Benedictus Deus

In the last chapter of Cardinal Ratzinger’s “The Spirit of the Liturgy” there is a beautiful section about the sign of the cross. I had no idea so much could be said about such a simple gesture/prayer. He starts out by emphasizing that the sign of the cross is an outward confession of our [...]

Purely by coincidence, I saw this story on CNS shortly after posting my “Crises in Liturgical Music” posts. Read the whole thing (it’s short) but here is the portion I want to highlight:

The document would also encourage a greater use of Gregorian chant and classical polyphonic music; the gradual elimination of the use of songs [...]

The current crisis and what to do about it

It seems to me that the current crisis in liturgical music (and I do believe it qualifies as a crisis) is a mixture of the others, with some new issues thrown in for good measure. Many parishes predominantly sing hymns that obscure the relationship between God and [...]

Past Crises
I am reading Cardinal Ratzinger’s book “The Spirit of the Liturgy.” I just finished the chapter on music in the liturgy. As always, there is ton of great information in there. The part I found most interesting was about past problems with liturgical music. It is easy to think the problem we have with [...]

With all the hoopla about dispensations from abstinence on St. Patrick’s Day I thought it was an opportune time to make a quick post about fasting during Lent. As you probably know, the fast requirements used to be much more strict. Catholics abstained from meat the whole time. Also from eggs and dairy, and sometimes [...]

Since I started attending a Traditional Latin Mass on a regular basis I have learned about a number of interesting customs I never heard of before. One of these is “Station Churches” in Rome. During Lent (and other holy seasons) there is a station church for each day. Traditionally the Pope celebrates mass at the [...]

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