A Funny Catholic Musing

It occurred to me today, as Father was reminding us that the First Sunday of Advent is the beginning of a new 'Church' year, that we Catholics can say 'Happy New Year' before we say 'Merry Christmas!' Isn't that just typical of the Church- almost always opposing the ways of the world...

 I take issue with the secular culture which says 'Merry Christmas' during the Advent Season and ends the Christmas season at its very beginning on St. Stephen's Day. In Poland though, which may possibly be the last truly Cathloic culture on earth (maybe excepting the Italians), they have it right. The Poles do not put up their decorations or trees until December 24th. And then? Midnight Mass, Mass at Dawn, Mass of Chritsmas Morn, and jolly celebrations every day until February 2nd, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (or traditionally, Candlemas)! Now that's a Christmas season for you! How fun it would be if it were like that here! Besides, who could say 'no' to  an extra month of vacation from school?

An Autumn Thought

Dead leaves seem to be more alive than live ones, at least in autumn, when they are blown about by the wind and they can be seen dancing this way and that. I wonder if that is the way our souls are-- that once we let go and are completely dead to self and free from the worldly things, perhaps the Holy Spirit can move us with much more grace and liveliness...

What 'Catchy' Tunes Get Us Listening To...

Many songs are composed in this day and age, and most are just plain ugly. However, every once in a while, you come across one that is really appealing. Of course, one likes to learn the lyrics to sing along with this rare find. That's when the disappointment, or even disgust, comes in - the writer has slipped in immorality cleverly sugarcoated by the good music. Many people don't realize the garbage they listen to because they don't look far enough into the lyrics.

Here is an example of a catchy tune, and what they have done to it. Comments in parentheses are my own additions.

"I'm Yours"
by Jason Mraz

Well you've done done me (what does that mean? I'm sure I can take a guess...) and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted (another clue?)
I fell right through the cracks
and now I'm trying to get back
Before the cool done run out
I'll be giving it my bestest
Nothing's going to stop me but divine intervention
I reckon its again my turn to win some or learn some (so what's he going to do? I'm confused)

I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm yours

Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love
Listen to the music of the moment people dance and sing, were just one big family
It's our God-forsaken right to be loved love loved love love
(Last I checked, God IS love. therefore, to be loved can never be God-forsaken....There is only one kind of 'love' that is God-forsaken, and it's not love at all.)

So I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait I'm sure
There's no need to complicate
Our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours

Do you want to, come on, scootch over closer dear
And I will nibble your ear

(Ok, so this is pretty gross. And how about-- instead of the song being called 'I'm Yours' how about 'Haha, I've Got You Sweetie and You're All MINE to Do Whatever I Feel Like With Cuz of this Love Love Love that I'm Feeling and It's So Irresistible I'm Going to Say Anything You Want to Get What I Want Out of You.' I guess the reason they chose the first is because mine is too long.)

I've been spending way too long checking my tongue in the mirror
And bending over backwards just to try to see it clearer
But my breath fogged up the glass
(why would you need to do this? my only guess is that the reason must be something unmentionable that I'd rather not know.)
And so I drew a new face and I laughed
I guess what I'll be saying is there ain't no better reason
To rid yourself of vanity and just go with the seasons
It's what we aim to do
Our name is our virtue

I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait I'm sure
There's no need to complicate
Our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours

Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love, love, love
so please don't please don't please don't.
There's no need to complicate
'cause our time is short
This oh this oh this is our fate I'm yours

Oh I'm yours

I won't hesitate no more
Oh no more no more no more
It's our God-forsaken right to be loved, I'm sure
Theres no need to complicate
Our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours

No I won't hesitate no more, no more
This cannot wait I'm sure
There's no need to complicate
Our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours, I'm yours

   
      In short, it doesn't make any sense. And besides why would you want to listen to jumbles of words transformed into catchy musical mush? I'm afraid the lyrics, bare of the pleasing tune, spoil any possible further pleasure in the song. Time was when men wrote witty songs and clever romances...

Actually, I'm wondering if the reason songs these days are so ambiguous is so that the listener will just insert their own situation into it and relate to it 'better'. People tend to really like songs they can relate to... so what could be a better seller than a song that is ambiguous and catchy? People like the tune, and draw their own meaning out of it. Presto - instant hit.

Quotes: L. M. Alcott's 'Rose in Bloom'

‘“That reminds me that I didn’t get a chance to hear much about your plans last night—the other boys all talked at once, and you only got in a word now and then. What have you decided to be, Mac?” asked Rose as they went up the avenue side by side.
“A man first, and a good one if possible. After that, what God pleases.”’

‘In her eyes, love was a very sacred thing, hardly to be thought of till it came, reverently received, and cherished faithfully to the end. Therefore, it is not so strange that she shrank from hearing it flippantly discussed and marriage treated as a bargain to be haggled over, with little thought of its high duties, great responsibilities, and tender joys.’

‘As he [Charlie] stood there, restlessly fingering the ornaments upon the chimneypiece, his eye brightened suddenly and, taking up the pretty bracelet lying there, he went slowly back to her [Rose] saying in a tone that was humble and serious enough now: “I will act like a man, and you shall never be ashamed again. Only be kind to me. Let me put this on, and promise afresh—this time I swear I’ll keep it. Won’t you trust me, Rose?”
….Putting back the offered trinket with a gentle touch, she said firmly, though she dared not look up into the anxious face bending toward her: “No, Charlie—I can’t wear it. My hands must be free if I’m to help you as I ought. I will be kind, I will trust you, but don’t swear anything, only try to resist temptation, and we’ll all stand by you.”
Charlie did not like that and lost the ground he had gained by saying impetuously: “I don’t want anyone but you to stand by me, and I must be sure you won’t desert me, else, while I’m mortifying soul and body to please you, some stranger will come and steal your heart away from me. I couldn’t bear that, so I give you fair warning, in such a case I’ll break the bargain and go straight to the devil.” '

[Beware the man who strives towards God only for the sake of a woman. It is disordered to go about seeking Him this way, and can only end in dissatisfaction and despair, unless he turn and seek God for His own sake. SPERA IN DEO- Hope in God, not in man (or woman).]

“No, I will promise nothing yet, for I must respect the man I love.”


‘A wise man once said: “It is necessary for man to do right; it is not necessary for man to be happy.’

The Global Warming Song

This is Global Warming
We've come to it, I fear
This heat wave (10 below)
Has been the hottest of the year.

It'll soon become unbearable
I'm afraid I'll have to go
And make myself a home
In the balmy Northern Pole.

I've heard that it's the strongest there
This greenhouse gas phenom
I'm told the ice is melting
But here blizzards still go on.

If this is Global Warming,
Where is the blazing heat?
The cataclismic earthquakes?
The tornados in the streets?

Although it's Inconvenient
I'm sure that it's the Truth
Beacuse Al Gore has told me so
With undeniable proof!

I am utterly convinced!
Without a doubt I know
Global Warming is a threat!
As I stand here in the snow...

I, with other brave ones, trudge
Along the icy streets
Warning others of their plight
Though we picket in the sleet.

And though the talk show hosts may laugh
We will not soon retreat
(Though in my heart of hearts,
I'd love some greenhouse heat!)

--Natalie Ann
March, 2007

Missa Nummi Viduae

 I have had the audacity to write a musical setting for the ordinaries of the Mass. It is a very small kind of composition- a very simple Mass. I was thinking of how little and simple it was- it doesn't even have a Gloria yet, and it can't possibly compare to any of the great works by any of the great composers - why should it ever be sung to God? It is too insignificant, too imperfect, though I like it very much. And I felt sad to have composed a work that would never be sung in its intended place.

But then, I suddenly thought of Christ sitting in the temple near the treasury, and how everyone was giving so many riches, and one little widow quietly placed her two copper coins among all the great gifts of the others. The coins were completely swallowed up by the vastness of the other gifts, but Our Lord saw it still. And He said: 'Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For they all contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, her whole living.' (Mark 12:41)

My compositions are my little coins. God gave me some little talent, and I want to give it back to Him with love, small though it be. That is why I wanted to call this Mass the "Mass of the Widow's Coins", Missa Nummi Viduae, because although others can give more and greater things, I give the little I have to Him, and hope He is pleased at my attempts.

Advice

Make time for good reading, such as different lives of the saints, or good Christian fiction. No matter how much you loathe it, or how busy you are, or how little you understand it, just do it for a short time every day. You will never be the same.

St. Therese on Her First Holy Communion

"Ah! how sweet was that first kiss of Jesus! It was a kiss of love; I felt that I was loved, and I said: 'I love You,and I give myself to You forever!' There were no demands made, no struggles, no sacrifices; for a long time now Jesus and poor little Therese looked at and understood each other. That day, it was no longer simply a look, it was a fusion; they were no longer two, Therese had vanished as a drop of water is lost in the immensity of the ocean. Jesus alone remained; He was the Master, the King. Had not Therese asked Him to take away her liberty, for her liberty frightened her? She felt so feeble and fragile that she wanted to be united forever to the divine Strength! "

~Story of a Soul

From "Story of a Soul"

"When I noticed Celine showing affection for one of her teachers, I wanted to imitate her, but not knowing how to win the good graces of creatures, I was unable to succeed. O blessed ignorance! which has helped me avoid great evils! How can I thank Jesus for making me find 'only bitterness in earth's friendships!' With a heart such as mine, I would have allowed myself to be taken and my wings to be clipped, and then how would I have been able to 'fly and be at rest?' How can a heart given over to the affection of creatures be intimately united with God? I feel this is not possible. Without having drunk the poisoned cup of a too ardent love of creatures, I feel I cannot be mistaken."

Too true! Too often I find myself yearning after the affections of my peers, my younger friends, my fellow students. Would that I would put such energy and effort into desiring God as much!

A Quote from Father Anthony Rice, SJC

"What other people think of me is none of my business."

The Demonization of Snow, Part II

   As seen in the previous post, Tolkien placed snow on Middle Earth as a gift from Illuvatar, using the evil Melkor's bitter cold to create something of beauty and grace. And there is much truth to it- God does bring good out of evil. But is snow good? These days, it seems only children understand and love the snow. The expectation of it, and the excitement when at last it comes is lovely to see in a young child. How many blissful hours did we ourselves spend in the snow? Feeling its powdery-ness, forming it into shapes, rolling in it, sledding on it, and of course, tasting it?
But as we grow older, we are taught that snow is the enemy. It is bothersome, always in the way, dangerous, and worst of all, unpredictable. We want to predict and ordain all that happens in our lives, and one snow can disrupt our plans for perhaps as long as a week! "Unsufferable!" we cry. In many circles, it is considered a four-letter word. It is my opinion that when a person commences hating snow, he has reached the point (regrettably) of considering himself an adult.

I was watching NBC after the Olympics one night, and was very upset to see that during the weather report (which was already extremely derogatory towards the subject of snow), clips of ugly old bulldozers pushing huge mounds of snow into obsolete corners of parking lots were shown, as well as close-ups of said ravaged snow, all gray and slushy from the onslaught. That was when I knew that snow had been demonized by the media, and consequently, by the general (adult) public.

I am writing in all seriousness and gravity. Though I am not against snow removal (on the contrary, I am extremely grateful to snowplowmen everywhere) I think that the attitude we take towards snow can tell us much about ourselves. Snow, ultimately, comes from God (Who obviously controls the weather). If we complain about it, we complain against His Will, which wills good for all Creation. That is very serious. We prefer our wills (that it not snow) to His (that it snow), which is the very nature of sin. Again, it shows that we want to be in control of everything, rather than accepting God's supreme Rule over All.

I agree with Tolkien. Snow is beautiful, adding grace to the otherwise forlorn and barren trees, and blanketing the otherwise brown and dreary earth with its soft white wool. Can you imagine a winter without snow? How awfully dreary and dull it would be!
In the Bible, snow is mentioned quite a bit, and is usually referred to as something clean, white, pure, and desirable. In Psalm 51, snow is mentioned in verse seven: 'Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.' Isaiah 1: 18 reads: 'Come now, and let us reason together saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be like crimson, they shall be as wool.' According to Mark 9:3, here is an account of Jesus' transfiguration: 'And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as not fuller on earth can white them.' And again, according to Matthew, when the Lord rose from the dead: 'his countenance was like lightning, and his raiment as white as snow.' Apparently, snow is the whitest, purest thing that biblical writers are able to refer to, and rightly so. Snow is beautifully soft, pure, and white, and should fill every soul with wonderment at the goodness of God, Who causes it to snow on the just and the unjust, however undeserving they may be.

The Demonization of Snow, Part I

"In the beginning Eru, the One, who in the Elvish tongue is named Illuvatar, amde the Ainur of his thought; and they made a great Music before him. In this music the World was begun; for Illuvatar made visible the song of the Ainur, and they beheld it as a light in the darkness...

The mightiest of those Ainur who came in the World was in his beginning Melkor... Melkor spent his spirit in envy and hate, until at last he could make nothing save in mockery of the thought of others, and all their works he destroyed if he could..

[Valaquenta;J.R.R. Tolkien]

Then the voices of the Ainur...began to fashion the theme of Illuvatar to a great music; and a sound arose of endlessly interchanging melodies woven in harmony... and the echo of the music went out into the Void, and it was not void...But as the theme progressed, it came into the heart of Melkor to interweave matters of his own imagining that were not in accord with the theme of Illuvatar, for he sought therein to increase the power and glory of the part assigned to himself...Some of these thoughts he now wove into his music, and straight-way discord arose about him... Then the discord of Melkor spread ever wider, and the melodies which had been heard before foundered in a sea of turbulent sound... in the midst of this strife, whereat the halls of Illuvatar shook and a tremor ran out into the silences yet unmoved, Illuvatar arose a third time, and his face was terrible to behold. Then he raised up both his hands, and in one chord, deeper than the Abyss, higher than the Firmament, piercing as the light of the eye of Illuvatar, the Music ceased.

Then Illuvatar spoke, and he said: 'Mighty are the Ainur, and mightiest among them is Melkor; but that he may know, and all the Ainur, that I am Illuvatar, those things that ye have sung I will now show them forth, that ye may see what ye have done. And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself had not imagined...But when they were come into the Void, Illuvatar said: 'Behold your Music!'And he showed to them a vision... and they saw a new World made visible before them...And when the Ainur had gazed for a while and were silent, Illuvatar said again: 'Behold your Music! This is your minstrelsy; and each of you shall find containeth herein, amid the design I set before you, all thos things which it may seem that he himself devised or added. And thou, Melkor, wilt discover all the secret thoughts of they mind, and wilt perceive that they are but a part of the whole and tributary to its glory'...

Now to water had that Ainu whom the Elves call Ulmo turned his thought...But of the airs and winds Manwe most had pondered, who is the noblest of the Ainur...And Illuvatar spoke to Ulmo and said:' Seest thou no how here in this little realm in the Deeps of Time Melkor hath made war upon thy province? He hath bethought him of bitter cold immoderate, and yet hath not destroyed the beauty of thy fountains, nor of they clear pools. Behold hte snow, and the cunning work of frost! Melkor hath devised heats and fire without restraint, and hath not dried up thy desire nor utterly quelled the music of the sea. Behold rather the height and glory of the clouds, and the everchanging mists; and listen to the fall of rain upon the Earth! And in the clouds, thou are drawn near to Manwe, thy friend, whom thou lovest.
Then Ulmo answered: 'Truly, Water is now become fairer than my heart imagined, neither had my secret thought conceived of the snowflake, nor in all my music was contained the falling of the rain. I will seek Manwe, that he and I may make melodies forever to thy delight!'

[Ainulindale; J.R.R. Tolien]

The Mockery of Modern Music

The Catholic Faith is not hokey. The truths of the Faith are not simply shallow ideas made up to give people an emotional crutch with which to get through life. Catholic minds are not filled with crayon rainbows and cotton ball clouds. The Catholic Church does not preach the "why don't we all just try to get along" doctrine, compromise, that everybody's religion is just fine, or that everyone will go to Heaven.

Why then, is this taught in the liturgical music?

The doctrines of the Church have so much depth, mystery, and beauty. They are far more incomprehensible and intimate than the superficial "everybody just be nice to everybody" maxim.

Should not the liturgical music, presented to God and man at Mass, reflect this character? The character of beauty, mystery, depth... and above all, love? (This being True Love, which is the wish of a person for the perfect well being of his neighbor. Not simply a warm fuzzy emotion towards particular persons.)

Any music that falls short of this goal is merely a bunch of hokey, aimed at causing a flow of emotion for the brief period of time the majority of Catholics are in church, rather than drawing these Catholics to experience freely the depth of the truths of the faith, to meditate on them, to wonder at them, and the awesomeness of God. In many cases, such music has even been found to teach heresies against these truths!

Any music that falls short is a mockery of Our Lord and His Church.

Java

Grace is the sugar in my coffee cup of life. Without it, I am bitter and unpleasant. Although it is invisible, it makes all the difference!

Ancient Voice

Sacred chant is the echo of the Catholic Church through the ages.

Fairy Dust

Fairy dust is real--- I've seen it go swirling across the street sometimes on bitterly cold days, sparkling in the sunshine and pretending it was snow!

The Road to Emmaus

Once, there was a man, who in the idle times of his days, penned a fanciful story. His writing of the tale (a novel, in fact) was kept secret by him, and he published it under a pseudonym. The book at once grew to great popularity, to the very point at which his own family came by it and read it. Consequently, the author happened upon two of his sons discussing the book, its characters, plot, meaning, and the like. He smiled inwardly to hear some of the misconstructions they made concerning it. Therefore, he sat down and began to explain the characters to a great depth and the plot to its fullest degree. And they were amazed at his understanding and wondered at the beauty and coherence of his explanation, until finally he smiled and asked: “Why are you so surprised? Should not the author be the one most acquainted with his work?”

So indeed must it have been on the road to Emmaus, when the Christ taught the two disciples the meaning of His Scriptures. For who is more acquainted with the mystery of our salvation than the Divine Author Himself?

The Reason--The Cause

There are reasons for all things, for great matters and trifling ones; but God is not so beholden to mankind that He must give man the knowledge of them. Let it suffice us that, at the Beginning of all things, there is but One Cause, Who is also the Sustenance and the End of all things.