Benedict XVI’s sermon at St. Patrick’s in NYC (With Fr. Z's Commentary)

WDTPRS ^ | 4/19/2008 | Benedict XVI (commentary by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf )

[Pyro7480]

Wow!

[Pyro7480]

Catholic ping!

[big'ol_freeper]

Thanks.. looking forward to reading this thread.

[Pyro7480]

I don’t think you’re on my ping list. Do you want to be on it?

[big'ol_freeper]

Sure thing.

[trisham]

Goosebumps. Inspiring!

[AnAmericanMother]

Absolutely SPLENDID. Everything was beautiful, and the Mass was celebrated very reverently by all, and the music was great.

I could have done without "I Am the Bread of Life", but that's de minimis.

The Biebl was perfect, the Beethoven "Hallelujah" was out of this world, they really hit it square on the head.

Does anybody know what the first organ postlude was? We're pretty sure it's French, and we're taking bets that it was Gabriel Faure' or Louis Vierne, much beloved of the organ department at Juilliard . . . .

[Pyro7480]

Does anybody know what the first organ postlude was?

I can't seem to find it. I only found the list of sung music.

[AnAmericanMother]

Me too.

I'm betting on Vierne just because (1) it definitely sounded French - there's a 20th c. school of French organ music that has a distinct sound both in the chords and in the rippling effect of arpeggios over the big chords, and Vierne was the master of that style; (2) our choirmaster got his Ph.D. in organ performance at Juilliard and taught there. Odds are the organist at St. Pat's is a graduate too. They LOVE the French organ composers at Juilliard. We hear them all the time!

[Pyro7480]

You definitely have an ear for music!

I have that skill to a limited nature. If I turn on the classical music radio station down here, and if the piece is by Vivaldi, Bach, or Mozart, I usually know it's by them almost immediately, even if it's not a famous piece.

[AnAmericanMother]

The organist has her doctorate in organ performance from Eastman, not Juilliard - not a local. Her name is Jennifer Pascual, she is the first woman to hold the appointment, and she selected most of the music in conference with Cardinal Egan, who is also a musician.

The prelude was Bach "In Dir ist Freude" - have been able to find that.

[Pyro7480]

Ah! So it was Bach! Where did you find that information?

[AnAmericanMother]

What really throws me is when a piece is by one of the lesser known composers who sounds kinda like a famous one, but isn't. Or something transitional, like very early Beethoven (which sounds something like Mozart).

I've had a crash course in musical listening since we joined this parish! Our prep school attached to the parish offers college level courses in conjunction with Spring Hill College in Mobile - and our choirmaster taught one, "History of Western Church Music." It was astounding - so far as I can tell, he knows everything about everybody from Mr. Ockeghem forward, and we just lapped it up. The man is a genius. I can't remember half of what he said, but even that puts you way ahead of the game.

[AnAmericanMother]

Let's see, now, where did I go? I went to St. Pat's website to find out who the organist was and read her C.V., then googled her name, and found a recent news story about selecting the music for the service. The story mentioned the title of the prelude.

Still don't know what that postlude was, and it's bugging me. I'm sure that our choirmaster will know, we're singing a wedding tonight so I'll ask him and he'll be sure to know - if he was listening (and I'm pretty sure he would unless he had something going on at church).

[lightman]

And what a beautiful preparation for hearing the Epistle for the Fifth Sunday of Easter:

1 Peter 2:4-10

Come to him, a living stone, through rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For it stands in scripture:

“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will never be put to shame.”

To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner,”

and

“A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that will make them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people
but now you are God’s people;
one you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.

[lightman]

A very fitting choice, given all the struggles that the American Church has faced this past decade:

Text: Johann Lindemann; trans. by Catherine Winkworth
Music: Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi
Tune: IN DIR IST FREUDE, Meter: Irr.

1. In thee is gladness, amid all sadness,
Jesus, sunshine of my heart.
By thee are given the gifts of heaven,
thou the true Redeemer art.
Our souls thou makest, our bonds thou breakest;
who trusts thee surely hath built securely,
and stands forever. Alleluia!
Our hearts are pining to see thy shining;
dying or living, to thee are cleaving;
naught can us sever. Alleluia!

2. If God be ours, we fear no powers,
not of earth or sin or death.
God sees and blesses in worst distresses,
and can change them in a breath.
Wherefore the story tell of God's glory
with heart and voices; all heaven rejoices,
singing forever; Alleluia!
We shout for gladness, triumph o'er sadness,
loving and praising, voices still raising
glad hymns forever: Alleluia!

[AnAmericanMother]

Catherine Winkworth was one of those unsung geniuses.

Her translations of German hymns are superb. She manages to hit the meaning quite closely, while preserving meter and rhyme.

[pgkdan]

The first has to do with the stained glass windows, which flood the interior with mystic light. From the outside, those windows are dark, heavy, even dreary. But once one enters the church, they suddenly come alive; reflecting the light passing through them, they reveal all their splendor. Many writers – here in America we can think of Nathaniel Hawthorne – have used the image of stained glass to illustrate the mystery of the Church herself. It is only from the inside, from the experience of faith and ecclesial life, that we see the Church as she truly is: flooded with grace, resplendent in beauty, adorned by the manifold gifts of the Spirit. It follows that we, who live the life of grace within the Church’s communion, are called to draw all people into this mystery of light.

WOW!!! This is a beautiful and in my mind a perfect analogy! It's the kind of thought that has been in my mind, in an inchoherent, unassembled manner and when I read it it was a real 'eureka' moment. Fantastic!

[La Enchiladita]

Interesting. I thought this as I walked along the outside of my church after Mass last Sunday. From the outside, the windows have no meaning, the colors do not show. But, from inside, the pictures and colors in them come alive and the changing light streaming in illuminates the people in the pews. This is only outward symbol of what we experience inwardly. This is why I want many others to come into the Church, and join us.