Lent 2015

[Getslow]

I don't really know what this thread is for other that to speak generally about the liturgical season I guess.

 

Mostly I just wanted to post the following:

 

The choir at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church, during the offeratory at Mass yesterday, did a beautiful rendition of one of my favorite traditional hymns: O Nata Lux, by Thomas Tallis. So much of Lent is about repentance and seeking forgiveness and this was a fantastic piece to accompany this season.

 

[video=youtube;-4pwX_ru7fc]

 

O Light born of Light,

Jesus, redeemer of the world,

with loving-kindness deign to receive

suppliant praise and prayer.

 

Thou who once deigned to be clothed in flesh

for the sake of the lost,

grant us to be members

of thy blessed body.

[InItToWinIt]

Tallis is a good one. One of the earliest English Renaissance composers.

[InItToWinIt]

I don't really know what this thread is for other that to speak generally about the liturgical season I guess.

 

Mostly I just wanted to post the following:

 

The choir at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church, during the offeratory at Mass yesterday, did a beautiful rendition of one of my favorite traditional hymns: O Nata Lux, by Thomas Tallis. So much of Lent is about repentance and seeking forgiveness and this was a fantastic piece to accompany this season.

 

[video=youtube;-4pwX_ru7fc]

 

O Light born of Light,

Jesus, redeemer of the world,

with loving-kindness deign to receive

suppliant praise and prayer.

 

Thou who once deigned to be clothed in flesh

for the sake of the lost,

grant us to be members

of thy blessed body.

 

Did the choir sing the English or Latin version? I know Tallis was unique because he wrote both since England was in a constant back and forth (between Latin and English) of being with the Catholic Church and against the Catholic Church.

[Getslow]

Did the choir sing the English or Latin version? I know Tallis was unique because he wrote both since England was in a constant back and forth (between Latin and English) of being with the Catholic Church and against the Catholic Church.

 

Latin.

 

Tallis remarkably maintained his position through the reign of Queen Elizabeth even as he remained a Roman Catholic all his life.

[kygirl]

Just doing a little reflecting during this Lent season by reading scripture.

 

Ephesians 2:1-10

2:1 You were dead through the trespasses and sins

 

2:2 in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient.

 

2:3 All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.

 

2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us

 

2:5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--

 

2:6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

 

2:7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

 

2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--

 

2:9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast.

 

2:10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

 

John 3:14-21

3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

 

3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

 

3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

 

3:17 "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

 

3:18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

 

3:19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

 

3:20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.

 

3:21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."

[Getslow]

It's Holy Week. For Catholics, it means some of most profoundly beautiful liturgical traditions of the last two millenia will be celebrated this week.

 

I was going through my daily missal at lunchtime today and I was reminded of one of things I like most about the old missal and its calendar: the use of all four passion accounts during Holy Week masses. Full account of the Passion of St. Matthew on Palm Sunday; full account of the Passion of St. Mark on the Tuesday During Holy Week; St. Luke's on Wednesday and the Passion of St. John on Good Friday. Nothing wrong with using the smaller fragments in a cycle, but I like the idea of getting all four complete passion accounts during the week.

[Getslow]

I've always found the passion accounts endlessly fascinating. There are so many places in the gospels demonstrating the divine nature of Christ: the Resurrection, of course, and the Transfiguration, and the various miracles he performs.

 

In the passion, Christ is at his most human. In contrast to the divine majesty we can easily see so much in the gospels, this week we see Christ in moments of human weakness. So much so that it almost appears to edge in on doubt. When He goes off to pray alone in Gethsemani He prays that the hour might pass and asks God to "remove this chalice from me". The next day, as he hangs in agony on the cross, he asks God, "Why hast thou forsaken me?"

 

These moments of doubt made Christ no less divine; I like to think that my moments of doubt make me no less faithful. I knew a Marianist priest when I was in college that once began a homily by uttering a paraphrase of that famous aphorism, "Unquestioned belief is mere superstition." He said it not to raise doubts in that moment, but to explain the function of doubt and examination in the life of the faithful. "Overcoming doubts and fears through prayer and study serves to make the faith stronger," he said, "like tempering a sword. When we pass through those fears, we find we are left with a faith that is as strong as steel."

[nkypete]

I am looking forward to participating as much as I can in the Paschal Triduum.

[Getslow]

Gregrorio Allegri's setting of Psalm 50, known as "Miserere mei, Deus", after the first line ("Have mercy on me, O God"). It was originally composed for services during Wednesday of Holy Week and Good Friday.

 

 

It also happens to be one of the most spectacularly beautiful pieces of liturgical music ever composed.

[doomer]

I appreciate the discussion above. I have not been too pious this Lent season. I did watch Angels and Demons.

[nkypete]

I hope our pastor doesn't use ice water for the foot washing tomorrow night like he did 2 years ago!:scared:

[InItToWinIt]

Hoping to make it to a Good Friday service this year. It's amazing to me that for as long as I can remember it ALWAYS seems to rain on Good Friday...

[Capernicus41]

I've always found the passion accounts endlessly fascinating. There are so many places in the gospels demonstrating the divine nature of Christ: the Resurrection, of course, and the Transfiguration, and the various miracles he performs.

 

In the passion, Christ is at his most human. In contrast to the divine majesty we can easily see so much in the gospels, this week we see Christ in moments of human weakness. So much so that it almost appears to edge in on doubt. When He goes off to pray alone in Gethsemani He prays that the hour might pass and asks God to "remove this chalice from me". The next day, as he hangs in agony on the cross, he asks God, "Why hast thou forsaken me?"

 

These moments of doubt made Christ no less divine; I like to think that my moments of doubt make me no less faithful. I knew a Marianist priest when I was in college that once began a homily by uttering a paraphrase of that famous aphorism, "Unquestioned belief is mere superstition." He said it not to raise doubts in that moment, but to explain the function of doubt and examination in the life of the faithful. "Overcoming doubts and fears through prayer and study serves to make the faith stronger," he said, "like tempering a sword. When we pass through those fears, we find we are left with a faith that is as strong as steel."

 

I really like this post and completely agree. Every year I get a pit in my stomach thinking about what Christ went through.

[Getslow]

Good Friday. This one is actually for the memorial for Our Lady of Sorrows in September, but it's beautiful for today.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71cQVFXs3X4

 

At the Cross her station keeping,

stood the mournful Mother weeping,

close to her Son to the last.

 

Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,

all His bitter anguish bearing,

now at length the sword has passed.

 

O how sad and sore distressed

was that Mother, highly blest,

of the sole-begotten One.

 

Christ above in torment hangs,

she beneath beholds the pangs

of her dying glorious Son.

 

Is there one who would not weep,

whelmed in miseries so deep,

Christ's dear Mother to behold?

 

Can the human heart refrain

from partaking in her pain,

in that Mother's pain untold?

 

For the sins of His own nation,

She saw Jesus wracked with torment,

All with scourges rent:

 

She beheld her tender Child,

Saw Him hang in desolation,

Till His spirit forth He sent.

 

O thou Mother! fount of love!

Touch my spirit from above,

make my heart with thine accord:

 

Make me feel as thou hast felt;

make my soul to glow and melt

with the love of Christ my Lord.

 

Holy Mother! pierce me through,

in my heart each wound renew

of my Savior crucified:

 

Let me share with thee His pain,

who for all my sins was slain,

who for me in torments died.

 

Let me mingle tears with thee,

mourning Him who mourned for me,

all the days that I may live:

 

By the Cross with thee to stay,

there with thee to weep and pray,

is all I ask of thee to give.

 

Virgin of all virgins blest!,

Listen to my fond request:

let me share thy grief divine;

 

Let me, to my latest breath,

in my body bear the death

of that dying Son of thine.

 

Wounded with His every wound,

steep my soul till it hath swooned,

in His very Blood away;

 

Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,

lest in flames I burn and die,

in His awful Judgment Day.

 

Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence,

be Thy Mother my defense,

be Thy Cross my victory;

 

While my body here decays,

may my soul Thy goodness praise,

Safe in Paradise with Thee.

[InItToWinIt]

Good Friday today. 1 of the 2 days per year (Ash Wednesday) of fasting AND abstinence. Can be difficult but the sacrifice is so minuscule in comparison.