Dear Parishioners:
Mr. Henri St. Louis
In last week's bulletin, I mentioned Murphy's Law, the adage that suggests: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." And so it goes! Last week our very gifted Parish Music Director and Organist Henri St. Louis came to me with bad news! Our organ had stopped working! The organ is a complicated instrument. Our parish organ has 1776 pipes! So Henri immediately contacted the Peragallo Pipe Organ Company, the maker of our organ. Working with Henri via the phone, they surmised that a transformer had blown out. The company is in Paterson, New Jersey. The Peragallo Company traveled up this past week to fix it. Henri was able to use the piano at Masses last weekend.
OLM Choir
However, the beauty of the organ adds so much to our divine worship. Music historians believe that the pipe organ was introduced into churches about the tenth century. The Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, the document shaping modern Catholic liturgy, states: "In the Latin Church the pipe organ is to be held in high esteem, for it is the traditional musical instrument which adds a wonderful splendor to the Church's ceremonies and powerfully lifts up man's mind to God and to higher things."
The Council Fathers were correct. We need the pipe organ. For our Catholic Faith, symbols enrich our religious experience and religious life. The Constitution states that "In the earthly Liturgy take part in a foretaste of that Heavenly Liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God."
In other words, we do not come to Mass to only experience another meeting of like-minded friends and acquaintances and find support, only to see the things and hear and sing the words and music so similar to what we might hear on radio or television. We go for transcendence, to lift our praise and worship to God, not ourselves. The Mass is our foretaste of the Heavenly Liturgy.
St. Pope John Paul II states: "As a manifestation of the human spirit, music performs a function which is noble, unique, and irreplaceable. When it is truly beautiful and inspired, it speaks to us more than all the other arts of goodness, virtue, peace, of matters holy and divine. For good reason it has always been, and it will always be, an essential part of the liturgy"
So as we come together at Mass to offer praise and worship of God, let the sacred music we hear and sing lift worship up. At the proper time, there is a need for stillness and silence at Mass. Likewise, there is an appropriate time to lift our voices in song. We are called to have "full and active" participation during Mass. Sacred music is a beauty that prepares us to receive the fullness of grace in the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar. For as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops state in their letter, "Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship," when the church prays and sings, Christ is present.
Christ Surrounded by Singing and Music-making Angels or Santa María la Real de Nájera Altarpiece by Hans Memling (1483-1494)
We may not always be in the mood to sing. Perhaps our hearts are heavily burdened with personal problems or fear and despair, especially in our current world, seemingly torn by strife, sickness, violence, and racism. The bishops speak of our participation and the occasional challenges we face when singing at Mass. They state: "Sometimes, our voices do not correspond to the convictions of our hearts. At other times, we are distracted or preoccupied by the cares of the world. But Christ always invites us to enter into song, to rise above our own preoccupations, and to give our entire selves to the hymn of his Paschal Sacrifice for the honor and glory of the Most Blessed Trinity."
Our good Franciscan Apostolic Sisters were on retreat this past week. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic especially on the rise in the Philippines, they couldn't gather together in Nebraska as they usually do. Instead, Sister Lourdes, Sister Emma, and Sister Soledad traveled north to Greenville to join with the local FAS Sisters at St. Philip's Convent. The retreat was held via zoom so all the Franciscan Apostolic Sisters could be united in prayer and worship. They return to OLM this weekend, renewed and ready! Welcome back!!
Be well. Stay safe. Do good. God Bless. Go Sox!