Yeah!

Today at Mass I was sitting behind a young family with a 1-2 year old daughter. At communion time we were singing The Cry of the Poor by Fr. John Foley, SJ. When the song ended (with the refrain "The Lord hears the cry of the poor, blessed be the poor," the little girl smiled from ear to ear, clapped and then threw up her arms and said "Yeah!" Now if we could just all be that excited about God and religion.

This was more poignant today because Father spoke in his homily about the difference between the Jewish tradition of keeping the entire Sabbath for God versus our modern day where we find it a struggle to give up an hour for Mass. What will it take to get us to pay more attention to God and no the clock in the back of the church?

Lyrical Thought #48

Exsultet

MP3

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God's throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God's people!

My dearest friends,
standing with me in this holy light,
join me in asking God for mercy,

that he may give his unworthy minister
grace to sing his Easter praises.



Deacon: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Deacon: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them up to the Lord.
Deacon: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is truly right
that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.


For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam's sin to our eternal Father!

This is our passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night
when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin!

This is night
when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night
when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?
Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.

O happy fault,
O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!


Most blessed of all nights,
chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!


Of this night scripture says:
"The night will be as clear as day:
it will become my light, my joy."

The power of this holy night dispels all evil,
washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,
brings mourners joy;
it casts out hatred, brings us peace,
and humbles earthly pride.

Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth
and man is reconciled with God!

Therefore, heavenly Father,
in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your Church's solemn offering.


Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.


(For it is fed by the melting wax,
which the mother bee brought forth
to make this precious candle.)

Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night!




May the Morning Star which never sets
find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star,
who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,
your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.

Exsultet in Latin

MP3

Exultet iam angelica turba caelorum:
exultent divina mysteria:
et pro tanti Regis victoria tuba insonet salutaris.


Gaudeat et tellus tantis irradiata fulgoribus:
et, aeterni Regis splendore illustrata,
totius orbis se sentiat amisisse caliginem.


Laetetur et mater Ecclesia,
tanti luminis adornata fulgoribus:
et magnis populorum vocibus haec aula resultet.


Quapropter astantes vos, fratres carissimi,
ad tam miram huius sancti luminis claritatem,
una mecum, quaeso,
Dei omnipotentis misericordiam invocate.
Ut, qui me non meis meritis
intra Levitarum numerum dignatus est aggregare,
luminis sui claritatem infundens,
cerei huius laudem implere perficiat.

Vers. Dominus vobiscum.
Resp. Et cum spiritu tuo.
Vers. Sursum corda.
Resp. Habemus ad Dominum.
Vers. Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro.
Resp. Dignum et iustum est.

Vere dignum et iustum est,
invisibilem Deum Patrem omnipotentem
Filiumque eius unigenitum,
Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum,
toto cordis ac mentis affectu et vocis ministerio personare.

Qui pro nobis aeterno Patri Adae debitum solvit,
et veteris piaculi cautionem pio cruore detersit.

Haec sunt enim festa paschalia,
in quibus verus ille Agnus occiditur,
cuius sanguine postes fidelium consecrantur.

Haec nox est,
in qua primum patres nostros, filios Israel
eductos de Aegypto,
Mare Rubrum sicco vestigio transire fecisti.

Haec igitur nox est,
quae peccatorum tenebras columnae illuminatione purgavit.

Haec nox est,
quae hodie per universum mundum in Christo credentes,
a vitiis saeculi et caligine peccatorum segregatos,
reddit gratiae, sociat sanctitati.

Haec nox est,
in qua, destructis vinculis mortis,
Christus ab inferis victor ascendit.

Nihil enim nobis nasci profuit,
nisi redimi profuisset.
O mira circa nos tuae pietatis dignatio!
O inaestimabilis dilectio caritatis:
ut servum redimeres, Filium tradidisti!

O certe necessarium Adae peccatum,
quod Christi morte deletum est!
O felix culpa,
quae talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem!

O vere beata nox,
quae sola meruit scire tempus et horam,
in qua Christus ab inferis resurrexit!

Haec nox est, de qua scriptum est:
Et nox sicut dies illuminabitur:
et nox illuminatio mea in deliciis meis.

Huius igitur sanctificatio noctis fugat scelera, culpas lavat:
et reddit innocentiam lapsis
et maestis laetitiam.
Fugat odia, concordiam parat
et curvat imperia.

O vere beata nox,
in qua terrenis caelestia, humanis divina iunguntur!¹

In huius igitur noctis gratia, suscipe, sancte Pater,
laudis huius sacrificium vespertinum,
quod tibi in hac cerei oblatione sollemni,
per ministrorum manus
de operibus apum, sacrosancta reddit Ecclesia.

Sed iam columnae huius praeconia novimus,
quam in honorem Dei rutilans ignis accendit.
Qui, licet sit divisus in partes,
mutuati tamen luminis detrimenta non novit.

Alitur enim liquantibus ceris,
quas in substantiam pretiosae huius lampadis
apis mater eduxit.²

Oramus ergo te, Domine,
ut cereus iste in honorem tui nominis consecratus,
ad noctis huius caliginem destruendam,
indeficiens perseveret.
Et in odorem suavitatis acceptus,
supernis luminaribus misceatur.

Flammas eius lucifer matutinus inveniat:
Ille, inquam, lucifer, qui nescit occasum:
Christus Filius tuus,
qui, regressus ab inferis, humano generi serenus illuxit,
et vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum.

Resp. Amen.

¹ This sentence follows apis mater eduxit in the Latin. It is shown here to correspond with its placing in the English.

² This sentence has no equivalent in the standard English version.

Musical Tradition

As most people who know me know, I am very big on music, especially when it comes to its use in Liturgy. Meanwhile it would probably shock the same people that I would be wondering what happened to some traditional music in the Triduum celebrations this year in my Parish. Holy Thursday went as much as one would think including Tanto Ergo for the procession of the Holy Eucharist to the chapel. Last night at Good Friday though, I was thinking when we were doing the Good Friday petitions(for non-Catholics these are normally done at Mass, but on Good Friday they are extended in length and importance) that something was just missing. Then it hit me, chant. Yes me the guy that's always turning his nose up at chant missed some Gregorian Chant in the Liturgy. I started thinking and remembered that growing up the petitions were intoned by a cantor and the congregation responded also in song. At this point I went thumbing through the Breaking Bread looking for the way I remembered it and found only the 10 petitions and a note about the Deacon or Cantor leading it in song, but none of the chant was there. Also missing was the break in each petition where the leader would call the congregation to kneel and then after a moment of silence stand to continue on with the other petitions.

Maybe I revere tradition and ritual more than I thought I did? Tonight is the Easter Vigil, the Holiest celebration of the liturgical year. Judging from last year I know that I'll be disappointed by another chant, the Exsultet, which is sung to conclude the Service of Light at the beginning of the Mass. Usually it is up to the Priest or Deacon to sing this chant, but they have the option to allow a cantor to sing it as well. The priest that will sing it tonight is a good singer so he is more than capable of singing it, but the unique chant in the Sacramentary written for the Exsultet was last year replaced with a rather boring generic chant mode last year that really didn't do justice to the text of the Exsultet. I had the privilege to sing the Exultet three years in a row for Fr. Bill Kottenstette's Parish in Memphis, MO and so maybe that is why it is so important to me.

Maybe too it's because I'm starting to see songs that were my favorites growing up disappearing from the common repertoire of the Catholic Church. For example, I am now in my 8th year of being in congregations where singing "On Eagle's Wings" is unofficially banned because "it's a funeral song". This pigeon holing of songs drives me nuts. Another song that has seemed to slowly disappear off the map is "Send us as Your Blessing Lord". Is this the curse that we as Catholics have brought on ourselves by using constantly changing soft bound hymnals? Yet at the same time I don't want to stagnate and never grow or change or add new songs.

Regardless of my frustrations, the Easter Vigil liturgy will still be the highlight of the year and I encourage all of you to find your closest Catholic Church and attend tonight.

DAEC Day 2

Well today's keynote from Christopher West was even better than yesterday's. I've bought a few of his books to read. I'm hoping to better understand the whole Theology of the Body thing.

DAEC Day 1

Ok so today was the first day of the Springfield Diocese Adult Education Conference. This is the first time that I've taken the time to go and I'm glad that I did. The day started with a prayer service that was just awesome. Lots of good music and the Sister that gave the reflection was very insightful. That led into the Keynote by Christopher West. I've heard a lot of things about the Theology of the Body and about him, but this was the first time I'd heard him speak. He is a very charismatic and informative speaker. I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning when he speaks again. The fact that the Theology of the Body is not the stereotypical traditional Catholic line of sex is bad and shameful is very hopeful for the Church.

Due to the morning liturgy going over I missed my first breakout session, but I did go to Donna Dousman's session on marriage and relationships in the afternoon which was very good.

After the second session we had Mass with Bishop Lucas. The music was very good with all sorts of instruments and a full choir. It's always a joy to go to a Mass where EVERYONE is being a full participant. Ah Newman how I miss your Wednesday night Masses. I ended up being drafted as a Eucharistic Minister which proved to be interesting as we had to consume the remaining Body and Blood. One of the other Eucharistic Ministers had a lot of Blood left in the chalice and asked me to consume it. I know in college we used to call it a "party with Jesus" after Mass when we consumed the remaining Body and Blood, but with the amount of Blood left in that chalice I almost felt like I was chugging Jesus. Hmm Maybe tomorrow they'll estimate better. ;-)

The night was topped off with an awesome concert with John Angotti. He's like a Billy Joel Catholic musician. Awesome piano player and great composer.

Tomorrow I'm taking off work to go to the second day of the conference. I think it's definitely worth it. I wish they had more breakout session time slots, but I know they're trying to leave lots of free time to go to the conference floor to see the various vendors. My only other wish is that they had more for liturgists and musicians since they advertise it for both, but most of the classes are either generic or geared towards Catechists.

Well I should get to bed now. I have to be in Springfield tomorrow around 7:30am for the start of the conference.