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At the risk of telling this story too many times, I once was talking to a maintenance man outside the church one Colloquium,  and he was astounded by the music. Why couldn’t his parish have beautiful music, he wondered? He was amazed and at the same time disappointed,  because his weekly experience of Mass had nothing aesthetically or reverently in common with the CMAA model of liturgy.

Here, on the other hand, is a parish that “gets it.” The amount of vision, ingenuity, and plain hard work that go into a liturgical experience like this are enormous. But does God deserve any less? Do the people of God–blue collar, white collar, children, the elderly–do their souls and imaginations thrive on the pablum so often offered at Sunday Mass?

In a time of shifting realities, perhaps one aspect of tomorrow’s “new normal” could be taking seriously the power of sacred music and a true ars celebrandi to prepare the people of God for whatever comes next, by elevating them, in every parish church.

A fine, 3 hour production of Poulenc’s opera is streaming for one day only, through 6:30 EDT, March 31, 2020.

The Met is streaming one opera daily for the time being. Details may be found here.

 

Mass for Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent, from the Cathedral of Cologne, Germany. The celebrant is Auxiliary Bishop Ansgar Puff.

 

The 10 a.m. Mass for the Fifth Sunday of Lent from the magnificent Cathedral in St. Louis:

Celebrant: Abp. Robert Carlson
Organ: Dr. Horst Buchholz
Proper chants from The Proper of the Mass by Fr. Samuel Weber, OSB
Responsorial Psalm by Jeffrey Ostrowski
Chants for the Ordinary of the Mass from the Graduale Romanum

Mass was offered this morning for the Fifth Sunday of Lent at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, the seat of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction for Catholics in North America of Anglican heritage:

PS: While we’re mentioning one church named in honor of Our Lady of Walsingham, her National Shrine in England has started 24/7 live streaming of its events, including today’s Mass rededicating England to our Lady as her “dowry”:
https://www.walsingham.org.uk/live-stream/

Prayers for the event are on-line at https://www.behold2020.com/

The “Classic FM” radio station in Britain shared this on Facebook the other day:

Last Sunday, hours before lockdown in the United Kingdom, some singers continued the tradition of singing church services, but singing to empty buildings and spaced two meters apart.

This is Mozart’s ‘Ave verum corpus’, sung at St James’, Spanish Place in London.

The earth—our earthly nature—should tremble at the suffering of its Redeemer. The rocks—the hearts of unbelievers—should burst asunder. The dead, imprisoned in the tombs of their mortality, should come forth, the massive stones now ripped apart. Foreshadowings of the future resurrection should appear in the holy city, the Church of God: what is to happen to our bodies should now take place in our hearts.

No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit to the multitude that raged against him. How much more does it bring to those who turn to him in repentance.

…The body that lay lifeless in the tomb is ours. The body that rose again on the third day is ours. The body that ascended above all the heights of heaven to the right hand of the Father’s glory is ours. If then we walk in the way of his commandments, and are not ashamed to acknowledge the price he paid for our salvation in a lowly body, we too are to rise to share his glory. The promise he made will be fulfilled in the sight of all: Whoever acknowledges me before men, I too will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven.

-Pope St. Leo the Great, from today’s Office of Readings