It’s the End of the Year As We Know It

26 Nov 2022 Leave a comment

by Sabryna in Liturgical Year Tags: , , , ,

Happy last day of the liturgical year! It’s the end of Ordinary Time and tomorrow is the first day of Advent, the beginning of the liturgical year. I love how last Sunday, Christ the King, Lord of the Universe, is followed by Thanksgiving, and then we have a completely fresh start where we anticipate the birth of the One who makes all things new.

Advent is a wonderful season of anticipation, reflection, and preparation. We anticipate Our Lord Jesus Christ’s nativity and His second coming, reflect on how we can live more for Him who has given everything for us, and prepare to give more of ourselves to Him in this new liturgical year. It’s also a season of light penance in which we can perhaps choose to fast–e.g., from things that aren’t serving us well (like maybe our social media use)–and do works of charity for both those we don’t know and those we do.

Most of all, Advent is a season of love. Without God’s loving us before we could love Him back–kicking off the grand story of salvation history–he created us out of love, for love. The birth of Christ is the most important event in history and so it is salutary that we give more than just one day of our year–liturgical or cultural–to pondering on His coming, both then, now in the mass, and once again when the end of earthly time has come.

So, let us both somberly and joyfully prepare a special place in our hearts for this stellar event by taking some time to reflect on what He has done for us in His Incarnation, what He is doing for us daily, and what He will do for us in eternity. Maranatha!

Music for Holy Week & Eastertide

31 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

by Sabryna in Liturgical Year Tags: , , ,

A rerun for those of you who like music therapy during the Triduum and Easter season. I originally posted this six years ago so feel free to add more recent offerings and personal favorites in the comments.

Good Friday:

Traditional hymns: “O Sacred Head Now Wounded,” “At the Cross Her Station Keeping,” “The Old Rugged Cross,” and “Were You There?”

Bach’s St. Matthew Passion or St. John Passion

Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri

Contemporary: Matt Maher’s “You Were on the Cross,” “Jars of Clay’s “O Come and Mourn With Me Awhile,” and Bruce Carroll’s “Driving Nails”

Holy Saturday/Easter Sunday:

Contemporary: Carman’s “Sunday’s On Its Way”–and for the young at heart, here’s a fun video:

Easter Sunday/Easter Season:

Traditional hymns: “Christ Arose”, “Jesus Christ is Risen Today”, “Alleluia! Alleluia!” [Ode to Joy tune]

Classical: Bach’s Easter Oratorio & Widor’s Toccata from the Fifth Organ Symphony in F, Op 42 #1–Here’s a wonderful performance:

Contemporary anthem: Matt Maher’s “Christ is Risen.” Here’s a nice concept video done by a fan:

Contemporary hymn: “Easter Song” (Keith Green performance, although the 2nd Chapter of Acts is good, too)

Vintage anthems: James Ward’s “Death is Ended,” Don Francisco’s “He’s Alive,” and Dallas Holm’s “Rise Again”

Finally, I would be remiss to not include at least a few other year-round favorites that come to mind about the grace of God at work in our lives:

Bach’s Halellujah Chorus

U2’s “Magnificent”

Cat Steven’s version of Eleanor Farjeon’s “Morning Has Broken”

Johnny Cash’s “When The Man Comes Around”

Randy Travis’ “Three Wooden Crosses”

Any musical setting and/or performer for “Ave Maria,” although I’m especially fond of Andrea Bocelli and Perry Como’s versions.

Moving Through Lent

14 Mar 2021 2 Comments

by Sabryna in Liturgical Year Tags: , ,

For those of you who’ve been here before, this is an updated post from three years ago but the link is definitely still relevant, pandemic and life in general notwithstanding. Also, there is one other thing about Lent that’s new for me this year. “It’s not about what you give up it’s about who you become.” Thank you, Matthew Kelley, for summing up so well the essence of this liturgical season.

Wait! Before you get the link I just remembered a second thing that has stuck with me. Fr. Mike Schmitz said, in his homily on the first Sunday of Lent, “The heart of Lent is that we don’t trust God and we need to learn how to trust Him.” There. You. Go. Lent is all about loving God more, not just praying more, fasting more, and giving more, although these are all a part of the season and ways in which we show that love. The whole purpose of Lent is to become more Christ-like and that can only happen when we trust Him more. More trust equals more faith in Him.

Lent has been here since Ash Wednesday, of course, but on this Laetare (“Rejoice”) Sunday, in typical procrastinating fashion I’m just now taking the time to share something that my readers who observe Lent might find helpful. After all, we may be on the downhill run but we’ve still got three weeks to go! Below you will find–in my opinion–the best one-stop shopping (so to speak) for all things Lent from the wonderful Karen Edmisten.

So, grab your favorite acceptable Lenten beverage–I know some of you have painfully given up your precious Dr. Pepper or cozy cup of joe–settle into a comfy chair, and prepare to be informed, encouraged, and generally motivated to embrace this season in all of its unique challenges. Finally, I pray you and yours have, as Karen’s youngest daughter once said, “a meaningful Lent.” Blessings to you!

http://karenedmisten.blogspot.com/2018/02/its-back-meaningful-lent.html

Music Therapy: the Triduum/Easter Edition

09 Apr 2020 Leave a comment

by Sabryna in Liturgical Year Tags: , , , ,

Music for the Triduum/Easter season:

Good Friday:

Traditional hymns: “O Sacred Head Now Wounded,” “At the Cross Her Station Keeping,” “The Old Rugged Cross,” & “Were You There?”

Bach’s St. Matthew Passion or St. John Passion

Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri

Contemporary: Matt Maher’s “You Were on the Cross,” “Jars of Clay’s “O Come and Mourn With Me Awhile,” and Bruce Carroll’s “Driving Nails”

Holy Saturday/Easter Sunday:

Contemporary: Carman’s “Sunday’s On Its Way”–and for the young at heart, here’s a fun video:

Easter Sunday/Easter Season:

Traditional hymns: “Christ Arose”, “Jesus Christ is Risen Today”, “Alleluia! Alleluia!” [Ode to Joy tune]

Classical: Bach’s Easter Oratorio & Widor’s Toccata from the Fifth Organ Symphony in F, Op 42 #1–Here’s a wonderful performance:

Contemporary:

Anthem: Matt Maher’s “Christ is Risen”; here’s a nice concept video done by a fan:

Worship & praise: Adam Young (a.k.a. Owl City)’s cover of “In Christ Alone (I Stand)”

Contemporary hymn: “Easter Song” (Keith Green performance, although the 2nd Chapter of Acts is good, too)

Anthem: James Ward’s “Death is Ended”

Vintage anthems: Don Francisco’s “He’s Alive” & Dallas Holm’s “Rise Again”

Finally, I would be remiss to not include at least a few other year-round favorites that come to mind about the grace of God at work in our lives:

Bach’s Halellujah Chorus

Rich Mullin’s “Step by Step”

U2’s “Magnificent” & “Pride”

Matt Maher’s “New State of Mind,” “Alive Again,” “His Grace is Enough”

Eleanor Farjeon’s “Morning Has Broken”

Johnny Cash’s “When The Man Comes Around”

Contemporary hymn: “You Are Mine”

Randy Travis’ “Three Wooden Crosses”

Any musical setting and/or performer for “Ave Maria,” although I’m especially fond of Andrea Bocelli and Perry Como’s versions.

NB–I originally posted this five years ago so feel free to add more recent offerings and/or your personal favorites in the comments.

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