Of your charity,

Please pray for the soul of my step sister, Shirley. She passed away Sunday from complications of lupus and many other health problems she had from birth. Please pray for her and also for her 11 years old sons, who are now without a mother.

It's as wonderful as I thought.

The music program at the Cathedral-Basilica here in Philadelphia. Some of you may remember about how I was freaking out with joy at the appointment of a new choir master and organist at the cathedral, Dr. John Romeri. The music had been only fair in recent years, not what it ought to be and what it once was. But now, it's absolutely glorious. Here's the lent and Easter schedule for example.

Or, for another, here's the music at the ordinations to the priesthood from yesterday:

Prelude: Piece Heroique, Cesar Frank ( The Cathedral organ scholar played this one)

Introit: Graduale simplex, rendered in English (With psalm 103)

At the entrance of the Cardinal: Ecce Sacerdos, Anton Bruckner

Hymn: The day of Resurrection (Ellacombe) (With Descant)

Mass setting: A community mass, Richard Proulx
Gloria: Peter Jones

Psalm: Psalm 23, John Goss

Alleluia: Festival Alleluia

At the laying on of hands: Surrexit Pastor Bonus, Orlando DiLasso (Cathedral Schola)

At the offertory: Psalm 100 with antiphon, simple gradual.
Hallelujah from the Mount of Olives, Ludwig van Beethoven

At communion: Ego Sum Pastor Bonus, Mode II chant.
Draw Near and take the body of the Lord
Ave verum corpus, Colin Mawby
Regina Caeli, laetare, Antonio Lotti

Recessional: O God, Beyond all praising, Thaxted (With descant)

Postlude: Prelude and Fugue in B- Major, Dupre (Assistant Organist)

Besides the Cathedral Schola Cantorum, there is also now an audition archdiocese-wide choir. It draws the best singers from parishes from all areound the diocese to create a large and extremely competent choir for filling the huge cathedral. There is also now an assistant organist as well as an organ scholar at the cathedral. All in all, the music program is exquisite, with a good sprinkling of Anglican choral music within the normal repertoire of polyphony and chant.

I would suggest stopping in for a Sunday to hear them.

" At length he came upon Eve, the mother of all the living. She was that vineyard whose enclosure her own hands had enabled death to violate, so that she could taste its fruit; thus the mother of all the living became the source of death for every living creature. But in her stead Mary grew up, a new vine in place of the old. Christ, the new life, dwelt within her. When death, with its customary impudence, came foraging for her mortal fruit, it encountered its own destruction in the hidden life that fruit contained. All unsuspecting, it swallowed him up, and in so doing released life itself and set free a multitude of men.

He who was also the carpenter’s glorious son set up his cross above death’s all-consuming jaws, and led the human race into the dwelling place of life. Since a tree had brought about the downfall of mankind, it was upon a tree that mankind crossed over to the realm of life. Bitter was the branch that had once been grafted upon that ancient tree, but sweet the young shoot that has now been grafted in, the shoot in which we are meant to recognise the Lord whom no creature can resist."
- St.Ephrem

Making it look authentic.

Because the edition of the breviary I has is from 1973, before the 3-year cycle of benedictus and magnificat antiphons was devised, and before the revised antiphons and responsories assembled by the CDW for various feasts was devised, I've decided to make little inserts for the office to supply whats needed. (I also added the alternate antiphons and responsories for all the solemnities and feasts of the year, as well as some days which are feasts of devotion for me personally, eg, Our Lady of Sorrows or the Holy Name of Jesus.) I took this as an opprtunity to add lots of very nice etchings from This Site, since the volumes already have that classic look, it makes sense to complete them by adding art that goes with them.

Of course, I don't want them to be jarring.The book is obviously over 30 years old, and the pages have aged quite a bit. Even using 'antique' colored paper from Statples does'nt work. The 'antique' looks quite bright and white compared to the book. So, I decided to tea-stain the pages. It's not a 100% match, but it's a good 85%, and I don't think anyone would notice.

Making it better.

Taking a good look at the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours and the various issue of Notitiae have helped me to get around some of the more unsavoury parts of the new breviary by taking advantage of different lawful options. (Eg, it is permissible in the sung office to use antiphons other than those assigned, which means I can sing the office of Our Lady using the old antiphons. Permission is also given to use other appropriate readings, and in privileged seasons, the readings of one day of the week may also be used on other weekdays of the same season. It is also allowed, without abandoning the cycle, to choose a reading from one year of the cycle of matins readings to use on the same day of a different year.

What this eventually ends up meaning is that it is permissible, taking into mind the bounds of the rules regarding rank and season, to re-create old offices. You use the antiphons and readings from the old one as far as rubrics allow, and everything else is taken from the new one. One example where the CDW has done this is the office of the Assumption, where in place of the antiphons and long responsories of the new office, everything is replaced with texts from the old office of the Assumption. A similar thing is done on the Immaculate conception and All Saints. Taking into mind the rubrics for readings, at lauds and the little hours, one could take the chapters from the old office. (But not at vespers, since at vespers, the readings must be from the new testament.)

Another wonderful thing these rules do is help to re-instate something of the old tenebrae. Year two of the cycle of readings has restored the readings from the book of Lamentations read during Holy week and the triduum. This, with the fact that the Ordo Cantus Officii replaces many of the new office responsories with ones from the old office, and the same for antiphons, one could be using an office that is essentially an abridged version of the old office. ( And with the permission restored in the new breviary to anticipate Matins, it could even be done at the old times, something you cannot legally do with the '62 office.)

There are also other little things you have to root around to find out about. (E.g., that the Liber Hymnarius restores as an option the verse Impleta sunt quae fulgida from the Vexilla regis, and that the Dies Irae can be sung in the office of the dead throughout the year.

Personally, I think it would be helpful to unite some of these rulings in a single place, rather than having to scrounge about looking for them. I didn't even find out about the lamentations ruling till yesterday, and it would have been helpful to know that during holy week, but it's such an obscure rule that I doubt many people know of it.

Well, I've done it.

I traded in my old breviary for the four-volume set of the Liturgia Horarum. When I went home for Easter, my mom, brother, and I went downtown for the day, and we went into a used and out-of-print book store just to browse, originally to look at some purported early volumes of DBZ. But, on the second floor, they had the 1973 Liturgia Horarum, leatherbound, with some damage on the covers from labels having been removed. It was a steal: The whole set cost three-fourths of the price that a single volume usually goes for. My mother knew I always wanted one, so she, my brother, and I put our money together to get it. (Thanks, mom!)

I'm overjoyed with it.

First, they're small little volumes. The lent and easter volume (which is always the largest in sets of the breviary) only runs 1,779 pages. In the official English version, it runs 2,365 pages. Even the advent volume shows a significance. (And this is always the smallest in the sets.) In the first printing of the Latin edition, it only runs 1,298, while in the English edition, it runs 1,716.
Besides the good fact that they are all much smaller, and therefore, easier to bring around, they also have quite a few little things that are just helpful: The inside front cover has a little flap to hold the (Included) Cards with the festal psalms and common texts (Aperi Domine, Ps.94, Te deum, Benedictus, and Magnificat) The kalendar has the explanation of the Littera Dominicali at the front,and after the commons and before the Office of the Dead, they even have a table of commemorations.

It's also a handsome little volume. Something tells me that the designers of the Monastic Diurnal might have seen these, since they are both very similar. Unlike the ugly American edition, these volumes are actually attractive: It is bound in nice,soft leather, and like the Diurnal, the covers have been stiffened with some card to make them hardbound.They have five raise bands on the spines, with the title and volume number in gold, and on the front, the title again. The endpapers are a nice deep burgundy. The edges are plain, but I plan to have them dyed red. There are six woven ribbons sewed on. (Even though I'm not a fan of woven ribbons- the fraying is too much to bear.)

All in all, while I'll never completely give up the breviary my Dad bought me, this one does have the convenience of having all the hours, and each volume is small and compact. It also looks beautiful.

FAN ART.

You know, since I won't have a computer during novitiate, I've been building up my photo references for sketches. Right now, I want to do a whole bunch of stuff with characters from my favourite mangas and comics. It's hopeless for me to get them all done any time soon, but hopefully, eventually In all, I want to do:

Another of Ryohei
Bianchi and Hayato
Dino
Lambo
I-Pin
Haru
Chrome Dokuro

-All from Reborn!

And then,

Tajima
Hanai
Abe
Momo

-All from Ofuri.

Our Lady's Month of May.

"Eve wept, but Mary laughed. Eve's womb was big with tears, but Mary's womb was big with gladness. Eve gave birth to a sinner, but Mary gave birth to the sinless One. The mother of our race brought punishment into the world, but the Mother of our Lord brought salvation into the world. Eve was the foundress of sin, but Mary was the foundress of righteousness. Eve welcomed death, but Mary helped in life. Eve smote, but Mary healed. For Eve's disobedience, Mary offered obedience; and for Eve's unbelief, Mary offered faith.

Let Mary now make a loud noise upon the organ, and between its quick notes let the rattling of the Mother's timbrel be heard. Let the gladsome choirs sing with her, and their sweet hymns mingle with the changing musick. Hearken to what a song her timbrel will make accompaniment. She saith: My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden, for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is Mighty hath magnified me. The new miracle of Mary's delivery hath effaced the curse of the frail backslider, and the singing of Mary hath silenced the wailing of Eve."

-S.Fulbert of Chartres.

St.Joseph.

....Because St.Joseph does'nt have to look like he's wearing mascara, blush, and lipstick. Like in Exhibit A or Exhibit B.

Great Job man!

That was probably the most amazingly fun experience of my entire life. Thanks Vance!

VANCE.WORLEY.

Don't screw things up tomorrow! D:<

No, seriously. The Washington GNATionals are now on my list of 'Teams that I hate for no logical reason', joining the Marlins and the Astros. (This is opposed to my list of Teams That I Hate For a Good Reason, such as the SKANKees, the Braves, the Red Sox and the Amaaazing Mets,*)

I have'nt actually seen Vance pitch, but I hope he's what I've been dreaming of. (Someone to replace dead weight Blanton. No, I have no remorse that poor Blanton is injured. He's probably doing the team better be being away than being D:< Anyway, I don't feel too threatened now.The Nationals are't hitting well lately, so it should be a win.

GO PHILS!

Even though no one here is interested,

I said I was going to re-do it. Even if it took me a whole year to actually upload it. I did Narenza too, I'll link to it when it's done.

OH YEAH BABY,JUST LISTEN TO THOSE CHAMADES. :D

AWESOOOOOME!

I was there.

Only four more things on my bucket list, then the Lord can take me. (Those three things are 1) shake Roy Halladay/Cliff Lee's hand, 2) catch and own a foul ball hit by Cliff Lee/Roy Halladay, 3) own anything signed by Richie Ashburn/Bubba Church/ Robin Roberts, 4) Find and own one of the felt pennants given out at the games between 1950-1953. You should know why, it's obvious.)

(Are you noticing some sort of pattern here?)

But anyway, it was a great game. It seemed a bit short, but that just might have been excitement. It was tampered by the fact that we got stuck in the section surrounded by drunk college guys, loud, screaming children that would'nt shut up, and two women in our row who got up every 15 seconds to leave and then come back. Even with the pbvious BRIBING OF THE UMPIRE, it was great.

.....


And.....uhhh....


......That's basically it.


KTHNXBAI.