Letter from the Pastor
-
March 30, 2025“We’re almost there!” Words of joy and excitement as a trip comes to an end. Today the Church tells us to rejoice, we’re almost there at Easter. Our Lenten journey is half way over (this Wednesday is the actual half-way point). So the Church shouts, “Laetare=Rejoice.” The purple vestments become a shade lighter, to rose color, the organ is played a bit more, there’s even flowers allowed on the altar for this day. The mood becomes different, there’s a reprieve from the penances of Lent.
We get the nickname for this Sunday from the Entrance Antiphon, “Laetare, Jerusalem and all who love her, Be joyful all who mourn her...”
The other antiphons of the Mass are just as meaningful for this day: at the Offertory Antiphon, Psalm 134: Praise the Lord, for He is good; sing praise to His Name, for He is sweet; all that He wills He does in heaven and on earth.
And at the Communion Antiphon, Psalm 121: Jerusalem was built as a city with compact unity; to it the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord, to give praise to Your name, O Lord.
These are the same prayers our Lord prayed while here on earth, they come from the Psalms of David. The psalms were the liturgical music chanted at the Temple. These prayers before Vatican II were set to Gregorian chant centuries ago and were to be sung at Mass. After Vatican II, our ideas about music at Mass changed.
Normally, hymns were only sung when the Divine Office was prayed in monasteries or convents. Hymn singing was what the Protestants did, because they didn’t want to use Gregorian chant, which was uniquely Catholic. After Vatican II, in the name of ecumenism, hymns became more prevalent in the Mass. At the time, especially in the United States, “folk music” was the popular genre. Everyone was singing Bob Dylan or Peter, Paul and Mary. Thinking that this is what young people wanted to hear, and trying to attract them to Church, the music of the Church changed. So the music publishers of the “missalettes” decided what music was to be sung and the prayerful antiphons fell into disuse, because they stopped publishing them.
Music at Mass was now seen to be an accessory to the liturgy, an embellishment, a soundtrack that should pick up on messages and themes and capture some kind of mood, lesson, or feeling.
The actual Catholic view of music at Mass shows the unity between music and the liturgy. Music is the sung prayer of the Mass; it is not mood music or entertainment. It is to lead us to prayer and the worship of God. Thankfully, many parishes are using the antiphons at Mass once again. Hymns have a proper place before or after the antiphons are prayed. So as the antiphons remind us today: rejoice, praise and be joyful. Easter is almost here!
Congratulations to our School children and parents who won the trophy at the Pearl River Saint Patrick’s Day Parade as Best School Marching Unit. Over 150 of our students, faculty, and families marched down the Avenue in honor of our alumnus and Grand Marshal John McGowan. A good time was had by all!
Don’t forget to donate to the Cardinal Appeal: We’re almost there at the goal!