So they're closing my library.

It;s really all very sad. The Haddinton library is really beautiful. Tall bright windows, a skylight, and the original gas lights (albeit electrified.) The yellow-gold tiles around the carved wooden door on the main entrance are of the spines of books, which if you look closely, have the names of various authors and books on them. The whole thing is majestic, it should be a historic landmark. But it is'nt, so despite it's location mere blocks away from four schools, whose students frequent it, Mayor Nutter wants it closed. D<
It was the first place I ever used a library card, or read Ronald Dahl or Shel Silverstein.
We're losing the only pool left in the neighborhood as well.
This will not be a happy summer for West Philly kids. D;

This is the pope.

Advent.

It's coming. Soon and very soon, it will be here.
In the parish church, gone are the flowers. The altar vested in violet. The organ will play only to support singing, so gone are the peaceful preludes before mass, and the joyous voluntaries after it.
It is the beginning of the church year. Time throughout the year ends at none today.
Here I am, ribbons in hand resetting my breviary as countless other are doing, will do, and have done before me. The green ribbon gives way to violet, and the church's song is no longer Mane Nobiscum, as much as it is Veni, Domine, et nolite tardare. Soon , we will give up our Te Deum to sing Conditor alme siderum.
So as it is, advent is'nt a celebration. It is an observation of four weeks of penitential ferias. We all know that it is penitential, the smallest child knows, because mother church gives up her gloria, she dons her violet of penance. Yet, she still rejoices. It is not a sorrowful period, but as the priest says in the prayer Libera nos at holy mass; Expectantes beatam spem et adventum Salvatoris nostri Iesu Christi. We await the blessed hope, the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. It is joy mixed with penitence, hope mixed with fear. For it is not his first coming alone that we prepare to celebrate, but his second coming.
For the ferias after the feast of Christ the king, the church gives us a hymn to sing which we usually only use in the Office of the Dead. Dies Irae. We know, or should be familiar with the text. While we should be joyful in awaiting his coming, a certain holy fear is not wrong. Truly, it will be a Day of wrath, a day of mourning. We will see fulfilled the prophets warning, heaven and earth in ashes burning. Christ will sit on is throne of judgment, every hidden deed to be arraigned, and noting unavenged remains. We may not like to think on it, but the trumpet shall sound, as St.Paul says, it rings through all earth's sepulchers , the dead shall be raised (incorruptible), and we shall be before his throne to give answer to our judge. Some call such mediation morbid, or say it is wrong to think of our judgment and salvation, or the state of our own souls.
I say, better to sing Lacrimosa Dies illa than to hear the sad sentence "Depart from me ye cursed....", because of a life lived without virtue.
So, tomorrow the missals are marked at their beginnings, and we hear the famous introit Ad te levavi.. ( well, maybe not me.)
So that's what I've been thinking about as I sit here, ribbons in hand, marking my breviary for a new liturgical year.

"Annunciate populis et dicite: Ecce Deus salvator noster veniet."
- 1st antiphon, vespers of the first Sunday of Advent.

I hate weddings.

Yes, I really do. Not as much as funerals, but I do hate them.
Why? Because when I've served either, it ends up with me running after some random people who take the sacred host, but not knowing what do with it end up:
a) putting it in the pocket
b) simply taking it back to the pew
c) putting it in the mouth halfway down the aisle.
d) Keeping it as a keepsake
e) Who knows what kid of diabolical purposes.
And generally scaring the crap out of me by making me think they're going to desecrate it.
I swear, if I see someone do it today AFTER the exhortation NOT to do that, I'm hitting someone upside the head with the communion plate. Seriously. I don't need that kind of stress.
On a lighter note, I have a whole mess of pictures I hope to upload on my (still largely unused) DeviantART account.

Yet again.

I have to change a link on the side.
The old URL for the editio typica tertia Missale Romanum no longer works, so here is the new one. I'm struck by the beauty of some of the votive offices.

Pets.

I've had em'. Still have one. Except for two dogs, Max and Dairy, we've only ever had cats.Te first was peaches. Peaches got sick, and I never found out what happened to him.
Next, Tom. Tom was gray with white paws, a white belly and a white spot on his forehead. He ran out one day, and I thought I found him dead on the sidewalk, but when I came back wit a box to get him, he was gone. In four years, we've only ever kept one.
All attempts at a second cat have not worked.
First, there was skittles. Skittles was small, gray and white, and a bit of a wimp. Our other cat chased her daily until we found her real owner.
Next, there was Oreo, a black and white cat who's grown huge in recent months. We found him as a young kitten wandering the streets on new years eve. We raised him until he was one, at which point he decided to live outside. He lives in the neighborhood and stops by a few times a week for food, water, and attention.
Next, Mark. Mark was an orange and white spotted cat with amber eyes. He's actually Oreo's son. We found him in the winter, only a few days after his birth. We brought his mother and siblings into the house for safety. Eventually, they grew up, his sister got a home,m ad his mother went out and got pregnant again. She was attacked and killed by a wild animal, along with her newborn kittens. Mark was alone, so he became ours. Our current cat hated Mark. Mark started to become an indoor-outdoor cat a result of his peeing on every object we owned. Then, one day during eastertide of this year, he went out and never returned.

Currently, we only ave the old guard. For five years we've had our current cat. We got Ginger at the PSPCA five years ago. She's very friendly, and like to sit on family member's laps, but only lets my brother and me pet her. She loves tuna, sitting near the radiator, on top of the computer monitor, and sleeping at the foot of my bed. She only eats one brand of cat food, ad does not like people to touch her belly.
Ginger is brown/grey/tan with black stripes, white whiskers and green eyes. Ginger's breed is huge, and she resembles a puma cub in some respects. She's a bit lazy, and only plays on occasion.
That's the current pet.

GO HERE NOW.

At that Gamin Expo, I met Ashley A.Woods, theh creator of Millenia War, an awesome-smawesome comic. Not only did she give me four FREE volumes of Millenia war, but she signed them all personally AND I have her blog address.
GO Here
Her art is amazing, better than anything I could do.
Support your local Comic/Manga artist. (That includes me!)
I'm going to blogroll her.

Don't Always Eat Bacon For Calorie Gain Darnit!

I use it to remember the eight modes. Don't know who come up with it but it's genius.

I'm really beginning to get tired of my brother's guitar. It seems that he only plays it whenever it's not convenient for me (i.e., during home work, when I'm trying to sightread music, at 6PM during vespers, etc.) Oh well, offer it up I guess.

I'm wondering why I keep making my weekly visits to Border's near city hall. They never seem to have what I'm looking for Toto Vol. 3? Nope. O-Parts Hunter Vol 1, or even vol. 12? Nope or Nope.
How about Eye Shield 21 Vol. 21? Nope to that either. Tokyo Tribes is completely Impossible to find. We found volume 2 a year ago, and that's all we can find of it. It is'nt online, and no bookstores we can can find have it.
But maybe I don't need more books. I already have three years of Shonen Jump just sitting around my room, besides other books.
Aside, I went to the game expo on Saturday and Sunday. Except for the arcade which was awesome, it was lame as lame could be. Almost as lame as a movie-based game.*



*Movie-based games are not, and cannot be good. That's just how it is.

Christmas High Mass at Lourdes.

Nope, it's not a typo.
I was reading the parish bulletin, and I read the Christmas mass/confession schedule.
It says that midnight mass at my parish is going to be a Solemn High Mass. No, not like last years Pontifical High Mass in the Ordinary Form, though that was itself extremely beautiful and uplifting.
This will be a Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form/Tridentine, celebrated by the three Mercedarian three priests who serve the parish.
If you are interested in coming, the church is located at the corner of 63rd and Lancaster streets, In the Overbrook* section of Philadelphia, about three blocks away from St.Charles Seminary on City Line avenue. There is a stop for the regional Rail trains a block away from the parish, and the 65 and the 46 run directly past the church. You could catch any bus that stops at 63'rd an Malvern street.
The mass starts at exactly midnight, not 11:30 or 11:pm. (Or one of those other late night hours that is'nt actually midnight. Come early for a seat. There is a fairly large parking lot at the parish school nearby, so parking shouldn't be a problem. Please do inform any family of friends you have who you think might be interested.
I don't know what music will be sung, but last year's Christmas celebrations included Victoria's O Magnum Mysterium, with Bach's In Dulci Iubilo as the postlude. For the Latin mass last year, De Angelis was the mass setting, but maybe we'll get Palestrina's gloria from the Missa Brevis like on Easter.
*EDIT* I'm such a dunce. I got a hint about this last month and did'nt recognize it.
I was talking to one of the members of our parish choir and told her that I had served the tridentine mass . She got excited and asked if I was going to serve the big midnight mass on Christmas Eve. I said I didn't know, thinking that the mass was going to be an Ordinary Form mass.

*EDIT-EDIT* Even worse, on Holy-Cross day, I overheard Fr.James speaking with some of the brothers in the sacristy, saying that he would be the deacon of the mass, but that Fr.Joseph might not be able to celebrate a high mass.
*Or Wynnfield. Depends on how you see it.

O,my fellow Black Catholics, where have you gone?

Seriously, I get tired of modern theologians and liturgists who say we ave to create our own Catholicism specially suited to black people.Besides the fact that creating more tensions and divisions by arbitrarily deciding what is black, often, what is Catholic gets down played. Unfortunately, and though they will deny this, the tendency is to take whatever black protestants are doing and do that.If they have gospel music, so will we, because that's what black Christians do.* If they have dancing, we have to do it too. Churches are sometimes re-ordered to be plain, to have pulpits more prominent than the altar, stripped of images with the blessed sacrament off to the side. Terms are changed. It is'nt mass, it's "worship with communion', or simply 'church'. Not priest, but pastor, who can never be called 'father'. No parish missions, but revivals.
Worse off is parish life. Confessions are reduced to basically none. Extra liturgical and private devotions are usually discouraged. Liturgy follows the bare minimum of ceremonial, and liturgical abuses are universal. Sermons often fail to bring up the meat and bones of Catholicisms, so most black Catholics don't understand them.
Sadly, and it shouldn't be a surprise, catechesis is often terrible, consisting more of what we share with our protestant brothers than the distinctives of Catholic doctrine. What little is taut of the faith often is'nt properly explained. Most young Catholics don't stay Catholic from my experience. Hence, the dearth of vocations from black parishes.
True, many parishes have lots of groups and full churches, but a simple fact is that many of them are getting it, so many leave it. And for those who stay, they often never are taught the fullness of Catholicism. The result is Sunday Mass Catholicism.**

Now of course, it hasn't always been like this. Older black Catholics, even some traditional ones tell me of the old days. When there were yearly solemn novenas to Our Lady of Montserrat, St.Peter claver and Our Lady, Queen of Africa. Where one could find black composers writing choral music, and using their music in (the very few) solemn masses. They knew the faith, and they believed the faith. In an unexplainable way, they had their own spirituality, it was distinctively Catholic, and distinctively black without being influenced by charismatic protestantism to the detriment of the Catholic faith.
But, those days are over and gone.
It could be many, many years before anyone could begin to restore what was taken from my people by the spirit of the age. Disdain for traditional orthodoxy and orthopraxy are far to widespread to be good for the church. Unfortunately, churches like St. Sabina's, and pastors like theirs are the norm. Vatican II is rarely if ever taught or practiced as the letter of the law says, there, but it's spirit is rampant.
So basically, this is my rant about how your modern black Catholic parish needs to be reformed.
[/rant]

WATCH THE NEWS AT 11 O'CLOCK.

Watch channel ten if you live in Philadelphia. My oldest nephew was hit by a car last Friday and broke both legs badly. He had a major surgery, but is doing well. My sister and her husband are going to be on the news tonight appealing for help. I don't know if they caught the man who did it, but I do know that my sister needs a new apartment. Her current one is not accessible to wheel chairs, but she can't afford anything else. Watch it or you'll be savagely ripped apart and eaten by a school of hammer-head sharks! Or worse, River-Danced to death! (As per Mary Catherine Gallagher's parents.)
Yes, Joe knows way too many movie/t.v./star trek quotes.

Where have I been you ask? (Again)

Away from the house! Something happened, and we ad to stay away from te house for a week.Tat meant no computer for me. I don;t know what's going on,I have;nt seen our choir director all month,so there's been no one to chant the propers at mass.(Of course,if I had a Roman Gradual, I could do it, But I don't so there's that.) On a whim,I wrote some melismatic alleluia verses for the ordinary form. Wow. I've impressed myself. They sound great. For the actual alleluias, I used three modes that I membered from when I borrowed someone's roman gradual.
As for my four part choir and organ choral mass, the Gloria is nearly done.With nary an organ,piano,or keyboard to work with,work is slow. I should be starting the Sanctus by Wednesday. I'm a bit afraid to show it to anyone. I wanted it to be Widor/Dupre inspired, but parts of it sound a bit Richard Proulx-y.
Oh well, it beats the Massive Cremation by 20,000 longshots.
Next, a Gloria based on mass IV in the Kyriale (Cunctipotens Genitor Deus), and maybe try my hand at a polyphonic motet of some kind. Maybe a setting of Laudemus Virum.
Oh yes, your's truly is quite the young, inexperienced but eager composer.
Also, I may or may not be going to the video game expo tomorrow,after meeting with the youth group to decorate the church.I want to go badly. We'll see

Space bar is broked. No spacing properly. Joe is not happy.

*Throws up*

*Dies*


And I still can't afford a graduale romanum! D<

Ice cream!

I love it. I only eat three flavors though: Strawberry , Cookies n' cream, and Chocolate chip cookie dough. I just finished a pint of the latter that I bought o Saturday. Weird thing is, with this brand that I got, I never eat the actual cookie dough. I always pick the pieces out. Why? I unnoh.
From today's after school incident, I can see that my English teacher and I will not get along. It's just not gonna work. See, she has a listening problem (i.e., she never does it.) , and people who don't listen are one of my pet peeves. Only charity keeps me from avowing an eternal hatred of such people, along with people who open packages of food and put them back on the shelves at the supermarket, and you don't find out that it's been tasted till you get home. Oh yes, there are people like that. And also, people who take more than one free sample at Trader Joes.
So I've got this teacher, and she thinks I'm playing around with some kids who play around during class. Admittedly, earlier they did something funny, and I laughed.
Now, I was thinking random thoughts as always, and the part in that episode of Spongebob where Squidward is "doing errands" comes into my mind, and I chuckle a bit.
Only at the same time, those other kids are also laughing because they're joking around. Teacher thinks I'm playing and disrespecting her by laughing at them so she sends me out of the class. As always, she will hear no explanations about how she's mistaken. Reason as a might, try to keep my temper as I might, I realized it was'nt working, so I just forgot about it and left. This is a daily experience.

So wat does he say about servers? (I)

The most awesomest Cardinal alive says THIS.

Really, you know he totally pwns your average parish liturgist and/or liturgy comitee.*

Next week, bishop Cistone is going to be visiting my parish. Bishop Thomas is my favorite of the auxiliaries, but bishop Cistone is cool too.
Today, Br.David, the friar in charge of the servers wore a Guido Special. I haven't worn mine yet, as it needs laundering. I'm still kind of basking in the glow of the beautiful lesson that was read at mass.
Wow.
That, and the reading given at II vespers of the dedication of the basilica of Our Saviour. Vidi sanctam civitatem, Ierusalem novam descendentem de caelo a Deo. It really brings together the idea of the church building representing for us the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of God, where the angels and saints pledge their honor to God, and to the Lamb who was slain.
If you could, please pray for the daughter of a friend of mine . The little girl has been sick lately.

* Also known as the "Group of parishioners who won't let a few little rules get in the way of what's 'relevant' to the people."

** A surplice edged with lace, sometimes with lace cuffs. Guido Marini, current papal M.C. always wears one. Baldeschi says that the S.C.R. ruled that surplices may not have less than five inches of fabric. Surplices made entirely of lace would then be illegal. He also says that only bishops have the right to lace cuffs,on their rochet.