Since we are travellers and pilgrims in the world, let us ever ponder on the end of the road, that is of our life, for the end of our roadway is our home (St Columban, 8th sermon).
Showing posts with label Andrew Lloyd Webber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Andrew Lloyd Webber. Show all posts
This year All Souls' Day falls on Sunday - in most places. It takes precedence over the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C.
There are no specific readings for All Souls' Day. Readings may be taken from those for Masses for the Dead. Matthew 5:1-12a, below, is proper to All Saints' Day and may also be used on All Souls' Day.
In England & Wales and in Scotland this year All Saints' Day will be celebrated on Sunday and All Souls' Day on Monday.
Readings(Jerusalem
Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)
GospelMatthew 5:1-12a (English Standard
Version, Anglicised)
At that time: Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the
mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his
mouth and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be
comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called
sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and
persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.’
I don't know much about the faith of Scottish poet Norman MacCaig (1910 - 1996). Wikipedia tells us that he described it as 'Zen Calvinism' - 'a comment typical of his half-humorous, half-serious approach to life'.
A favourite poem of mine is Country Postman. It expresses for me something of the reality of the Communion of Saints that we celebrate and remember in a special way on these two days. I've no idea if Norman MacCaig was thinking of the Communion of Saints when he wrote it. But the poem captures something of what holds us all together as a community. With email, Facebook and all the ways of communicating in 'this digital continent', as Pope Benedict called it, perhaps the role of the postman has changed, though he is still vital in rural communities, not only to deliver the mail but to keep an eye on older persons living on their own, some of whom perhaps are reclusive but who still welcome him.
The poem too catches something of the fragility in all of us, especially in those who serve the broader community quietly and generously for so many years. And could Jesus, who turned water into wine at a wedding for people like those whom this mail deliverer served, turn away this poor man who died after probably celebrating a little too much?
It is persons such as MacCaig's Country Postman whom we remember on All Souls' Day and it is our prayers that help them move from being numbered among All Souls to being numbered among All Saints.
Country Postman
Before he was drowned,
his drunk body bumping down the shallows
of the Ogle Burn, he had walked
fifteen miles every day
bringing celebrations and disasters
and what lies between them to
MacLarens and MacGregors
and Mackenzies.
Now he has no news to bring
of celebrations or disasters,
although, after one short journey,
he has reached
all the clans in the world.
['Burn' means 'creek'; MacLaren, MacGregor and Mackenzie are common Scottish surnames, 'Mac' meaning 'son'.]
The belief that love can reach into the
afterlife, that reciprocal giving and receiving is possible, in which our
affection for one another continues beyond the limits of death—this has been a
fundamental conviction of Christianity throughout the ages and it remains a
source of comfort today. Who would not feel the need to convey to their
departed loved ones a sign of kindness, a gesture of gratitude or even a
request for pardon?
. . . We should recall that no man is an island,
entire of itself. Our lives are involved with one another . . . The lives of
others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do and achieve.
And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for
worse. So my prayer for another is not something extraneous to that person,
something external, not even after death. In the interconnectedness of Being,
my gratitude to the other—my prayer for him—can play a small part in his
purification. And for that there is no need to convert earthly time into God's time:
in the communion of souls simple terrestrial time is superseded. It is never
too late to touch the heart of another, nor is it ever in vain. In this way we
further clarify an important element of the Christian concept of hope. Our hope
is always essentially also hope for others; only thus is it truly hope for me
too.
Pie Jesu
Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber for his father's funeral
Please pray for the soul of Patricia who died of breast cancer on 1 October 2023 aged only 25. May our loving Father welcome her into the heavenly choir.
Traditional Latin Mass
What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful (Benedict XVI).
Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 11-02-2025 if necessary).
Epistle: Ephesians 6:10-17. Gospel: Matthew 18:23-35.
GospelMatthew 22:1-14For
the shorter form (22:1-10), omit the text in Brackets.] (English Standard Version
Anglicised, India)
And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying,“The
kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for
his son,and sent
his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they
would not come.Again
he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have
prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered,
and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’But they paid no attention and went off,
one to his farm, another to his business,while the rest seized his servants, treated them
shamefully, and killed them.The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed
those murderers and burned their city.Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready,
but those invited were not worthy.Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding
feast as many as you find.’And those servants went out into the roads and gathered
all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with
guests.
[“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a
man who had no wedding garment.And he said to
him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he
was speechless.Then
the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into
the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.’For many
are called, but few are chosen.”]
Sung by Patricia Janečková (18 June 1998 - 1 October 2023) with The Janáček Chamber Orchestra
Latin of St Thomas Aquinas
Panis angelicus fit panis hominum; Dat panis cœlicus figuris terminum: O res mirabilis! Manducat Dominum pauper, servus et humilis.
English translation by John David Chambers
Thus Angels' Bread is made the Bread of man today: the Living Bread from heaven with figures dost away: O wondrous gift indeed! the poor and lowly may upon their Lord and Master feed.
The First Reading, the Responsorial Psalm and the Gospel can be understood in a Eucharistic sense. The Prophet Isaiah's words can be seen as a description of the heavenly banquet to which we are all invited.
The words of St Thomas Aquinas set
to music by César Franck remind us that in
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of
Christ to nourish us on our journey through life, whether that journey be long
or short. In Psalm 22 [23] we pray, you have prepared a banquet for me.
In the Mass we are invited to participate in that banquet where Manducat
Dominum pauper et humilis - The poor and lowly may upon their Lord and Master
feed.
The words of the hymn, figuris terminum,
translated above as with figures dost away, mean that
what we receive in Holy Communion is not a symbol but the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. And to receive such a precious Gift we need to prepare, with God's
grace, to be as worthy as possible.
In the last part of
the Gospel, the section that may be omitted, Jesus speaks very harshly about
those who choose to turn up at the banquet unprepared by choice. St Paul deals
with this in the context of celebrating the Eucharist in 1 Corinthians
11:27-30: Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks
the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty
concerning the body and blood of the Lord.Let a person examine himself, then, and so
eat of the bread and drink of the cup.For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body
eats and drinks judgement on himself.That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have
died.
Jesus gave a precious gift to the Church to help us to be prepared to receive him in the Eucharist when we have turned our backs on him through mortal sin, which breaks our relationship with God and can have eternal consequences: the sacrament of confession. Nobody is turned away from this, unless priests don't make themselves available.
God extends his invitation to all of us. Like some in the gospel we may ignore it because we are 'busy' with other things; we may reject it violently as some did; we may accept it while showing contempt towards the One who extended the invitation. Or we may accept it by preparing with God's grace to be worthy of the occasion.
+++
The news this last week has unexpectedly been dominated by the conflict between Israel and Gaza. More than a thousand deaths have been recorded on each side, the majority civilians, many of them children and young adults. Two earthquakes in Afghanistan this month have resulted in many deaths.
I first posted the video above of Patricia Janečková, the German-born Slovak soprano, singing Panis angelicuson 16 June last year. I added this note: Patricia Janečková was born on 18 June 1998 and was 19 when the video above was made. Last February she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Please pray for her full recovery. Sadly, Patricia died on 1 October. Last June she married actor Vlastimil Burda.
It is always difficult to come to terms with the death of someone who is young, whether the cause of death is war, an accident or illness. Jesus wept at the death of the young Lazarus. Part of the pain of loss iw what might have been in the future.
Yet our Christian faith gives us the hope of sharing in the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today's readings point towards the heavenly banquet and the Eucharistic Banquet where we receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus as our nourishment on our journey through this life.
We pray for the dead, those we have known personally, those we have known through their public lives, and those who have no one to pray for them by name. May the video below of Patricia Janečková singing Andrew Lloyd Webber's Pie Jesu be a prayer for her soul, for the souls of those who have died in the Gaza-Israel war and in other conflicts, for those who have died in recent natural calamities, for those who have nobody to pray for them by name and for those like Patricia who have died young.
At the same time may we thank God for the gift that each of those has been to those who knew and loved them and for the gift of Patricia who continues through her recorded voice to be an expression of God's beauty.
May we all sit down together at the heavenly banquet.
Pie Jesu
Composed
by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Sung by
Patricia Janečková with the Kühn
Children’s Choir and the Czech Army Central Band.
Subtitles in Latin and English
Traditional Latin Mass
Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost
The Complete Mass in Latin and English ishere. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 10-15-2023 if necessary).
