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Posted by on Jun 11, 2018

Entering God’s Presence – Examen First Point

Entering God’s Presence – Examen First Point

Our thankfulness can take many forms, but it is rooted in God’s love for us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and what that means for us. From the earliest times we enter the divine presence in song and dance.

Let them praise His name with dancing and make music to Him with tambourine and harp.
For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; – Psalm 149: 3-4

 

Responding fully to God’s grace is far from intellectual. It requires a joyful choreography of mind, body, and spirit. What is it like to be fully alive, to be an integrated human being, to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord? These young dancers give us a glimpse of what this feels and looks like. We see the person fully alive. A little too “young” for you? Remember, just sitting in your chair and moving with music evokes all of those wonderful physical and emotional movement of the dancers in your own body and soul. This is the basis of culture, society, and dance therapy.

Okay. So how about something more traditional?

Entering God’s presence is not a “head trip.” It is a leap into the profoundly unknown and unknowable. Come, enter the dance!

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Posted by on Aug 30, 2016

Holy Year Pilgrimage – Ave Maria – Carly Paoli

Holy Year Pilgrimage – Ave Maria – Carly Paoli

The Holy Year of Mercy can seem a little abstract. Here is a wonderful video with a beautiful adaptation of the Ave Maria. What struck me was the emphasis on recovering lost dreams and hopes not so much for ourselves but those on the street, those seeking justice, the suffering. This is contrasted with the faith of the pilgrims and the churches and sites of Rome.

This is a moving presentation of the core belief of Christianity that we cannot say that we love God whom we do not see when we ignore our neighbors whom we can see. It is consolation and a challenge that persists in the proclamation of the Gospel from generation to generation. Today it comes in a beautiful  voice, a beautiful song, and the faith of beautiful people.

 

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Posted by on May 21, 2015

Angels We Have Heard – On to a New Year

Connie Fortunato’s Magnificat – Music Camp International

 

Connie-With-Kids - Kiev - Music Camp InternationalWhen the Iron Curtain fell, it revealed the plight of Romanian children warehoused in orphanages. The Ceausescu regime had insisted that women have as many as children as possible, to provide soldiers for a huge army. Many of these children were abandoned and given no real love and very little food. As a music educator and the former music director of Twin Lakes Church in Aptos, California, Connie knew that music could restore these children to wholeness. At first the Romanian government wanted her to teach music only to the children of the leadership. Connie insisted on teaching the orphans and she prevailed.

He has put the mighty down from their thrones and exalted the lowly. (Luke 1:52)

Fourteen years later, Connie’s ministry, Music Camp International, has grown, yet it still flies by a wing and many prayers. Children in Ukraine and Romania are given musical instruments and a week’s instruction in playing and singing. The results are miraculous as the sound of sacred music returns to cathedrals and the hearts of children. The lowly are exalted and the future of all is brighter.

As Music Camp International’s website explains,

The healing gift of music has given hope and dignity to many who have previously been overlooked in a society that provides its resources for the “privileged” and the “promising.” Many children have held and played instrument for the first time. Many have discovered their singing voice. All have experienced the joy of music in a positive and nurturing environment. All have participated in making beautiful music with the finest professionals in their community. And ALL have discovered that in blending their talent with other children—from diverse backgrounds and social status—they can achieve a life-changing experience that is not possible alone.

Music Camp International: Developing Children, Training Teachers, and Strengthening The Global Community Through the Power of Music

Tax deductible donations can be made at www.musiccampinternational.org/

 

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Posted by on Apr 24, 2015

Angels We Have Heard – On to a New Year

Jesse Manibusan: Living in Christ

Living in Christ

Jesse Manibusan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesse Manibusan has posted a new promotional music video “The Life You Live”. Jesse has taken the usual meaning of life as something that we live as something that is ours alone and turned it on its head. “The Life You Live” is all about the life of the Risen Christ.  Jesse echoes the theme of St. Paul in his address to the elite of Athens. “For in him, we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28)

https://vimeo.com/125638027

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted by on Jan 22, 2015

Angels We Have Heard – On to a New Year

James MacMillan — Music and Faith

James MacMillan - Wisconsin Public Radio

James MacMillan

James MacMillan is a Catholic Scottish composer from a working class town in the west of Scotland. He composed the Mass of Blessed John Henry Newman which was performed in Westminster Cathedral in London on the occasion of Pope Benedict XVI’s beatification of the 19th century Cardinal who converted to Catholicism. This was the first visit of a pope to the United Kingdom.

This is an interesting interview about his compositions for parishes and the simplicity underlying MacMillan’s Mass and other religious compositions.

Here is the grand “Tu Es Petrus” (You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.) which is the traditional fanfare for a pope rendered in a very modern tone.

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Posted by on Nov 15, 2014

Angels We Have Heard – On to a New Year

Te Deum – Our Catholic Song of Thanksgiving

Te_Deum_window_by_Whall - cc-by-2.0 license

 

Te Deum Laudamus — We Praise You O God — is a traditional song of thanksgiving in the Church that is used on special occasions outside of the liturgy or in formal worship.

The videos below are of the ancient chant version dating from the fifth century, followed by Mozart’s version 12 centuries later.

The Te Deum window by Christopher Whall, from the church of St Mary the Virgin in Ware, England is an example of a physical structure depicting the church community joining with the heavenly realms in praise and thanksgiving.

Text and translation of the Te Deum.

TE DEUM laudamus: te Dominum confitemur. O GOD, we praise Thee: we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.
Te aeternum Patrem omnis terra veneratur. Everlasting Father, all the earth doth worship Thee.
Tibi omnes Angeli; tibi Caeli et universae Potestates; To Thee all the Angels, the Heavens and all the Powers,
Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim incessabili voce proclamant: all the Cherubim and Seraphim, unceasingly proclaim:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts!
Pleni sunt caeli et terra maiestatis gloriae tuae. Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of Thy glory.
Te gloriosus Apostolorum chorus, The glorious choir of the Apostles,
Te Prophetarum laudabilis numerus, the wonderful company of Prophets,
Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus. the white-robed army of Martyrs, praise Thee.
Te per orbem terrarum sancta confitetur Ecclesia, Holy Church throughout the world doth acknowledge Thee:
Patrem immensae maiestatis: the Father of infinite Majesty;
Venerandum tuum verum et unicum Filium; Thy adorable, true and only Son;
Sanctum quoque Paraclitum Spiritum. and the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.
Tu Rex gloriae, Christe. O Christ, Thou art the King of glory!
Tu Patris sempiternus es Filius. Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
Tu ad liberandum suscepturus hominem, non horruisti Virginis uterum. Thou, having taken it upon Thyself to deliver man, didst not disdain the Virgin’s womb.
Tu, devicto mortis aculeo, aperuisti credentibus regna caelorum. Thou overcame the sting of death and hast opened to believers the Kingdom of Heaven.
Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes, in gloria Patris. Thou sitest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.
Iudex crederis esse venturus. We believe that Thou shalt come to be our Judge.
Te ergo quaesumus, tuis famulis subveni: quos pretioso sanguine redemisti. We beseech Thee, therefore, to help Thy servants whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy Precious Blood.
Aeterna fac cum sanctis tuis in gloria numerari. Make them to be numbered with Thy Saints in everlasting glory.
V. Salvum fac populum tuum, Domine, et benedic hereditati tuae. V. Save Thy people, O Lord, and bless Thine inheritance!
R. Et rege eos, et extolle illos usque in aeternum. R. Govern them, and raise them up forever.
V. Per singulos dies benedicimus te. V. Every day we thank Thee.
R. Et laudamus nomen tuum in saeculum, et in saeculum saeculi. R. And we praise Thy Name forever, yea, forever and ever.
V. Dignare, Domine, die isto sine peccato nos custodire. V. O Lord, deign to keep us from sin this day.
R. Miserere nostri, Domine, miserere nostri. R. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.
V. Fiat misericordia tua, Domine, super nos, quemadmodum speravimus in te. V. Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, for we have hoped in Thee.
R. In te, Domine, speravi: non confundar in aeternum. R. O Lord, in Thee I have hoped; let me never be put to shame.

 

 

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Posted by on Oct 6, 2014

Angels We Have Heard – On to a New Year

Music Evokes the Sacred – The Piano Guys

The Flame of Music

The Flame of Music

 

The Piano Guys have produced many inspiring productions. Generally the Piano Guys will do a medley of two compositions. In this one they mix the theme from the movie The Mission with How Great Thou Art.  The Mission was a 1986 film which told the story of the Jesuit missions in Paraguay. The Iguassu Falls which form the backdrop of this video are also the general location of the Jesuit missions. The combination of the native Guarani music and dance with the European musical instruments and forms created a wonderful music that is still heard today.

The Guarani fought to maintain their freedom when Europeans sought to enslave them. In the war that followed, the missions were destroyed along with the Jesuits who stood with their Catholic parishioners. It is a tale of light and shadow, of grace and sin, and a struggle that still goes on in South America today as Pope Francis reminds us. Yet the music does not die but reflects the light of the Burning Bush.

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