In theory, at least, most people believe that art and music have power to touch hearts. But if that is still a vague concept for you, perhaps an experience of the Lord’s Prayer chanted in Aramaic will convince you of the transformative power of sublime art. In the comment section of the YouTube video [...]
Arguably history’s most beloved and fascinating saint, we sometimes forget that Joan of Arc was not a legend. She was a real person with a real calling from God to do something heroic for Christ’s Kingdom. But Joan didn’t take any up her sword on her own initiative. She was not a political phenomenon [...]
Eight weeks after Easter every year the Church commemorates its own birth – the Day of Pentecost, as witnessed so powerfully in Acts, Chapter 2. Ten days prior to the Holy Spirit’s arrival, the Lord Jesus told the disciples to “stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke [...]
A few years ago I had the privilege of standing in the sacristy of a Ukrainian church watching a priest friend of mine prepare for Mass. The wonderful liturgies of the Church’s eastern rites (the Byzantine, Maronite, Ukrainian and others) express a richness and complexity of worship that contrasts with the simplicity of the [...]
The Sheep English choirmaster, John Rutter, established the Cambridge Singers in the early 1980s for the purpose of producing musical recordings. They have been amazingly prolific with nearly forty albums in their vast repertoire. In The Lord is My Shepherd we hear a mixed choir of men’s and women’s voices intertwining effortlessly with the [...]
The Shepherd English composer, choirmaster and conductor, John Rutter, sets the most famous of all psalms (Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd”) to music in an exquisite piece of art that incorporates voice, orchestra and vivid musical imagery. This commentary is the first of two on Rutter's piece. Part 1 focuses on the [...]
Great victories in battle throughout history have always generated great victory songs to celebrate them. The Old Testament features one of those songs from an event that should be familiar to us even if the song isn’t. When God drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea, Moses stood on the banks looking down on [...]
Everyone should know that angels exist. But how would you react to meeting an angel who descended to earth like lightning before your very eyes? If you were superhuman or supremely holy you might sit down and have a conversation with him about his “dazzling robes” as the Gospel of Luke describes them (Luke [...]
The unique American musical tradition of Negro spirituals is nowhere better exemplified than in this heartfelt meditation on Christ’s Crucifixion, Were You There When They Crucified My Lord, by Jessye Norman. Ms. Norman died in 2009 at the age of 74 after a long and distinguished career as an operatic soprano with four Grammy [...]
Eleven of the twelve Apostles betrayed, denied, or abandoned the Lord Jesus in His moment of deepest need – Calvary. Mary, His mother, stood by Him until the bitter end. According to John’s Gospel (19:25-27), Our Lady stood by the Cross of Jesus during the entire length of His suffering. Tradition adds that she [...]