What you don’t sing
28th Sunday Ordinary Time – C We’ve focused on what to sing from the Mass ordinary and propers. Let’s take a look at what you don’t sing. This happens mostly in Advent and Lent. For some background, we turn to … Read More
The right thing for the right time
27th Sunday Ordinary Time – C This week, we look at the Mass “propers,” which, as the name suggests, are proper texts for a specific occurrence. In the Roman Missal and the Lectionary, each Mass has specific prayers and texts … Read More
Marking Time
26th Sunday Ordinary Time – C Music ministers are the liturgy’s time-keepers. At the most basic level, making music requires that we “keep time,” establishing pace by the number of beats per minute and dividing beats per measure into rhythms. … Read More
Growing from encounter to encounter
25th Sunday Ordinary Time – C If time is one way we encounter Christ, then that relationship deepens over time even if—perhaps because—we do the same rituals and tell the same stories year after year. It grows because we are … Read More
Becoming an excellent music director
24th Sunday Ordinary Time – C If you want to be an excellent music director, you need to master the Mass’s ritual book, the Roman Missal. Along with the Lectionary, the Roman Missal gives you the structure, rules, and guidelines … Read More
A lens for seeing the liturgical seasons
23rd Sunday Ordinary Time – C Catholics primarily engage the Bible not as individuals but through communal hearing of Scriptures within the assembly on a schedule determined by the liturgical calendar. The Catholic Lectionary organizes three or more biblical passages … Read More
The liturgical calendar is powerful
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time We often fail to realize how powerful the liturgical calendar is. Beyond determining the day’s Mass, it shapes our Christian faith. When we attend to the liturgical calendar, we are formed by the mystery of … Read More
Three liturgical tools
21st Sunday Ordinary Time – C There are three liturgical tools you need to master to be a competent and credible liturgical music director, especially if you are in charge of choosing music for Mass or other sacraments. We’ll take … Read More
More than just religious words
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Songs for Catholic liturgy need more than just religious words. They need a specific “orientation.” Even when we focus on Mary or the saints, our liturgical orientation is always toward Christ in praise of … Read More
Liturgy is bigger than us
20th Sunday Ordinary Time – C With music and prayer, it’s easy to get defensive about our preferences. The mentor who handed me my first copy of the Vatican II documents knew, however, that those who prepare the assembly’s prayer … Read More