Posted by catholicsensibility under
Music 1 Comment
Iowa State’s music & theatre department hosted a “75th Birthday Celebration” tonight. My wife and I left the young miss at home and enjoyed an evening of music. I’ve enjoyed listening to Philip Glass since the mid-80′s. When I saw his Ensemble in Rochester about two-point-five decades ago, it was one of my most enjoyable concert experiences. I would say it is still a top-twenty today.
Two impressions from tonight: breathing hands and melancholy.
In the Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall, I sat close enough to watch the musicians play. Pianists, string players, and saxophonist: it was like entering a trance to watch their hands and fingers. Most of the players looked relaxed, and the music breathed. And I got the sense of breath in the hands when I watched them play. Though one or two players looked nervous and a bit brittle.
With compositions sampled from five decades, the overarching theme was one of melancholy, but a subtext of playfulness. Here’s the line-up:
The programming was outstanding. Piano pieces bookmarked the event. I liked the Orphée excerpts, and they were competently rendered. This arrangement is typical of later Philip Glass, and reminded me of the Metamorphosis pieces from his 1988 disk of solo piano music. Also on that disk is an earlier work, “Mad Rush,” which was a fitting conclusion to this concert. Nicholas Roth “gets” Glass. No other way to describe it. More than any of the other players, I saw the breathing of the piece in watching the pianist’s hands.
The full String Quartet No. 5 was the centerpiece. From 1991, it had the most variety in style and mood. Like any Glass work, it has a heavy strain of lament, but with a wink of playfulness about it. I’m less familiar with the string quartets (I think Glass has composed nearly a dozen) but this piece was engaging, ever surprising, and artistically rendered.
The two brief pieces from the cello quartet were warm and enjoyable.
Gradus was composed in 1968 for Glass’ longtime collaborator Jon Gibson. Early minimalism, and delightfully unpredictable.
Dr Sturm had perhaps the most virtuoso performance of the night. He accompanied video sequences from the film Koyaanisqatsi. I didn’t get to see the hands there as much as watch the lament of the overly busy modern life.
I love living in a university town with musical experiences like this.
Two sections under the title of “The Deposit of Faith and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.” The Catechism is seen as a “reference text.” It is heavily footnoted, and there one can find the source texts in Scripture and tradition. It serves the Word of God, but does not replace. It interprets the Word, though in a very trustworthy and fairly complete manner.
125. The Second Vatican Council set as one of its principal tasks the “better conservation and presentation of the precious deposit of Christian doctrine so as to render it more accessible to Christ’s faithful and to all (people) of good will”. The content of that deposit is the word of God which is safeguarded in the Church. The Magisterium of the Church, having decided to draw up “a reference text” for the teaching of the faith, has chosen from this precious treasure “things new and old” which it considers suitable for accomplishing this task. The Catechism of the Catholic Church thus constitutes a fundamental service by encouraging the proclamation of the Gospel and the teaching of the faith, which both draw their message from Tradition and Sacred Scripture entrusted to the Church, so as to achieve this function with complete authenticity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is not the only source of catechesis, since as an act of the Magisterium, “it is not superior to the word of God but at its service”. However it is a particularly authentic act of interpretation of that word, such that the Gospel may be proclaimed and transmitted in all its truth and purity.
126. In the light of this relationship between the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the “deposit of faith”, it may be useful to clarify two questions of vital importance for catechesis:
– the relationship between Sacred Scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church as points of reference for the content of catechesis;
– the relationship between the catechetical tradition of the Fathers of the Church, with its rich content and its profound understanding of the catechetical process, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
And we will get to these questions in GDC 127-130–the next few days.
When can a priest preside or concelebrate more than once a day? Here’s what the GIRM says:
204. For a particular reason, having to do either with the significance of the rite or of the festivity, the faculty is given to celebrate or concelebrate more than once on the same day in the following cases:
a) a Priest who has celebrated or concelebrated the Chrism Mass on Thursday of Holy Week may also celebrate or concelebrate the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper;
b) a Priest who has celebrated or concelebrated the Mass of the Easter Vigil may celebrate or concelebrate Mass during the day on Easter Sunday;
c) on the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas Day), all Priests may celebrate or concelebrate three Masses, provided the Masses are celebrated at their proper times of day;
d) on the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls’ Day), all Priests may celebrate or concelebrate three Masses, provided that the celebrations take place at different times, and with due regard for what has been laid down regarding the application of second and third Masses;[Incruentum altaris sacrificium (1915 Apostolic Constitution)]
e) a Priest who concelebrates with the Bishop or his delegate at a Synod or pastoral visitation, or concelebrates on the occasion of a gathering of Priests, may celebrate Mass again for the benefit of the faithful. This holds also, with due regard for the prescriptions of law, for groups of religious.
I have some understanding on the reasoning behind these regulations. The Church is rightfully concerned about abuse of the sacraments, and even the abuse of a priest’s good time. Limitations on the number of Masses for a priest never strike me as consonant with the realities outside of communities awash in clergy. Like outside of Rome or a monastery.
But as it is, we do have this legislation. How do you clergy deal with it?
