The Wren's Song

Sometimes, during the summer months, in the early morning soon after I have awakened, a wren begins to sing directly outside my bedroom window. This tiny bird has one of the most beautiful voices in nature; and it is a joy to hear it.

The wren's song is loud and has an intricate and beautiful melody. The wren is calling someone. If you listen closely, away in the distance, one can hear a faint response to its call. As the wren continues to sing, the answering call sounds closer, becomes stronger, as though the second wren is following the call of its mate so that they can be together.

Isn't the wren's beautiful call like God's call to us? God sings His beautiful melody into our souls and desires a response from us.

Our souls try to answer but because of sin, our voices are weak and can scarcely be heard. God doesn't give up though. His beautiful melody reaches us again and again, as we try to put away our sins and come closer to Him.

As I reflect on God's call, I am reminded of another call - the evil song of the Lorelei, whose haunting melody lured sailors and their ships to destruction among the rocks of the river Rhine.

But our God's call is not a call to destruction; but a call to life in Him. The call of the evil one can have no effect on us if our hearts, souls and minds are filled with God's melody.

Gospel Anniversary Concert #18

Well, it's all over! Today we are recuperating from weeks of hard work, music-wise, and so we can finally get rid of the stress that had built up for the past several months in our music ministry. If you recall in August, the gospel choir I am a member of, had to learn the music for and to sing at an ethnic Nuptial Mass at our Cathedral. That Mass turned out to be a beautiful event and we did our part well too.

At the same time, we were preparing songs for our gospel concert that was held yesterday in our parish church. Because we had to learn so much new music for the Nuptial Mass, we limited ourselves to only 2 new gospel songs and a couple of songs we seldom sing at Mass because of various reasons. (Please note, that many of the gospel songs have to be modified a little to make them appropriate for Mass selections.) Gospel music in concert is often very repetitive and it takes time to sing it properly.

In addition to the songs we sang, were songs provided by the five gospel choirs from various Christian churches/groups in the surrounding area. Each sang their three allotted songs. It was a wonderful mixture of different gospel styles and the audience was very appreciative.

My gospel choir began 32 years ago and there are still several of us around who have been members from the early years. We are a mixed group of around seventeen members. And after so many years together, we can sing!

Our concert was the 18th we had celebrated over the years. Because our choir had had a major transition about 2 years ago in losing our director/pianist who had been with us for 13 years, we had no concert last year. We now have a new pianist and our assistant director has assumed leadership of the choir. She is excellent; as is our new pianist, whose wife is a parishioner!

After all the musical festivities, we had food for our guests. All the good stuff that our choir members prepared: deviled eggs, meatballs, fried chicken, glazed chicken, ham sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, salad platters, cheese platters, cake, and punch... Choir members had decorated the parish hall for the reception and members of the parish helped us serve our guests and ourselves.

It really was a wonderful afternoon. We received many compliments, both for our music, as well as for our repast. You can guess we were exhausted at the end of the day; but we are looking forward to next year when we will do it again!

One of the gospel songs we sang was Hezikiah Walker's Grateful. You can find it here:

Grateful

Other than the fact that Hezikiah Walker's choir is larger, we sound just like this!

Female Deacons?

"Similarly, deacons must be dignified, not deceitful, not addicted to drink, not greedy for sordid gain, holding fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. Moreover, they should be tested first; then, if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.

Women, similarly, should be dignified, not slanderers, but temperate and faithful in everything. Deacons may be married only once and must manage their children and their households well. Thus those who serve well as deacons gain good standing and much confidence in their faith in Christ Jesus." 1 Tim 3:8-13


These verses were taken from the New American Bible and were part of the 1st Reading for the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows celebrated today, September 15, 2009.

I recall reading earlier this year about the possibility of ordaining women into the diaconate at some point in the future. I imagine these verses are part of the "proof" that at one time, women as well as men, filled this role in the Christian community.

I was looking at the footnotes in my bible this morning after I read this passage. Here is what the footnotes in the New American Bible had to say about this verse 11 (with my emphasis):

"Women: this seems to refer to women deacons but may possibly mean wives of deacons. The former is preferred because the word is used absolutely; if deacons' wives were meant, a possessive "their" would be expected. Moreover, they are also introduced by the word "similarly," as in 1 Tim 3:8; this parallel suggests that they too exercised ecclesiastical functions."

I would certainly be in favor of ordaining women deacons. There could surely be no reason to withhold this ministry from women since it obviously was a legitimate one in the early Church. I'd like to know the reason it was suppressed in the first place. I would hate to think it was abolished because the powers-that-be were afraid that women might think they could then aspire to the priesthood...

Well, folks... What do you think?

Something's Missing

I have found it very helpful for my own spiritual life, if I can attend Mass during the week as well as on Sunday. My own parish has only a Wednesday evening Mass which I attend, but I have found that a local Catholic hospital not far from my home has Mass in its chapel twice a week. The hospital is within the service area of a Catholic parish not my own. The pastor celebrates Mass there before going on his hospital rounds. Our little community of about 15 regulars come mainly from the priest's parish, but also from surrounding parishes like I do. We are a congenial group.

So what is the problem?

Although the Mass is celebrated reverently, it is missing some of its little rituals. What has happened to the several drops of water that the celebrant is supposed to pour into the chalice with the wine? The co-mingling of the water and wine. There is no water cruet set out for that or for washing his hands. There is no paten for a larger host; only a plate containing the small hosts. What has happened to the breaking of a consecrated Host and the tiny bit that is supposed to be put into the chalice with the Precious Blood? It doesn't happen as far as I can tell...

It's a pity since these rituals all have a meaning that now is lost to those of us who attend these Masses. However, I am not the one who is going to call the priest's attention to the lack of these rituals. From what I have gathered, he is not happy when he is questioned about certain issues. I am a visitor there so I am just grateful that I can attend these Masses and receive my Lord during the week.

Come and See!

When I read this passage from John's Gospel (John 1:46) where Philip invites Nathaniel (Bartholomew) to go with him to meet Jesus of Nazareth, it reminded me of another passage in Scripture where the very same words were used.

Of course, the one I remembered took place after the Resurrection, when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There they found an angel sitting in the empty tomb. The angel told the women not to be afraid; that their Lord had risen. The angel invited them to "Come and see the place where he lay." (Matthew 28:6)

Just out of curiosity, I decided to search for other references for this invitation in the New Testament among the Gospels. I actually found several.

Remember where John the Baptizer and his disciples saw Jesus nearby. John pointed him out and said "Behold the Lamb of God..." Two of John's disciples went over to Jesus and asked him where he was staying. "Come and see..." (John 1:39) Jesus replied. One of those two disciples was Andrew.

Again, we look in the Gospel of John for the death of Lazarus. Remember how Jesus finally travelled to Bethany several days after Lazarus had died. Mary and her friends met Jesus on the road and she fell down at his feet weeping. Jesus asked where they had laid Lazarus and they replied, “Lord, come and see.” (John 11:34)

There were a couple of other references for this phrase outside the Gospels, in Psalm 66:5 and Philippians 1:27. But my interest was in how this phrase was used in the Gospels.

As you can see, something important happened after the person addressed came and saw.

Nathaniel (Bartholomew) and Andrew both became members of the Twelve after meeting this man from Nazareth. Jesus was taken to the tomb of Lazarus where he called Lazarus out from death to life. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary would be the first to witness to the Resurrection of Jesus.

Don't we hear the same call to "come and see" even today in our individual lives? When we respond to God's invitation in a positive way, something wonderful happens...

A Lovely Ethnic Wedding

Last Saturday afternoon, our gospel choir witnessed and participated in a truly meaningful and spirit-filled Nuptial Mass. I doubt that our Cathedral has ever been the scene of an ethnic wedding of such beauty.

Picture if you can, the marriage of an African bride and groom in traditional American white with eleven attendants each. The women were dressed in identical ethnic African clothing with gorgeous head wraps; the men in black suits. Picture a congregation of several hundred people, most of whom wore authentic African clothing in stunning colors and designs. Many of them had come to the States from Africa for the wedding of their family member. Some could speak little or no English.

Our choir members were dressed in black with colorful kente cloth stoles that had been wrapped individually for each of us by one of our choir members who wore her own as a head wrap. We were positioned behind the altar where the organ, piano and the cathedral choirs normally stand. Microphones carried our voices out into the cavernous church.

Picture a Nuptial Mass with African customs woven into the service. I was particularly impressed with the respect given to the Scriptures. Right before the first reading, the Lectionary was processed down the center aisle by a special group of a half dozen or more attendants, again dressed in spectacular African clothing, singing an ethnic hymn complete with drumbeats. The bride and groom read the first reading themselves. It was a reading from the Song of Songs and they alternated reading the appropriate parts for each. Quite beautiful...

Because of time constraints (the Cathedral must have a regular assembly line of marriages taking place on a Saturday during the summer months), some of the music we had learned could not be sung. We followed the lead of our priest who was mindful that we needed to be finished at a certain time. One of the losses meant that the choir was not able to receive Holy Communion with the rest of the congregation since we sang during the whole of that part of the Mass.

There is much more that I could write about this beautiful Mass and wedding ceremony but I think you have probably gotten the picture of what we experienced that day. I am grateful that we were invited to sing this Mass and it is surely one we will not soon forget.

I hope to get some photos of the wedding in the next week or so and when I do, I will place a few of them on this blog.

The Longest Nuptial Mass Ever!

... well, that is what it looks like it is turning out to be; at least for our small choir! We have been asked to sing the Mass in a Catholic Church not our own... with no practice using their equipment. The couple is from Africa and will be doing some traditional things along with the normal Nuptial Mass music.

Some music that we already know is being used; but most of it is new to us. We have learned a new Kyrie, a new Gloria, a responsorial song that we have never sung before though some of us were familiar with the tune. Fortunately, we know the Grayson Brown "Alleluia" and also his "Holy, Holy"... We also are using our Great Amen. A new memorial acclamation; a new Lord's Prayer and a new Lamb of God, a new Communion song. I have no clue who wrote the music for all of these pieces because we had to learn almost everything without written music... not unusual for a Gospel choir... We made up the harmony as we went along. Our musician was writing the notes down as our director was teaching us the tunes!

We also learned a new song for Communion, as well as a special song to be sung after the exchange of rings. Fortunately, the Offertory song is one of our favorites and a second Communion song will be our choice. Thankfully, the processional and the recessional will be done by the professionals at the church. Organ music, surely. A contrast to our piano.

Last night we had a major learning rehearsel for the wedding which will be this Saturday. The music is not as difficult as some music we have learned in the past; but after 3 hours of practice, one is ready to collapse! Tomorrow we will practice for Sunday Mass and then go over the Wedding music again. That will be it!

It will be a beautiful wedding. The music will turn out just fine. Though we are a small group of about 16 (when everyone is available to sing), we have sung together for many many years so we know what to do to make the music memorable.