginum,*quam pulchra es et decora in deliciis! Tu fons pietatis,humanos miserata quaestus,te conspiciendam dedisti, ut educeres vinctos de tenebris, et umbra mortis, et vincula eorum disrumperes, alleluia."

-Benedictus antiphon.

V.Respice de caelo, et vide* Et visita vineam istam
R.Et perfice eam, quam plantavit dextera tua.
Oremus.
Deus, qui per gloriosissimam Filii tui Matrem ad liberandos Christifideles a potestate paganorum nova Ecclesiam tuam prole amplificare dignatus es: praesta quaesumus; ut, quam pie veneramur tanti operis institutricem, ejus pariter meritis et intercessione a peccatis omnibus, et captivitate daemonis liberemur.

*Prepares to do something stupid.*

I'm ordering some 12-16mm coral and aventurine beads, to make the stereotypical medival rosary. I can't find any bone beads, or even white beads that are plain, round, and 15-20mm. I could also use plain glass or pierced silver, but those are hard to find. So for now, I'll just have to take apart my green agate and glass beaded rosary to use the glass gauds for the new one.

Also, I'm investing in some flexwire, since it's been recommended to me.

First Vespers of Our Lady of Mercy

Ant.1 VIDI captivitatem*populi mei, filiorum meorum et filiarum mearum,quam superduxit illis aeternus
Ant.2 Conteram virgam eius* de dorso tuo, et vincula tua disrumpam.
Ant.3 In funiculis Adam* traham eos,in vinculis caritatis
Ant.4 Ecce hereditas Domini*filii, merces,fructus ventris.
Ant.5 Non fecit* taliter omni nationi: et iudicia sua non manifestavit eis.

Capit. Eccli.24,23-24
Ego quasi vitis fructificavi suavitatem odoris, et flores mei fructus honoris et honestatis. Ego mater pulchrae dilectionis et timoris, et agnitionis, et sancta spei.

Hymnus:

Dei Mater Virgo,
absque casu stella
Pulchra tamquam luna, Utque sol electa.

Nostras audi preces
Tu, quae capivorum,
miserata quaestus
Conteris catenas

O ter fausta dies,
qua afflatu tuolum pro votis
recreasti Petrum!

O nimis profundus
caritatis ardor!
sic a culpa solve
quos a iugo grates

Agit iste grates
ordo, quem benignua
voce demonstrasti
consecrandum tibi

Tuo, diva, Parens,
Gnatos reple zelo,
Ut corde sequamur,
Ore quod vovemus

Ei laus, qui simplex,
Personisque Trinus
Contulit Mariam
Nobis in parentem. Amen.

V.A Domino factus est istud.
R Et est mirabile in oculis nostris.

Ad Magnif.Ant. Laudate*Dominum Deum nostrum, quo non deseruit sprantes in se: et in me ancilla sua adimplevit misericordian, quam promisit domui Israel, alleluia.

Collect:

Deus, qui per gloriosissimam, etc.
sudu

Vigil of Our Lady of Mercy.

Tomorrow, the vigil of the feast of our holy Foundress, the the Blessed Virgin herself, is a day of penance for the whole order.

Office, including Ben.ant of the feria.
Collect:

Adiuva nosomnipotens et misericors Deus:
ut tibi thundis cordibus placeamus,
qui sollemnitatem apparitionis
sanctissimae Virginis et institutricis nostrae
Mariae corporalibus abstinentiis placeamus. Per Dom.

On Hymns.

Another thing I've failed to get is the seething hatred that many 'traditional' liturgists have for hymns. You see it all over sites like NLM, where people are fine to blithely equate The Westminster Hymnal or The English Hymnal with Glory and Praise of RitualSong. They act as if the bad example of Catholic parishes therefore validates an illogical exclusion of poetry and music from the worship of God, as if the idea that because using musically poor,poetically poor, and doctrinally heretical texts at mass is wrong, it's therefor wrong to use texts of high musical quality, doctrinal orthodoxy and breathtaking poeticism.

Obviously that does not follow because the two do not correlate.

The idea that hymns do not belong at mass also finds little support in my mind. For one, it's demonstrably false that their use is a modern invention. It ought to be obvious to any Catholic that high mass before the council generally involved the use of congregational hymns, and that the low mass with hymns was quite popular. It ought to be known that there are references to congregational hymns in vernacular at the procession at the end of mass, and Latin congregational hymns during mass as early as the 18th century.

Nextly, one common argument is that the use of hymns at mass is an abuse, therefore we should not do it. The obvious flaw in this is that law and the rubrics do not necessarily govern what it right or proper, only what is permissible. They ought to recognise that 94% of the Catholic world is stuck with a rite of mass where it is illegal to genuflect during mass. They ought to realise that in the U.S., we're stuck with a Bishops Conference that authorised 'Sing To The Lord' and their other law and liturgical guidelines, where the use of guitars and other instruments is allowes and even encouraged. They ought to realise that we live in a church where the liturgical law allows altar girls and communion in the hand.
Will they continue with the argument that church law governs what is right and proper, or will they realise that even the law can be wrongheaded?

Besides, the use of hymns during mass is well attested to. One need only look at the many processional hymns of the middle and late medieval age, or the many sequences, the use of hymns during rites which happen during mass. (Like the blessing of the Holy Oils, when the hymn 'O Redemptor' is sung, or the veneration of the Cross when the 'Vexilla Regis' is sung, or even the Exultet (Which is, in fact, a hymn) Or the singing of the Veni Creator during masses of profession or ordinations.) All of these attest to the use of hymns in the roman rite, without mentioning the use of hymns during mass in the many other rites of the West.

Leaving off direct counters to arguments, I want to return to the theme of Philistinism that I already mentioned. The mindset that 'Lord Jesus, Think on Me' is of the same quality as 'Shine, Jesus Shine', or that 'Who is She that Ascends So High' or 'Maiden yet a Mother' is on the same level as 'Hail Mary, Gentle Woman', or that 'Hail, Sweet Victim, Life and Light' is the same as 'One Bread, One Body', for the simple reason that all of these are hymns.
No regard of quality of text or music is taken. No distinction between the majestic music of Bach,Terry,or Vaugn-Williams and that of the St.Louis Jesuits is made. In their mind, they are correct to consign the masterpieces of English literature and musical composition to the same level as the dry,vapid, and unpoetic lyrics and insipid saccharine tunes of modern hymns.
They are men and women whose logic would make the works of Van Eyeck to be of the same quality as the broken glass blank canvases of modern art, for the simple reason that both are artists.

And lastly, these are people who without knowing it, defy their own logic. What is the actual difference between a choir singing the Ave Verum Corpus or 'Soul of My Saviour'? What is the difference between them singing Monteverdi's 'Ave Maris Stella' or 'Hail, O Star that Pointest'?
Why can they sing a setting of 'O Esca Viatorum', but may not sing 'O Food of Exiles Lowly'? In all of these cases, the texts are the same, but those who would refuse hymns during the mass would allow the the first of each choice, but disallow the second. Were they to be logically consistent, they would have to disallow the singing of choral motets during mass (For motets are in fact hymns, not just by text but by their use and by definition of what a hymn is.)
Of course, they would have to turn their backs on thousands of years of Catholic tradition and practice, and expressed law allowing and even praising the use of motets, but that is their quandary, not mine.

As for me, I'll just await the beatific vision, hymnal in hand, whilst singing 'Heavenly Sion, mirror Shining' to Regent Square.

More markers.

On Saturday, my brother and I went out on a fruitless search to find a suitable movie to watch. Saturday,of course, would have been my father's 45th birthday had he lived. Instead, we just walked about and spent time together. We had lunch at a burger joint, and then I went to Blick to pick up some stuff. I needed a replacement black marker and white pen and ink.I also picked up two new shades of pink, one new shade of blue, and two new shades of grey. The new greys are light, which is what I needed. It's quite hard to get greys to gradate properly when you're working totally with dark and medium greys. (See how This and This came out for a visual.)
I'll need time to work first. I've been so consumed with my dad, with life in the friary, with school, and my mother and siblings that I've not had any time to do any art. D:

I love that comment.

Tonight at dinner, Fr.Joseph made the comment that he does'nt understand me because I listen to Black Sabbath and I love Latin liturgy.

Of course, I could have mentioned Barry (Short for 'Barraketh, which was his full name). You guys from Gaia know Barry, right? The trollish sort of Guy from ED/M&R

My life has been fulfilled.

That's it, right there.

That is it.

I have spent my life since fourth grade trying to find it, and today, rather, tonight, I finally found it.

"It", is 'The MushroomCenter Disaster.' It is the first book I ever read to myself, having gotten it from the school library when I was only in second grade. I loved it, but was'nt able to finish it before I had to return it. Not too long later, in fourth grade, I wanted to read it again, but could not remember the title. Since, then, I have been on a vain search to find out what they book was called so that I could finish it. years of library searches were fruitless, inquiries with former teachers gave no results, and a visit to the school in sixth grade only showed me that some evil donor had donated a whole new,renovated library. My book was gone, along with all the others I read back then, because rather than rating on content, they chose to get rid of books based on when they were published or when they came to the school, That book, having been published in 1974, and come to the school in 82' was deemed out of date and given away.

But there, I had another clue: Not only did I know the plot, but I now knew it's publishing date. Still,Google searches only gave me results of cookbooks and recipes using mushrooms that were produced in the 70's.

But today, absolutly needing to know the book for an important English assignment (10% of my total grade) I did a new search: I simply typed in "Children's book, guest mushroom". In the story, the main character, a traveling beetle, wants to stay in the town, but there are not hotels or houses available. He finally finds a boarding house that allows him to stay "in the guest mushroom". I distinctly remembered that one line from the book, that one exact quote. And my search proved successful.
This was my result, a journal for elementary English teachers. I poked around further, trying to Google the phrase "Only the guest mushroom was available", but with no luck. Then It dawned on me to do a search on the volume: I simply searched "Guest mushroom", and my result was This.

At the top, you see it: The title of my long-lost book.

I googles the title, and lo and behold, there is the cover that I knew! The little mushroom houses, he tall grass, the dull sky, there was my book! And further, you can see that the book is available online, so I can read the end.

But actually, I think I won't do so. I don't want to spoil it. I think I'll just read up to the part I let off, because who knows, the end might suck, and I'll be disappointed. We can't have that. I've already lost the innocence and beauty of Shel Silverstein, I don't want to loose this as well.

And yes, I expect everyone who reads this to think that I'm immature or have some sort of mental problem. Well, if you haven't figured that out about me until now, there's no hope for you! (Seriously, remember Shoopie?That video from a while ago? Yeah, that.)

And speaking of the Odyssey,

My oldest nephew: His name is derived from Telemachus' name. Apparently, my sister really like him when she read the book in college, and the name came back to her when he was born.

CANS.

I have a new pair.

Of course, by 'Cans', I mean Cans. I lost my best pair to stupidity (Let my older brother use them, he threw them around/generally did'nt take good care of them) and one side is missin the pads. It still works just fine, nothing wrong with the sound, but without the pads, they're uncomfortable. The last pair I bought, which were from the same company but a different model don't sound quite the same. The bass can get fuzzy, though they have been improving and getting better with time.

While I was out, my brother bought me a new pair of headphones as a consolation for breaking my best pair. I hinted at the Sony ones I've been hankering for, but they were not in stock, so I got a similar pair. They're the same style: Open supra-aurual,dynamic, but with a lower frequency. They're still okay, but they do suffer from the same occasional fuzziness. The plus is that they're much more comfortable than my circumaural ones.[/audiophile]

Ritual Notes.

For the 25th Sunday of the Year. Choir season has begun, so I'll have to get started on these (Though I'm sure that 0.000001 percent of people who come across this place have any remote interest in them)

Anyway, either it was providential or planned, but all but one of the hymns sung at mass today were either written by Anglicans, former Anglicans, or were sung to tunes written by men who composed for the Church of England. (Eg.,Parry) Those hymns were Lord, You Send the Great Comission (to 'Rustington'), Draw Nigh, and Take the Body of The Lord (to Coena Domini) and the National Anthem, Holy God, we Praise thy Name (To 'Grosser Gott', with the repeats, naturally.)
There was something else, but I forget what it was. Everything else was standard ordinary time music (Orbis Factor, credo II, etc.) But it was nice to see a the gospel and the final blessing that the second chant given for the versicles was used. I like those a lot better than the common tones, but we almost never use them. Also, our community superior, Fr.Matthew celebrated the mass today. It's the third week in a row that he's celebrated the 10:30 Latin mass. <3

ENGLISH.

I'm currently Cliff Noting Reading The Odyssey for English composition. I vaguely remember reading it before, but just for fun, not for school. I only got about halfway through before boredom took over and I left off reading it. There's some sort of journal on it due on Tuesday, but I have another book of it to read before I get working on it.

*Shameless self promotion*

THIS.

Is a video of the (onerously long) procession into the Cathedral for Cardinal Rigali's 25th anniversary of his ordination to the episcopacy.

Since Cassock Day has'nt happened yet, and won't happen for a long while,all the new men (The guys at the front of the procession) are still in black suit. The cassock'd and surplice'd guys get cut off after a short while, so the awesomeness of the great and large group of people there gets slightly dampered. Oh Well.

The music you hear playing at the beginning is the Cathedral's awesome and shockingly qualified new organist and choir master. (Playing on the cathedral's 80-something rank Austin.) Really, he's probably the only guy I know who I'll put on the lever of Latry and Couchereau becuase of the amazing improvisations he did during mass, including a rather nice toccata at the end. The choirs were also beautiful, including a wonderful chamber choir that sang a motet after the ablutions. (Which I'll get to later) I'm waiting to hear the Cathedral choir, but with his credentials, (Besides multiple degrees and having trained at the best choir school in the U.S., he worked at the National Shrine in D.C. , and we all know how famous their fine organ and professionally trained choirs are.) I'll be shocked if they're not knock-your-socks off good once again!

THE CHOIR.

Today, I did something a bit crazy, something I've wanted to do for a long while:

I joined the choir at Lourdes.

And it was great fun.
Without trying to spoil things, we practiced some pieces for the Philadelphia Red Mass, and some other things just for Lourdes that will be used eventually. In all, we went through: Bruckner's Locus Iste, The gloria form Haydn's Missa Brevis of S.John of God, and Pitoni's Cantate Domino. The latter I had trouble with, since I've heard it a grand total of Once, and although, thanks to years of practicing Gregorian Chant, I can sight-read quite well, the music and the text are quite hard to match up if it's taken at the right pace.

But oh well, it was good. And apparently, people think I have a nice voice. I can't see it. I always think my voice is a little too much in the throat, and not in the head enough. When I was at home, I went through scales and lines in hymns, and some choral pieces as a way to try to practice it out of that sound. It helped quite a bit, but not to my liking. Eventually, you guys (At least the ones near here) are going to be forced to tolerate, at least for the next choral season.

Festal Music.

Stabat Mater dolorosa for eight voices, Palestrina.

O Virgin right sorrowful...

...Pray for us!

Meditations and Prayers, from the Confraternity of the Seven Sorrows.

Great!

So apparently, my computer refuses to allow me to install any printers on it! Thanks computer! You just screwed up my homework for who knows how many days!

Our Lady of Sorrows

Her feast is very soon. I was happy to see that according to the Ordo Cantus Oficii,all the antiphons are taken from the two old offices: That of the Compassion of the Blessed Virgin, suppressed in 1960 by John XXIII, and that of the Seven Sorrows, which survived (sans first vespers) in the 1960 breviary. The antiphons of the office of the 1969 breviary, which follow, are taken from both offices:

AD LAUDES:
1.Ant. Tuam ipsius animam
2.Ant.Fili,quid fecisti nobis sic?
3.Ant.Oppressit me dolor
Responsorium: Per te salutem hauriamus
Ad Ben. Ant. Venite, ascendamus ad montem Domini

AD VESPERAS:
1.Ant.Attendite universi populi
2.Ant.Non est ei species
3.Ant. A planta pedis usque ad vertice, capitis
Responsorium:Stabat sancta María, cæli regína et mundi Dómina
Ad Magnif.Ant. Cum vidisset Jesus Matrem

Once again, it seems that the horrors of what appeared to be a totally ruined office were not so. In the breviary, all the antiphons are new, except the Magnificat and Benedictus*. But it was rectified in the 1980s, when the Ordo Cantus Officii gave the texts that were to replace these antiphons. As such, the texts in the Ordo are the actual antiphons, since the breviary is simply a non-notated form of the office. (And traditionally, that's how it has always been: Notated office books were simplified into the breviary, to provide a portable prayer book for priests, religious , and some laity.)

So it is that these are the antiphons that I'll be using in my private office. (They speak much more eloquently of Our Lady's sorrow than the new office does.)
Of course, just as in the feast of the Compassion of Our Lady, the Stabat Mater is divided up to be sung or said at the various hours of the office.

And now,

A musical interlude.

Not my usual style, but the words are reminiscent of that famous song by...well, you ought to get the reference. (Unless you just want me to say.)

Our Lady of Mercy, Sweet and Pure

I've set the proper antiphons for the office of the feast of Our Lady of Mercy to the gregorian versions of the antiphons for the ones I could find, and similar antiphons for the ones I could not find an exact match for. If I can get a working scanner hooked up to this computer, I'll let you guys see them.

*Tries to find the right drivers*

CRAP.

There's some art that I've been supposed to draw for someone, and thanks to the inability of one of the members of my large family to make the grueling 10 block drive up here to the house to deliver my lineart, I have'nt done it.I also have art for a friend, and a couple for another customer I meant to draw, but without the art, I can't do anything.My only choice is to re-draw it, which is'nt an option, sorry guys. Don't blame ME that your art is'nt done. I mean to do it, I just don't have the lineart, and I can't go get it myself.

Fits and Starts.

Why does it seem that whenever I try to seriously read anything, it only happens in fits and starts? I have books that I got months ago, of which I may have read only a little more than half of them before getting distracted and going two or three months without reading anything, and then suddenly, being inspired, pick three of four books which I'll read for the next month, and then forget for another two or three months.

I'm back to slowing down on manga again. Part of it is'nt my fault,since Onemanga went down, and I don't have the ability to stop by borders and read it for free anymore. Comics are also too far away, all the stores being in Centre City, or Rittenhouse Square, or somewheres about there. Yes, there's Mangafox, but I'm still getting used to it. I had all my series on Onemanga bookmarked.Not just the series itself, but even the pages of the last chapter I had read. Now, since I've cleaned those out, I have to find where I was.

And speaking of manga series, why is there such an ungodly amount of ecchi and shonen ai fancomic adaptations of Oofuri? There's nothing to note. It's such a simple and innocent series, why do that to it?

This is why I'm not a liberal.

“You talk to 50 young people who would refer to themselves as Catholic and you’ll get 50 different versions of Catholicism, which is brilliant. It’s fantastic actually."

Actually, it's a shame. This is my biggest problem with these sort of people. I cannot accept the idea that "Catholicism" is simply a word which any person can define to mean whatever they feel like it meaning. A Catholicism that can mean anything is utterly and completely without meaning. It means nothing to say that you're Catholic if there's no definition of what Catholic means. In the mind of modern Catholics, that is the case. "Catholic" does'nt really mean anything until you give it a meaning. You can call buddhism Catholic, and for all purpouses, in the mind of these people, you're right.
It's this sentiment that was the beginning of my conversion to Catholicism in the first place. And it is a shame that this sentiment is popular here in Rome. To make Catholicism into a religion free of objectives is to make it no different than religious secularism.It's no more than moralistic therapeutic Deism.

Source.

Shel Silverstein.

The greatest poet who ever wrote children's rhymes. I still have a store of various rhymes by him in my head, which is probably a thing to be ashamed of, but when you're forced to watch anklebiters like I was in high school, having a store of entertaining stories and rhymes in your head is a good asset.Especially when in a snowstorm, the power goes out and you're stuck with the most energetic and talkative of the five.

Though I suppose, mentioning Shel Silverstein as an adult can have some, umm, negative connotations.You mention that you have things by him memorised, and people either thing that you suffer from some sort of mental deficiency that keeps you as a child, or that you're disgusting for having read his, uh, Alternative literature.Yeah, alternative is the right word.

You know what I hate?

When you're writing a long reply on The Ship/Gaiaonline/KAF/A long e-mail, and you accidentally refresh the page, but you haven't saved the text as a draft/copied it in your browser, so you lose the whole thing and have to do it twice. D:

The Nativity of Blessed Mary.

"It was on a holy day* of this most blessed Virgin, that light first began to shine forth upon the world: How blessed the the stem, the root how holy,but yet more blessed was the Fruit thereof."

-Third antiphon, Matins of the feast.

"Thy Nativity, O Mother of God,* doth proclaim joyful tidings unto all the world: for out of thee arose the Sun of Righteousness, even Christ our God; which same hath taken away the curse to bestow a blessing, and despoiling death hath given unto us life everlasting."

-Magnificat antiphon, vespers.

Time for me to break ranks again.

I agree with the Holy See.

This whole issue or Koran burning offends me. I think it's because of the fact that, unlike quite a few of the people who are considered the face of American conservatism, and unlike most conservative and traditional Catholics, I believe in Tolerant Conservatism. I have failed to be convinced of the 'Error has no rights' brigade and resort to oppressive ideals and intolerant laws to propagate the truth.

Destroying that which is sacred to someone as a protest against them, their beleifs, or the beleifs pf their system never does any good. To seriously accept or excuse the burning of Islam's holy books leaves one in the position of having to accept and excuse those who profane the Blessed Eucharist, our Blessed Lady and the saints, the pope, and above all, the most Blessed name of Jesus. For these are as holy to us Catholics as the Koran is to us. If the sight of the burning of a book of the gospels fills us with righteous anger and dread, why should anyone think that it is fair to do similar acts to another? Even should those others be Muslims?*

If anything, you would think that any logical person would see that intolerant and inflammatory acts, as well as America's imperialism, add fuel to the fire that it Islamic terrorism. These sort of things only serve to incite hatred, violence, and anti-American propaganda.

So yes,I'll break ranks and be the one traditional Catholic and political conservative that can't approve what passes for activism among today's conservatives.


*Let's see how long it is before a get a comment/email from someone mistakenly thinking that I'm sympathetic to Islam/ think it's valid. Shouldn't be too long.

I'm a Bad Catholic.

Because, I have rationalisations that allow me to listen to the music I listen to. I'm aware that the members of a lot of the bands I listen to are less-than-Christian, and some of them have songs with lyrics that might offend or scandalise. But Ralph Vaughn Williams was an atheist, and Vivaldi lived a scandalous life. Mozart and Haydn were Deists at best, and Ned Rorem is an atheist as well*. People still use their music in churches anyway.

*Among other things. His music is highly underrated though.

And now,

A Musical Interlude.

More Scripture=/= Knowing Scripture.

[ShowsFundieRoots]

I'm aware that this is a terribly heretical argument. Sue me.

Anyway, I think that unfortunately, the existence of Three year lectionaries where 70-90% of the bible is read through in the course of the lectionary,may have failed in it's mission to help people to really know the word of God. While it's certainly a nice ideal, in practice, it's fruits are not what one might assume.

In modern Catholic parishes, as we all know, the divorce between the practice of the faith on Sundays and the practice of it during the week has become so great that it's become the mindset of churchmen to attempt to cram in anything and everything having to do with worship,prayer, and devotion into the Sunday mass, all while doing anything in their grasp to keep it all under an hour. Rather than combating lukewarm Christianity, they accommodate it. Rather than encourage the people to read, study, and pray over the scriptures, especially in the practice of Lectio Divina, they attempt to fit four long readings every week into the mass. They give no time for reflection during or after the readings, and are surprised when people are not completely familiar with the bible, despite the fact that almost all of it is read aloud.

That's because familiarity with scripture does'nt come from reading lots of it in one go, once or twice a week, or even doing so daily. Familiarity comes from slow, meditative reading of it. One needs to pray slowly, mediate on the individual verses and their meaning, and to do so on a certain passage multiple times.Reading a chapter a day doesn't guarantee that you'll be familiar with the book. Reading five, even less.

Imagine if to study a book of poetry for a class, you only spent one day, where you woke up at 8:00 AM, read a very long portion of it, and then went about your business.Imagine if you did this with three different works at once. I severely doubt that you'll know the coursework well*.In the same vein, the three-year lectionary is probably not a solution to ignorance of scripture. It can even aggravate the problem, unless consideration of the above principles is taken.I know that of myself, the passages which I know best are the ones which, during lent, I studied myself the night before each daily mass. Now that I don't seem to have as much time or the resources to do so, I can't manage to remember what was read on what day and the significance of each passage, despite hearing only-God-knows how much of the old testament in the past few months. Imagine that this time next year, I don't get a second chance to study these passages. Nope, instead, a new cycle with completely different readings start.I won't get a chance to study these (Without burnout) for two more years. Is that really logical?

I would daresay that having only an epistle and gospel for each Sunday and liturgical day, a set that stays the same, or maybe alternates over the course of two years, might actually be better and more fruitful.
That is, unless priests are going t start encouraging people to study and devote time to the bible outside of mass, which is unlikely since it often appears that most priests and lay theologians formed in the 70's-90's got the "Jesus/God didn't really do this/it's a metaphor/They only shared the food they already had/That's a late addition" version of higher-criticism that makes me want to throttle/strangle/assault them.Yeah, I can't see these sort of Modern Catholics seriously advocating that people study a book which, in their opinion, is either 90% metaphor, or simply believe that some/most/none of it really happened the way it says things did.
[/ShowsFundieRoots]

Jesus, Lead the way.

I was happy to hear this one at mass today. The hymn tune 'Rochelle' is one of my favourites. Actually, we've been getting a lot of good hymns lately. I mean, not that we ever have anything bad, but it's nice to see that the organist and choir director are trying some of the lesser used hymns. ( I'm still waiting to hear the hymns we have set to 'Ebenezer','Jerusalem', and 'Llangloffan'. 'Dear Lord and Father of Mankind', another of my favourites is in there'.)

It seems that after carefully getting everyone accustomed to a regular diet of solid hymns, we're kind of stuck on them. It's time to move on. C'mon guys, don't you want to use "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need"? Of course you do.

Is anyone here interested in....

..Runescape? I may or may not be able to get an account, depending on whether or not I get permission. If I do, and anyone is intersted, I have'nt been on in years, and frankly, I have no idea what I'm doing, and I expect it to be quite a bit like that episode of Mission Hill when Andy got that game. (Boy, that was a great episode. *falls asleep and the fort gets attacked and we all get killed/enslaved/something that I can't mention here/*)

The Cross.

I was happy to see that my brother brought me my cross on my birthday. I call it a semi-miraculous cross, because, though it has'nt performed any sort of miracles, it's own existence is a miracle. It was thrown in the trash by my family twice, in less tolerant times. It survived a house fire with no damage other than minor burns on the back of it. It has fallen from great heights without damage. It was the first crucifix I bought,when I was still a catholic-minded episcopalian, and somehow, I still have it, though all of the other sacred images I had in those days are gone.

And now, its with me in a new home.

I will no longer pronounce Ecclesiastical Latin.

Nope, I'm done with that continental, non-English, Italianate corruption that was forced on English-speaking Catholics following the demise of the English Catholic church.

Since I'm a medievalist of the English bent, it's only proper that I should at least learn how to pronounce Anglo-Latin, even if due to the conformity of the U.S. church and my community, I probably sh(c)ould use it only privately.

Happy Birthday to me.

It the big 2-0 for me today. Nothing special has happenned, other than me purchasing a new gold pen after attending that horrid Virtus Workshop at the seminary today. *Shudder*. Nothing can beat the Psycho-Sexual exams we had to take before entering, though. They could make Hugh Heffner feel dirty enough to go to confession.

The Fifth and Tenth of the month.

I don't know how long I'll be able to keep this up,(With school and the house Prayer schedule) but on the fifth and tenth of the month, I say the office of the dead and attend mass for the intention of the blessed repose of my father's soul. Those dates were the day of his death and the day of his burial. It's been nearly two months now, and honestly, I think I only feel a little better than then. It's gotten so that, while I used to do a little prayer and meditation before bed, and make mention of my father's soul, I can't do that anymore. I get distracted, and start thinking of him. So much so, that anything other than vocal prayer ends up not working out. People have told me that I should try to take my mind off of it all, but that's impossible. And were it even possible, I wouldn't like to do so.

It'll take time, I'm sure, and it has only been two months, come Sunday. Until that time, whenever it comes, I'll just keep him before God and pray for his purification to end soon.

Pie Iesu, Domine, Dona eis requiem.

The World is Ending.

Onemanga is basically dead.

The world is ending. My life is over. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

Seriously, they're useless without the online forums. Who really uses the forums anyway? They were the only place that had O-Parts Hunter (Also known by another, less than Christian name which I will refrain from using here, to avoid scandal). At least they do have two of my favourites, though it was much further along on Onemanga. *Sigh*

I feel old.

Today is my last day as a teenager.

*Rage*