Showing posts with label Catholic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catholic. Show all posts

Friday, December 30, 2011

Canto de Pastorela

A song from one of the "Pastorelas". "Las Pastorelas" or "Los Pastores" as they're sometimes called, are the "Shepherd's Plays" that Mexicans perform during Christmastime. The dialogue and details of the plot vary from place to place, but they all portray the journey of the shepherds to see the Christ Child in Bethlehem. Along the way they receive help and obstacles from angels and devils and face many temptations. The plays are often accompanied with music and song. The song below is from an album by singer Óscar Chávez.

Lyrics:

“A frozen December appears to come,
the rose of April will bear fewer flowers.

How beautiful is the countryside, how beautiful are the flowers;
how beautiful is the song of the nightingales.

Upon the horizon the shadow walks,
we greet the peace from Palestine.

Crystal water, transparent ice;
Blessed is He who comes, the King of Heaven!”

Friday, December 23, 2011

O Emmanuel

"The Great antiphon for 23 December sung by the Dominican student brothers in Oxford."

Friday, November 4, 2011

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Blessed John Paul II

Today the Church remembers Blessed Pope John Paul II on her calendar for the first time.

Here is the Second Reading for today's Office of Readings: today's reading. It is taken from Blessed John Paul's Inaugural Homily.

(A couple of links via Whispers in the Loggia.)

Friday, May 20, 2011

Belated Easter Post

Many weeks late, a chant from the Mass for Easter. The "alleluia" (that can be) sung before the reading of the Gospel: Alleluia Pascha Nostrum.

"Alleluia. Christ our Paschal victim is sacrificed. Alleluia"

.

More on the celebration of Easter from ChurchYear.Net:

All about the Easter Triduum.

All about the Easter Season.

Another version of the chant above, this time accompanied by the Indian sitar. Very beautiful.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Laetare Sunday

Today is the 4th Sunday of Advent, sometimes called Laetare Sunday because the entrance chant or introit of the mass begins with the word Laetare which means "rejoice".

Today's readings from mass.

A bit about Laetare Sunday from the old Catholic Encyclopedia and from Wikipedia. It's roughly mid-way between Ash Wednsday and Easter. In a way it's like the church stops to take a breath on it's journey towards Easter Sunday.

Traditionally, on this Sunday priests can wear pink, excuse me, rose vestments at mass.

The introit that gives the day it's name is from Isaiah 66:10,11 and Psalm 121(122):

"Rejoice, 0 Jerusalem; and gather round, all you who love her;
rejoice in gladness, after having been in sorrow; exult and be
replenished with the consolation flowing from her motherly
bosom. jr. I rejoiced when it was said unto me: "Let us go to the
house of the Lord."



Personally, I'm really fond of todays gradual, or chant between the readings. You will almost never hear it sung outside the old traditional Latin mass (Extraordinary Form) because it the Ordinary Form it's place is usually taken by the Responsorial Psalm from the lectionary for Mass. I happen to like responsorial psalms, I think they were a good idea, but I also really like this chant, it's one of my favorites. It's also taken from Psalm 121(122) and called Laetatus Sum:

"I rejoiced when it was said unto me: "Let us go to the house of
the Lord." ,. Let peace reign within your walls, and abundance in
your towers."

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Woman at the Well

Creighton University's Praying Lent
Last Sunday, the readings at Mass included the Gospel of the Samaritan Woman at the Well. Deacon Greg Kandra points us to a a classic folk spiritual that is in keeping with that Sunday's Gospel reading.

Peter, Paul, & Mary:


and here's Mahalia Jackson's version:

Friday, March 25, 2011

Feast of the Annunciation

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation
The Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth:



From Biber's Rosary Sonatas, The First Joyful Mystery: The Annunciation


"Inviolata, integra, et casta es Maria"



Today's communion chant: Ecce Virgo Concipiet. From Isaiah 7:14, "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel."

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Spiritual Fitness

Karen Marie Knapp's Spiritual Fitness Program for Beginners and the Out-of-Shape:

"Catholic living is very much like weight training: one doesn't start with the big barbell, one starts with the little two-pound handweights and some sit-ups; after some months of work, doing a little more at a time while one's getting strong, one might consider trying the big barbell.

So, I'm going to propose a starter set of spiritual exercises for the out-of-shape, a place to begin...."

Ms. Knapp passed away a few years ago. One can still read her blog here: From the Anchor Hold (" living single, simple, and submitted, in a real city, in a real world. ").

Monday, March 21, 2011

A Santa Maria Dadas

From the Cantigas de Santa Maria, a song of praise to the Blessed and Ever Virgin Mary, Mother of God

"A Santa Maria dadas
sejan loores onrradas."