Awaiting A Savior

Happy New Liturgical Year, from this infinitesimal corner of the universe.

A full four weeks this calendar year to prepare ourselves to celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation. All 28 days to reflect on these events in our salvation history. We once again will hear the prophets announce His coming into the world, the Blessed Virgin Mary bearing Him so tenderly in her womb, all the ends of the earth anticipating His arrival.

We cannot have a Resurrection without a Death. We cannot have a Death without a Birth.

Advent is here! Prepare the way of the Lord! Maranatha!

2011 Thanksgiving Day Card

While we should count our blessings every day and thank God for them, it is nice to have a day set aside to remember and be grateful for what we have. To "give thanks" is also an act of humility, as what we have is really not from our hands. May God continue to abundantly bless us and give us the grace to see those blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cecilia: Virgin & Martyr

Martyrdom of St. Cecilia (1600) , by Stephano Maderno

The Catholic Encyclopedia brings us the details about this most popular saint.

Listen to your favorite piece of music today.

Pray for those who are musicians, especially those who labor in the vineyards of our parishes today.

May those efforts always strive to give, as Johann Sebastian Bach would write in a abbreviated manner upon his scores (without the Protestant connotation), this ultimate expression:

Soli Deo gloria!

Glory to God alone!

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My other posts about this day:

Musical Quotes And Thoughts (2005).

Quotes About Notes (2006).

Quotable On Notes (2007).

Canto; Ergo Sum (2008).

Mechanical Musicianship (2009).

Make We Music (2010).

Until The End

From the Huffington Post, a story which does witness to the power of the Sacrament of Marriage.

Talk about the complete fulfillment of the vow "for as long as you both shall live."

The ideal perfectly realized.

Indefinite Intermission

I am still digesting some rather unsettling news.

At our weekly church choir rehearsal at St. Olaf last night, we were informed by our music director that he had been laid off by the parish due to budget cuts.

The choir's last formal appearance will be this Sunday at the 11:15 AM Mass.

This is not to say there will be no music at St. Olaf. There is a staff of volunteer accompanists and singers (myself included) that assist the congregation at other Masses when the choir was not scheduled. Who will schedule them now is also a concern, as the wife of our music director (and also a choir member) handled that duty on a monthly basis.

Stunned is a very accurate word to use right now. Granted, nothing is sacrosanct; but why do you gut what is considered by many parishioners a significant and appreciated part of their parish life, not to mention an important asset in the liturgy? Our new priest has a very fine singing voice; in fact, in his first Mass here, he chanted the Opening and Closing Prayers as well as most of Eucharistic Prayer II. I had a glimmer of hope of the possibility of "singing the Mass" could have been done. It's still there; it's now been clouded by this.

I am not going to make it any more of a problem than it could be. Musical life at St. Olaf will continue, but it will be diminished.

Am I going to be part of the problem or part of the solution?

I'm leaning toward "B", but I need to discern my role.

(UPDATE): Please note this is only a part-time position.

112 Years Of Harmony

One of my fondest memories of my undergraduate days at Morningside College (Sioux City, IA) was my involvement with Gamma Xi Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America.

Today the organization celebrates the 112th. anniversary of its founding at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA.

It has undergone lots of growth and development during its existence, not without some growing pains.

But its commitment to its ideals make it what it is today.

The Fraternity's current National President, John Alan Mongiovi, is marking the day with the following announcement:



Having been a voting delegate at the 1988 National Convention in Kansas City, MO and given the recent success of past Conventions, it looks to be another promising assembly.

Even though it has been over twenty years since my last involvement, I can still say with pride, "Once a Sinfonian, Always a Sinfonian. Long live Sinfonia!"

Come, Brothers, Hail!

(UPDATE: 10/6/2011): Whoops! I can't subtract. 2011 is the 113th. anniversary of the Fraternity. I have changed the title of the post and properly edited it to reflect that correction.

I've Got Six

Today marks my sixth anniversary as a 'blogger, the day when this "infinitesimal corner of the universe" came upon the scene.

For better or worse (and at times it's been one or the other), I'm still standing, having neither been swallowed by the vastness of the infinity know as the World Wide Web nor growing to become a significant force on it.

This entity, like most of us in this mortal plane, lives and moves and has its being.

But we just don't "exist". Believe me, I am not an existentialist in any way, shape, form, or regard. "I think; therefore, I am not" just doesn't fly in my life.

I belong to Jesus Christ, however imperfectly I have returned what little I have been given over to Him. His claim on my being is still captivating; my complete response is still forthcoming. Conversion is not a "one and done" deal; the resurrection cycle is about maturation and surrender. A soul rarely becomes perfect here on earth, but here it must start.

I am reminded of the words of Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, words I used in one of my very earliest posts:

God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission -- I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good. I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it -- if I do but keep His commandments. Therefore I will trust in Him. Whatever, wherever I am. I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me -- still He knows what He is about.

And this 'blog, I hope is part of that.

So, what's the plan for the next twelve months?

More of the same, only better.

Images Of Hope

There are a myrriad of images surrounding the events of 9/11. I chose these four because, while it is important to remember the past, it is just as important to visualize the future.



Who could not forget this act of reclaiming the area as our own? To me, it was symbolic of getting back to one's feet, bloodied but unbroken.



I lift up my eyes toward the mountains; whence shall help come to me. My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1-2

The Lord will guard you from all evil; he will guard your life. The Lord will guard your coming and your going, both now and forever.

Psalm 121:7-8

It was a simple yet dramatic memorial. Light overcoming darkness. A statement saying this will be done.

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Originally posted 9/11/2006.

9/11/2001(-11)

Yesterday's ceremony in Shanksville, PA set the tone.

Today will be a somber day.

We as a nation and a world will relive the events of a Tuesday morning history will not forget.

We remember those who were the victims and share their grief.

We continue to struggle with how this has affected our lives, whether we want to admit it or not.

There are still many unanswered questions, most of them beginning with "Why".

Other people will write more eloquent words or have more elegant memorials than I. Do search for them. It will be worth your time.

How interesting it is two readings for this particular Sunday, the Twenty-Fourth in Ordinary Time in Lectionary Cycle A, stress forgiveness. Yes, while we still cry for justice, we also must show mercy. God does.

We still do not know "the peace which surpasses all understanding." There is a hole in the world the size of the footprints of where the Twin Towers stood, despite the reconstruction. There is an even larger hole in the heart of the world which seeks wholeness. It is a restlessness St. Augustine describes so well.

In some ways, we have moved on. In some ways, we are stuck. In some ways, we have regressed. Yet we know this world still groans under the weight of Original Sin. While Jesus Christ has redeemed humanity and the world by His Cross and Resurrection, we still must cooperate with God's Grace to see "a new heaven and a new earth" come forth, where there are no more divisions and even Death has been overcome.

So, let us continue to seek the face of God. Let us continue our own personal conversions so the world may eventually be converted. Let us continue down "the narrow way", the path which leads to life.

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As I suggested before, let us pray for the following:

1. The souls of all who died.
2. Those who still mourn.
3. Those who seek a just solution.
4. Forgiveness toward our enemies.
5. Our enemies (didn't Someone command us to do this?).
6. The courage to continue the fight.
7. Peace.

A Visit With Zeros

This "infinitesimal corner of the universe" passed another milestone in its benign history.

Visitor #40,000 made a brief stop on Thursday at 12:27 PM.

With the information from Sitemeter, my guess would be that some kind of information was being sought.

No matter how long they stay, I am always glad for the hits.

I realize I have a very small audience.

Sometimes, they even like what I write.

That should be my encouragement.

It is.

Thanks to all who come.

Hurry back.