WORDS TO THE WHYS

The truth will make you odd. Flannery O’Connor

BC Sacred Music Symposium 2018

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Sts Joachim & Ann Parish will host the inaugural BC Sacred Music Symposium on July 20-22, 2018. 

This symposium aims to bring together musicians of all skill levels, and all people of good will with a general interest in sacred music, for a weekend of instruction, collaboration and fellowship.


There will be an opportunity to attend practical workshops (beginner, intermediate and masterclass) and lectures; and to experience the riches of the Church’s musical tradition in the celebrations of Mass (in both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms) and the Divine Office.

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Syro-Malabar Church: The Ad Orientem and Versus Populum Debate

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The following sites are selected from among numerous edifying internet resources that are accessible, faithful to Catholic teaching, fair-minded, up-to-date, and well-organized. Big Pulpit: intelligent news aggregator that presents links to current events and solid Catholic teaching. Consider supporting the work of Little Vatican/Big Pulpit. https://bigpulpit.com/ The Catholic Thing: features brief but highly informative and well-written essays by eminent authors. https://www.thecatholicthing.org/ Brian Holdsworth: Edmonton based marketing and communications expert and apologist who publishes well-informed videos on current issues that are solidly Catholic and highly engaging. https://www.brianholdsworth.ca/ Father Benedict Kiely | Gospel Nuggets offers excellent short videos featuring a knowledgeable Catholic priest’s take on biblical texts, pressing current issues, the saints, and key spiritual topics essential for living the Catholic Faith. https://www.nasarean.org/news?tag_id=17 Fr...
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Through Thick and Thin: Surfing The Wake Of The Council

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Team Thick versus Team Thin On 4 December 1963, following the last vote at the Second Vatican Council, Paul VI promulgated the Apostolic Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium on the Sacred Liturgy. Later, with the Apostolic Letter Motu proprio data Sacram Liturgiam dated 25 January 1964, Pope St. Paul VI established a Special Commission, called Consilium ad exsequendam Constitutionem de sacra Liturgia (Council for the Implementation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy). https://www.cultodivino.va/en/chi-siamo/storia/il-consilium-ad-exsequendam-constitutionem-de-sacra-liturgia.html The Consilium consisted of 48 members (11 Cardinals, 36 Bishops and 1 Abbot) and more than 200 international consultors and advisors, spread across 40 study groups (coetus a studiis). The internal debates within the Consilium ad exsequendam Constitutionem de Sacra Liturgia were intense, often revealing two competing visions of liturgical reform. Primary Axes of Disagreement 1. Continuity vs. Reconstructi...
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Preacher Man | Ordinariate Gift

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preach  (v.) - from www.etymonline.com Middle English prechen , "deliver a sermon, proclaim the Gospel," from late Old English predician , a loan word from Church Latin; reborrowed 12c. as preachen , from Old French preechier "to preach, give a sermon" (11c., Modern French précher ), from Late Latin praedicare "to proclaim publicly, announce" (in Medieval Latin "to preach," source also of Spanish predicar ), from Latin prae "before" (from PIE root * per - "forward," hence "in front of, before") + dicare "to proclaim, to say" (from PIE root * deik - "to show," also "pronounce solemnly"). Meaning "give earnest advice, especially on moral subjects" is by 1520s. To preach to the converted is recorded from 1867 (the form preach to the choir attested from 1979). The Role of Preaching in the Church The Catechism explains that preaching is central to the Church’s mission of sharing t...
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The Language Of Sacrifice In The Offertory of Divine Worship

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Mass - Bloodless Synonym for Christ's Eternal Sacrifice for the Salvation of Souls The first offertory prayer of Divine Worship discloses the sacrifice of the Mass as an act in which Christ’s once‑for‑all oblation is made present and lovingly offered to the Father through the Church’s hands. Its language emphasizes that the gifts set upon the altar—“holy bread” and “chalice of salvation”—are not merely symbolic tokens but the very matter through which the faithful join themselves to Christ’s self‑giving. The prayer frames the offering as both propitiatory and participatory: propitiatory, because it looks to the Cross as the singular source of reconciliation; participatory, because the faithful unite their intentions, labours, and lives to Christ’s perfect sacrifice. This offertory thus reveals the Mass as a living movement of ascent, in which earthly gifts are taken up into the heavenly worship. It also underscores the priest’s mediating role, asking that the sacrifice be accepted ...
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Divine Worship: Cultivating Literacy in Holiness And In Love

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Divine Worship: The Missal—the liturgical book proper to the Personal Ordinariates erected under Anglicanorum Coetibus —embodies a distinctive fusion of the Roman Rite with the English liturgical patrimony that shaped centuries of worship in the British Isles. Its purpose is not antiquarian but evangelical: to preserve those elements of Anglican liturgical life that have nourished holiness and now enrich the Catholic Church. The result is a form of the Mass that is fully Roman in doctrine and sacramental structure, yet marked by a reverent, hieratic, and deeply scriptural idiom. Divine Worship fosters love of God by immersing worshippers in a reverent, beauty‑filled liturgical tradition that lifts the heart toward the sacred. Its poetic language, ordered ritual, and rich musical heritage cultivate interior devotion, helping the faithful encounter God with awe and gratitude. Through this contemplative rhythm of prayer, Divine Worship forms the soul in adoration, deepens reverence, and...
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POPE LEO XIV Magnifica Humanitas

Even in the darkest nights, the Lord raises up men and women who refuse to give up, who persevere in doing good, who protect the vulnerable and open pathways to reconciliation. The memory of the saints, righteous people and the oft-forgotten peacemakers, show us that grace does not magically eliminate conflict, but instead it inspires active resistance to evil and an astonishing creativity in doing good” (paragraph 211).

A PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING TO GOD FOR ONE'S GUARDIAN ANGEL

ALMIGHTY and eternal God, it is fitting to render unto Thee thanks for my guardian angel. At the end of my earthly sojourn, grant, I humbly beseech Thee, that my guardian may accompany me into Thy glorious Presence, there to rejoice with the entire company of heaven, and to offer praise unto Thee for all eternity; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

I doubt not then but innocence shall make false accusation blush, and tyranny tremble at patience.