FTER A FULL DAY of being tortured, burned alive, having their fingers sawn-off, and being relentlessly bitten by mosquitos on countless (putrefied) wounds, Father Isaac Jogues and his companions were not left in peace. That’s because at night, the Iroquois fastened their wrists to the ground—and all through the night, the Iroquois children would place burning coals on their bodies and giggle with glee when the French captives could not shake them off. When Father Jogues’ thumb was cut off, he picked it up and (we learn from his later writings) did something amazing: “I presented it to Thee, O my God, in remembrance of the sacrifices which for the last seven years I had offered on the altars of Thy Church and as an atonement for the want of love and reverence of which I have been guilty in touching Thy Sacred Body.” If Father Jogues felt thus, what possible hope is there for us?
How Dare We? • Time and again—whenever I enter a church—I ask myself: “How dare I step into the presence of He Who created both heaven and earth? How is it possible that I can stand a few feet from the self-same God who created the entire universe?” While offering Mass, Saint John Mary Vianney (†1859) was amazed at the Holy Eucharist. Handling the SANCTISSIMUM during Mass, he sometimes thought to himself: “When I move to the left, my God moves to the left, and when I move to the right, my God moves to the right. How is such a thing possible?”
Why Did You Choose Music? • I would be interested to know why readers chose the vocation of “church musician.” Our sufferings cannot be compared to what Father Jogues and his companions went through. At the same time, I believe church musicians who attempt to do what Vatican II demanded experience constant suffering. Remember, the Second Vatican Council solemnly declared: “The treasury of sacred music [THESAURUS MUSICAE SACRAE] is to be preserved and fostered with great care.” How easy it would be for us to hop on the 1970s bandwagon which pretends that “preserve and foster with great care” actually means: “denigrate, ignore, and outlaw.” I know others—not just myself—suffer, because I constantly hear from people all over the world who are treated with injustice. Musicians tend to be sensitive (melancholic), and injustice weighs upon us … sometimes for decades.
Why Jeff Chose Church Music • What’s the fundamental reason I went into the field of sacred music? It was because the music sung in Catholic churches when I was growing up (the 1980s and 1990s) was extremely goofy, disrespectful, and sounded like Broadway mixed with a toothpaste commercial. This still continues! OREGON CATHOLIC PRESS recently published a Mass setting based on a 1985 movie starring Michael J. Fox called BACK TO THE FUTURE. Another large Catholic publishing company recently published a Mass setting based on a television show called MY LITTLE PONY. When I was growing up, our (affluent) local parish routinely sang “hymns” which spoke of butterflies, gathering, and Buddha. The lyrics approached heresy or formally espoused heresy. I said to myself (and still believe): “If we truly believe what the Catholic Church teaches regarding the holy Eucharist, we would never sing songs like that.” To me, this cognitive dissonance seemed tragic and nefarious. That’s why I got into the field of sacred music.
Eucharistic Hymn (1 of 2) • The Brébeuf Hymnal contains more Eucharistic hymns than any other Catholic hymnal (and it’s not even close). A particularly striking example is an English translation of an ancient Eucharistic text by Archbishop Bagshaw. Consider its third verse:
Upon the Cross the Deity was hid,
But here His Human Nature lies concealed,
Yet, both believing, that I supplicate,
For which the Thief from off his cross appealed.
Did you catch that? It’s basically saying that JESUS CHRIST looked like a human being, but was actually God. The Holy Eucharist takes matters a step further, because our Lord’s human nature is hidden as well. We usually sing this Eucharistic Hymn in SATB, but since our volunteer choir is currently taking summer break, a few ladies volunteered to sing Mass last Sunday:
Eucharistic Hymn (2 of 2) • Another Eucharistic hymn found in the Brébeuf Hymnal is “Pange Lingua” by Saint Thomas Aquinas (†1274). In the Gospel we find an important prayer: “O Lord, I do believe. Help Thou my unbelief” (Mk 9:23). The fourth verse seems to echo that Gospel verse:
4. The Word who is flesh, makes true bread
to be flesh through his word,
and wine becomes the blood of Christ,
and if sense fails,
faith by itself is enough
to assure the guileless heart.
The haunting melody begins with an ascending perfect fifth, and sometimes the ladies who volunteered to sing last Sunday are slightly under the pitch for a fraction of a second. But I still think they did really well:
Short On Time? • One reason I consider the Brébeuf Hymnal absolutely essential for the conscientious choirmaster is its brilliant, innovative, and powerful strategy when it comes to shared melodies (a.k.a. “common hymn tunes”). The simple reality is, there’s never enough rehearsal time. If you listen to the following hymns, I think you’ll understand what shared melodies are all about
