As the season of “holiday parties” comes upon us, it’s probably time to give another thought to Gluttony and Temperance — since we’re each likely to struggle over the next few weeks with many, many temptations. Gluttony is (pun intended) a protean phenomenon, and it’s hard to choose a single exemplar of Temperance. For one … Read more
As Catholics and Americans, it’s clear from recent events that we have just embarked upon a long and dangerous Lent. It’s a secular Lent, with no resurrection promised, with tempting spirits aplenty, and no guarantee we will refuse their bread transformed from stones, their angels to cushion our fall, their kingdoms on offer for kneeling … Read more
Lent is moving toward its object. At a certain age, one realizes that each Lenten season is its own unique season. No two seasons should be the same, as — please God! — we are not the same. This year I spent part of Lent in the Burgundian village of Vézelay. Where the basilica stands … Read more
I meant to spend Lent reflecting on the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy, but events have come vast and various. Between the collapse of our economy, the crisis of a major religious order, and the radioactive fallout from the pope’s own work of mercy toward Traditionalists, it has been tough to hunker down. Sex … Read more
The season of Lent is upon us, sending one of the few signals Catholic musicians hear outside Christmas and Easter. The message: The music should be sort of slow and penitential, unless we’re talking about one of those cheesy modern upbeat songs about our "Lenten journey" to work for social justice. Is … Read more
"How’s your Lent going?" my husband asked me the other day. I raised an eyebrow. He burst out laughing. "Isn’t that what Catholics are supposed to say to each other this time of year?" he asked innocently. My convert husband has never quite gotten over his amusement with some of the things we … Read more
The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services. But other kinds of sacred music, especially polyphony, are by no means excluded from liturgical celebrations, so long as they accord with the spirit of the liturgical action, … Read more
When the Christmas season concludes in mid-January with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the Church begins the season known as Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time is not so named because it is dull or lacking the flare of more exciting liturgical seasons; rather, it designates time that is ordered or numbered, first through … Read more