Psalm 51 - Renaissance Polyphony

This piece is Psalm 51, but first set to music by Allegri around 1630. It is one of the finest and most popular examples of renaissance polyphony. It is often heard in Churches of the apostolic Christian tradition on Ash Wednesday, immediately following Shrove (or pancake) Tuesday, marking Christ's return to Jerusalem. Beautifully performed here by The Sixteen, listen out for the simplicity, humility and reverence.

PSALM 51

¹ [For the choirmaster Of David When the prophet Nathan had come to him because he had gone to Bathsheba] Have mercy on me, O God, in your faithful love, in your great tenderness wipe away my offences;

² wash me clean from my guilt, purify me from my sin.

³ For I am well aware of my offences, my sin is constantly in mind.

⁴ Against you, you alone, I have sinned, I have done what you see to be wrong, that you may show your saving justice when you pass sentence, and your victory may appear when you give judgement,

⁵ remember, I was born guilty, a sinner from the moment of conception.

⁶ But you delight in sincerity of heart, and in secret you teach me wisdom.

⁷ Purify me with hyssop till I am clean, wash me till I am whiter than snow.

⁸ Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness, and the bones you have crushed will dance.

⁹ Turn away your face from my sins, and wipe away all my guilt.

¹⁰ God, create in me a clean heart, renew within me a resolute spirit,

¹¹ do not thrust me away from your presence, do not take away from me your spirit of holiness.

¹² Give me back the joy of your salvation, sustain in me a generous spirit.

¹³ I shall teach the wicked your paths, and sinners will return to you.

¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodshed, God, God of my salvation, and my tongue will acclaim your saving justice.

¹⁵ Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will speak out your praise.

¹⁶ Sacrifice gives you no pleasure, burnt offering you do not desire.

¹⁷ Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a broken, contrite heart you never scorn.

¹⁸ In your graciousness do good to Zion, rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Then you will delight in upright sacrifices,-burnt offerings and whole oblations -- and young bulls will be offered on your altar.

5 Changes for a Better Life

There are some important changes being made in the way I handle the business of my life:

1) Anger - I am giving him his pink slip because he has lost his job today.
2) Stress - I have decided that his assignment is terminated.
3) Despair has been replaced by Hope.
4) Negative Conversation is banned from my house.
5) Discouragement has been ousted but I understand that he will try to sneak back in. I will be diligent in giving him no room for re-entry

I am ridding my life and home and business of these intruders.
Taking a lesson from the Philippians 4:8 . . . 

"And now, dear Brothers and Sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."

I will give You all my worship
I will give You all my praise
You alone I long to worship
You alone are worthy of my praise

I will worship with all of my heart
I will praise You with all of my strength
I will seek You, all of my days
I will follow, I will follow all of Your ways

To Whom Shall We Go?

The Music You Listen to Can Rot Your Brain & Kill Your Soul

A wonderful article by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf   

 

One of my philosophy profs, a former Marine DI, told us that if everything that goes into our brains has no or little relation to reality, then we can’t expect to produce good and rational results.  We will be, in fact, insane.  In Latin we would say purgamentum init, exit purgamentum.

Madrid,Spain,Aug 20,2011  (EWTN News) -Bishop Samuel Aquila used one of his World Youth Day catecheses to urge young people to scrub “evil” music from their iPods.

“You need to look at the music you listen to and the words. Don’t fool yourself. It impacts upon you,” said the Bishop of Fargo, North Dakota,at his World Youth Day catechesis session on Aug. 19.

“There is good music out there that you can listen to, but there is also a lot of trash. And it is simply evil. It is the evil because it distorts the gift of human sexuality,the gift of sexual intimacy,the gift of human life.”

Bishop Aquila was talking to several hundred English-speaking pilgrims in the parish church of Virgen del Mar in the Madrid suburb of San Blas.

He told the youngsters how he was recently visiting a friend with two teenage sons who wanted to show him the music they had downloaded onto their cell phones. The title of one particular song grabbed the bishop’s attention.

“A few days later I read the lyrics of that song, and very honestly I was horrified,” he said. “The words used objectified women” and the woman the featured in the song “was very simply a toy for men and their sexual pleasure.”

Bishop Aquila said he’d then asked the two boys if they “would want your sisters’ boyfriends to treat them as the woman is being treated in that song?” That question “stopped the conversation completely, as these boys would defend their sisters to the hilt.”

He concluded by explaining to the young pilgrims that while the witness of a bishop can be effective,it was more important for young people to witness to each other when it comes to ditching “evil” music.

“Be not afraid to get rid of that sort of music from your iPods or your iPads or your iPhones or wherever you put that kind of music. And don’t be afraid to shut it off because it can play constantly in your head. Give witness to that.”

This morning’s catechesis session was only one of 220 being given in 27 languages all around Madrid.

The reaction to Bishop Aquila’s talk seemed overwhelmingly positive.

“I think that it’s important for the youth to hear what he said about music,because that sort of music is all over the place, it’s infected many levels, even young kids are listening to this stuff,” said 17-year-old Sean Palmer from Philadelphia.

“So it’s important that Catholics lead the charge and show the world what music is right and what music should be avoided because it affects our subconscious in ways we sometimes don’t realize,” Palmer said.

His friend,17-year-old Andrew Parrish also from Philadelphia, agreed, saying that “music is really language and it can be used to express beautiful things or things that aren’t so beautiful.” He added,“it was important to hear that message from Bishop Aquila because you don’t hear it that often.”

Sources:  Father Z and  Stella Borealis and Courageous Priest and ultimately EWTN comes this about the music you put into your head and heart.

On the Feast of Stephen: Good King Wenceslas

A huge H/T to author, Taylor Marshall from Canterbury Tales 
edited by Soutenus :-) 

Today is December 26 and the Feast of the Holy Family as well as the Feast of St. Stephen!

St. Stephen reminds me of one of my favorite Christmas carols: "Good King Wenceslas."

In the famous carol, King Wenceslas spots a poor man on the "Feast of Stephen" (Dec 26) and instructs his page to bring meat and wine in order to bless the poor man.

It is a wonderful story-carol.
I love the tune because it inspires one to start singing.
The old fashioned words are beautiful. They are also challenging when the tune is sung at a lively pace.

Of course, I drag my whole family into the carol singing, too!

I love the part of the song when the page is weary and cold but Good King Wenceslas encourages him to keep going.

This is what happens:

Sire, the night is darker now

And the wind blows stronger

Fails my heart, I know not how,

I can go no longer."

"Mark my footsteps, my good page

Tread thou in them boldly

Thou shalt find the winter's rage

Freeze thy blood less coldly."

In his master's steps he trod

Where the snow lay dinted

Heat was in the very sod

Which the Saint had printed

Saint Wenceslas (d. 935) is a Catholic martyr known for his love for the poor and his secret night vigils before the altar of the Blessed Sacrament. The last line of the carol captures the intent of the song and the true example of Saint Wenceslas:

Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing

Below are all the words to the carol. Since today (Dec 26) is "the feast of Stephen," why not sing it with your family tonight before Rosary or bedtime? We just sang all three versions (they are all different speeds!)

Good King Wenceslas looked out

On the feast of Stephen

When the snow lay round about

Deep and crisp and even

Brightly shone the moon that night

Though the frost was cruel

When a poor man came in sight

Gath'ring winter fuel

"Hither, page, and stand by me

If thou know'st it, telling

Yonder peasant, who is he?

Where and what his dwelling?"

"Sire, he lives a good league hence

Underneath the mountain

Right against the forest fence

By Saint Agnes' fountain."

"Bring me flesh and bring me wine

Bring me pine logs hither

Thou and I will see him dine

When we bear him thither."

Page and monarch forth they went

Forth they went together

Through the rude wind's wild lament

And the bitter weather

"Sire, the night is darker now

And the wind blows stronger

Fails my heart, I know not how,

I can go no longer."

"Mark my footsteps, my good page

Tread thou in them boldly

Thou shalt find the winter's rage

Freeze thy blood less coldly."

In his master's steps he trod

Where the snow lay dinted

Heat was in the very sod

Which the Saint had printed

Therefore, Christian men, be sure

Wealth or rank possessing

Ye who now will bless the poor

Shall yourselves find blessing

Hallelujah Flash Mob

 

Mega Church Formula

I found this on Patrick Madrid's FB page. I wasn't going to post it at first because it was so very cynical.  I couldn't get it out of my head. It has been rolling around, and peeking through my days. So, I want to save it here so I can find it later. I decided to include some of the comments over on Patrick's page.

I used to go to a mega-church and then go to Mass because I felt that the "uplifting service" added more Christian fellowship to the day. In the beginning it did feel OK to do this. Our nearby Mega-Church is indeed MEGA but I started worshiping there when it was a group of believers in a school gym. It felt like a "praise and worship" session - like a bunch of friends getting together for a Bible study or prayer group with the added benefit of really good music and fellowship.

I knew that I had not gone to church unless I attended Mass. So, of course, I went to Mass, too. Except for communion at the mega church (which I never participated in) it all seemed copacetic. I got real church (Mass) and Christian entertainment (mega church)

I eventually became a camp counselor for the mega church - I completely bought into the whole "non-denominational-coming-together-to praise-God" thing.
I was subsequently asked to go to their training class for Fellowship Leaders.
That was a bit less, shall we say, "non-denominational."  There was a clear focus on recruiting people. AND, they targeted Catholics who had fallen away and those who were not satisfied with the fellowship at their parishes. Suddenly it hit me --- it was all marketing in the upper echelon.

My image of the "non-denominational-coming-together-to praise-God" was shattered by the reality. Get behind the scenes with the movers and shakers and you learn a lot.

I am just so grateful that God lead me home.
I have heard friends who attend mega church say, "I go because church should make me feel good and they always have a great message. I want to be uplifted and motivated."
All I hear is "Me, me, me, me, me -- make me feel good'"

This funny (and sad) clip strikes dead-on accurate from my personal experiences with our nearby non-denominational, mega churches.



Some of the comments:

• That was my church before I became Catholic three years ago. The emptiness was profound.

• People leave Jesus in the Eucharist for this? CRAZY! 

• People leave Jesus in the Eucharist because 1) they don't understand its significance because eucharistic theology has been downplayed in their Catholic experience, and 2) people in churches like these know how to reach people at a personal level - too many parishes fail in that respect. It doesn't surprise me in the least. Properly formed Catholics would never leave for something like this.

• Really good!!!!! those churches just play on people's emotions and hope that is enough to draw them in.... but in the end it is meaningless worship.... not grounded in real faith and the Eucharist!

• That tattoo was the Name in God in Hebrew, the Tetragrammaton...just noticed that

• By the way, there's a little joke in here. The Hebrew tattoo deliberately incorrectly spells God's name. Instead of God's name (יהוה ), it says, ויהי , translated, "And it came to pass" or "And it was so." Of course the joke here is that people who get Hebrew tattoos really do not know how to read Hebrew at all.   From a great article here: http://www.thesacredpage.com/2010/05/worship-entertainment-vs-liturgy.html

• Yet we have to be careful how we engage evangelicals... we're not gonna convince many of them to come home by calling their services empty... and even the Catholic Church in recent years has acknowledged the truth these ecclesial communities profess... just not in its fulness, and thus never totally fulfilling like the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!

• The funny part is that they were trying to make a point about their own services being too cookie cutter, but ended up showing what the are missing something . . . the Eucharist!

• I was up at EWTN last weekend, I met a nice fellow in the gift shop and we had a great discussion. At one point he had mentioned a protestant friend of his who was a pastor at one of those mega-churches, and he told me something interesting. It seems that you need to have a BUSINESS License to run one of those churches. I don't know, but I find that rather odd.

• Yep it's scary isn't it?!?!?!? I'm also a cradle Catholic but one of my best friends goes to a mega non-denominational church and invited me once.... (Daughtry goes there!).... and that's how it was... trendy music... pastor playing on people's emotions.... people welcoming me and talking and reaching out to me, offering me information ... See Moreand stuff... but after the music and the preaching that was it... I felt like I had gone to a conference... not to a "service" and certainly not to "mass" or anything remotely close!

• I posted this several weeks ago and took sooo much heat from some Protestant friends. Hit too close to home I guess. 

• I felt empty in those pews. I don't know what anyone else felt, but it prepared me for the Catholic church so I can't exactly say it was all bad.

• So thankful to be free of this! 

• Unfortunately, many of the 'Life Teen' Masses I've attended are similar to this megachurch format in their music choices.

• We are all aware of this megachurch, underground Christianity phenomena. It will no doubt be recorded as yet another heresy...

• What is even more intriguing are the Catholics who actually stand up for their faith! Let's do it, folks, in all charity, always begging the Holy Spirit for His words not ours! Let's give ourselves fully to God, and He will write straight with crooked lines!

• I was a worship leader in a church in that vein though not a mega... The pastor wanted us to sing some songs for 20 minutes to bring the "Spirit" down.... I guess the more "worked up' people were, the more the Spirit was present. When we had communion ( maybe once a month) he would always say , "How should we do it this week". The closer I got to the Church (it took me 3 years), the more it bothered me. When I fully believed that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ, but had not left the protestant church yet, I couldn't even bring myself to participate in taking communion there. It was a total circus..

• I can't get the opening song out of my head.

• This type of church helped me get back my faith, but something was missing. I figured it out, and couldn't be happier.

• I was a worship leader as well. We reached a point of no return when we were correcting our former pastor during communion. "No. It doesn't say 'represent.' It says 'is!'"

• To be honest I don't know how I feel about this video. As a convert from an evangelical background, having attended a 'megachurch', and was studying to be a minister; I found many of the people very sincere. I have found some of the same problems in Catholic parishes that try to go contemporary with the Mass. I personally enjoy contemporary Christian music outside of worship but haven't felt very comfortable with it in the context of the Mass outside of my time at FUS. The challenge is that for Catholics we know (or should know) that worship is centered around the Real Presence of Christ in our midst and so we have an innate sense that worship should have sense of the sacred. For evangelicals they only have the spoken and sung word and so the emphasis is on these things. I guess I struggle with the video as it seems to imply bad intent or that the megachurch phenomena is just a performance. I may agree with some of the observations but not the spirit of it. my 2 cents.

• As a recently confirmed Catholic convert, I came right out of a mega church right down to the video mentioning CDs at the store and lattes at the coffee shop. What's so sad to me is how now I know the presence of Christ in the Eucharist that was never quite clear at this mega Church. I always felt cheated in a way cause I didn't understand how and why it was so random was communion at this church. I had been to Mass before and NEVER took communion at mass but at the megachurch i felt obligated to do so. I must say I am so much happier at Mass and my conversion was and still is the most amazing point in my life. I like the sweetness of a little Catholic choir that doesn't get all the notes right. We still must teaches those of the megachurches and little ones to come home and come home soon!!!

• This video was on youtube and was removed because the owner (North Point media) claimed copyright concerns. Obviously, it is in the Catholic perspective, a protestant service/church. Here is the original link, along with discussion   http://www.vimeo.com/11501569

• Really funny, but sadly true....Aren't some non-denominational mega-churches franchising now? (I won't mention the name of the one I'm thinking of.)

• I loved the Starbuck's coffee cups being held by some of the people and the credits at the end (Edgy T-Shirt Award, Papyrus Font Award, Informally Dressed Pastor Award....LOL!!!).

• Yeah, at Mom's church the emphasis is on fellowship, small Bible group meetings. MyGroups they're called, but there's a whole book on the cell church. What I love is the pastor makes it a point to say that there's no heiarchy to enforce rules. Yet, Mom's MyGroup meets on a Sunday afternoon, something her church doesn't like. Yep, no rules. Just a pastor who's a dictator, it's his way or the highway.  

• I posted this on my page and had a few people angry at me. They say they enjoy this type of service and "why can't I be entertained while worshipping God?" I agree with many on here that this video is true in most respects and it's very sad. Would the Apostles recognize such a service if they walked into this concert?

• It's all about the 'fellowship'...and believe it or not, I think they do fill a need...people are so lost.

• Certainly contemporary Christian music helps people get closer, while at a Mercy Me concert or in their car. But when it's the Sunday service that puts a greater emphasis on a performance that's a problem.

  

The 12 Days of Christmas Reminders

Some historians believe that The 12 Days of Christmas had hidden religious meanings. At first listening, The 12 Days of Christmas sounds like a delightful Children's nonsense song. But . . . .  In England, from the mid-1500s through 1829, Catholics were denied any private or public practice of their religion. In The 12 Days of Christmas you can find reminders to help children (and adults!) learn the doctrines of their faith.

For example, "true love" doesn't refer to an earthly suitor, rather to God Himself. Likewise, the "me" in the song, the one who receives the gifts in each verse, is actually any baptized person, a member of the family of Christ. The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ. As will a mother partridge, Christ gathers His chicks under His wings for loving protection. Each of the 12 days of Christmas represents an aspect of Christianity that we should learn (know) - even if these things had to be learned in secret.

 THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

• A Partridge in a pear tree -- Jesus Christ, who gathers his own under his wings -- God's first gift.
  
• Two Turtle Doves -- represents the sacrifice of the Jewish family at the birth of a son (also: The Old and New Testaments)
• Three French Hens -- The Gifts of the Magi (also: The Blessed Trinity; also: Faith, Hope and Love)
• Four Calling Birds -- The Four Gospels (also: the Four Evangelists who wrote the Gospels)
• Five Golden Rings -- The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the Torah.
  
• Six Geese A-laying -- The six days of creation
• Seven Swans A-swimming -- The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and the seven sacraments of the Church
• Eight Maids A-milking -- The eight beatitudes (also: the eight persons saved in the Ark)
• Nine Ladies Dancing -- The nine Fruits of the Spirit Galatians 5:22    (also: kinds or ranks of angels)
• Ten Lords A-leaping -- The Ten Commandments
• Eleven Pipers Piping --  The eleven faithful apostles
• Twelve Drummers Drumming -- The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostles' Creed & the Apostles altogether & the gates of heaven (Revelation 21:12)  & the tribes of Isreal 

The Church Calendar 12 Days of Christmas:

December 25, Solemnity of CHRISTMAS 

December 26, Feast of St. Stephen

December 27, Feast of Saint John
 
December 28, Feast of the Holy Innocents
 
December 29, Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas
 
December 30, Feast of the Holy Family
 
December 31, Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas
 
January 1, Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
 
January 2, St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen
 
January 3, Most Holy Name of Jesus
 
January 4, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
 
January 5, St. John Neumann
 
January 6, Solemnity of the Epiphany

Straight No Chaser (It's a tradition now!)

THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Christmas is not a celebration that lasts a single day.  Christmas is a twelve-day season that begins on December 25 and ends on January 5, the eve of the Epiphany of Our Lord. Epiphany commemorates the visit of the wise men to Jesus in the stable and marks the end of the Christmas season. 











This feast of the manifestation, or Epiphany, is traditionally celebrated on the 12th day after Christmas, January 6th. In the diocese of the United States this has been moved to the SUNDAY occurring between January 2 and January 8.

Young Man with a Horn

A Little Off Topic - But Oh So Cool!

Found this article @ NYI Photo World . . . and the PICTURE OF THE MONTH is my friend!  Maybe he should give up his music and teaching career and focus on  modeling? Here is part of the article. If you are a photography buff you can find the rest here.  I could not resist adding some of my comments in RED.

Portrait skills are an important part of any professional photographer’s bag of tricks. But photographing people, whether in a formal setup or in an informal candid image, requires considerable knowledge and skill to be successful.

I have also photographed musicians and this photo, by NYI Complete Course in Professional Photography Student Gwen Juarez, is similar to that work, though most of the images I did were of performances, not studio set-ups. But is there any doubt that the subject of this photo is a trumpet player? We don’t need a caption to tell us that. The trumpet really focuses our attention and tells us something important about the person. Hello! He is not only an amazing trumpet player he can handle just about any other brass instrument plus the sax and drums and, oh, of course, the recorder!

Anything we could remove from the image to simplify it? No, nothing at all. Take away the trumpet and it becomes an altogether different photo. What about the wrist watch and the ring? Are they distracting? I don’t think so. In fact, both the watch and the ring appear to be the same color as the trumpet, making all three, “color coordinated” accessories. They almost “go with” the trumpet and reinforce its tonality. Anyway, people do routinely wear watches and rings, including musicians who are performing. I have photographed musicians who were literally festooned with jewelry, decked out with giant gold necklaces and rings on every finger. That was part of their self-image and I never messed with it. The jewelry in this photo is not like that and in fact is quite tasteful. I don’t know what the trumpet player’s musical skills are but he has a nice fashion sense.
LOL, top notch musician and person -- you have no idea, Mr. Whoever Wrote This!  :-)

What about the pose? After all, how we position our portrait subjects is extremely important and carelessness or lack of knowledge on the part of the photographer about how the camera “renders” the human anatomy can result in disaster. In this photo I like the placement of the left forearm and hand under the chin, drawing our eye toward the face and those very expressive eyes. However, I do think this particular arrangement, as executed, results in a slightly cramped look to the body. The head thus looks larger than it really is, relative to the rest of the body. I probably would have had him lean a little less forward toward the camera while at the same time retaining the basic arrangement.
I also like the expression on the face and what it conveys. This guy is serious about his “ax”. He’s almost daring us to disagree. I think it would have been a mistake to pressure him to smile.
He smiles quite easily and he has a killer sense of humor that can be sarcastic and dry. But he never seems to take it to an offensive level. In fact, this guy kept me sane at my school for a solid year. Might not have lasted so long there without him sharing my classroom. He probably has no idea.

Anything else? Well, there is a small white spec in the far corner of the right eye that I find a little annoying.
Other than that, the lighting here has produced two nice catch-lights in the pupils of the eyes, adding necessary sparkle to them. (the sparkle was already there...the camera just caught it!) And the illuminated background provides good separation between it and the subject, with no distracting shadows back there.
All in all, I think Gwen Juarez did a really great job and the result is a near perfect portrait. Kudos!
Wanna know something kinda neat? There are two guys in the world that look like this . . . this young man has an identical twin brother!

Who Wrote the Song "Precious Lord"?

Back in 1932, I was a fairly new husband. My wife, Nettie and I were living in a little apartment on Chicago 's south side. One hot August afternoon I had to go to St.. Louis where I was to be the featured soloist at a large revival meeting. I didn't want to go; Nettie was in the last month of pregnancy with our first child, but a lot of people were expecting me in St. Louis . I kissed Nettie goodbye, clattered downstairs to our Model A and, in a fresh Lake Michigan breeze, chugged out of Chicago on Route 66.

However, outside the city, I discovered that in my anxiety at leaving, I had forgotten my music case. I wheeled around and headed back.

I found Nettie sleeping peacefully. I hesitated by her bed; something was strongly telling me to stay. But eager to get on my way, and not wanting to disturb Nettie, I shrugged off the feeling and quietly slipped out of the room with my music.

The next night, in the steaming St. Louis heat, the crowd called on me to sing again and again. When I finally sat down, a messenger boy ran up with a Western Union telegram. I ripped open the envelope. Pasted on the yellow sheet were the words: YOUR WIFE JUST DIED.

People were happily singing and clapping around me, but I could hardly keep from crying out. I rushed to a phone and called home. All I could hear on the other end was "Nettie is dead. Nettie is dead.'"

When I got back, I learned that Nettie had given birth to a boy. I swung between grief and joy. Yet that same night, the baby died. I buried Nettie and our little boy together, in the same casket. Then I fell apart.

For days I closeted myself. I felt that God had done me an injustice. I didn't want to serve Him anymore or write gospel songs I just wanted to go back to that j azz world I once knew so well. But then, as I hunched alone in that dark apartment those first sad days, I thought back to the afternoon I went to St. Louis . Something kept telling me to stay with Nettie. Was that something God? Oh, if I had paid more attention to Him that day, I would have stayed and been with Nettie when she died.

From that moment on I vowed to listen more closely to Him. But still I was lost in grief. Everyone was kind to me, especially one friend. The following Saturday evening he took me up to Maloney's Poro College , a neighborhood music school. It was quiet; the late evening sun crept through the curtained windows.

I sat down at the piano, and my hands began to browse over the keys. Something happened to me then. I felt at peace. I felt as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a melody, once in my head they just seemed to fall into place: 'Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak, I am worn, through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light, take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.'

The Lord gave me these words and melody, He also healed my spirit. I learned that when we are in our deepest grief, when we feel farthest from God, this is when He is closest, and when we are most open to His restoring power.

And so I go on living for God willingly and joyfully, until that day comes when He will take me and gently lead me home.

-Thomas Dorsey





Thomas Andrew Dorsey was born in Villa Rica, Georgia, on 1 July 1899. He was a blues bandleader for singers including Ma Rainey, but after becoming a Christian he turned to writing gospel music, reportedly after undergoing a spiritual experience while hearing the hymn "I Do, Don't You?" at a Baptist convention. Across the course of his lifetime he penned more than a thousand gospel hymns, including "Say Amen," "Somebody," "Take My Hand" and "Peace in the Valley." He died in Chicago on 23 January 1993 of complications arising from Alzheimer's disease.

It is to be expected folks would confuse two musicians of the same name who were present on the music scene at approximately the same time. (Thomas A. Dorsey and Tommy Dorsey)
Beyond the difference in their genres of music, here's another way to tell the them apart: Tommy Dorsey the jazz musician of many popular hits was Caucasian, while Tommy A. Dorsey of gospel fame was African-American.

Just 4 Fun!

Why Susan Boyle Matters So Much

It’s not just because of her remarkable vocal talent.

See YouTube (embedding has been disabled at youtube - here is the link)

I found a Deacon Greg post and really liked it. It addresses our materialistic culture.

It’s a good reprimanding we all could stand to hear, in this society. Here is a part (edited) of what he says:

From all that we have learned, Susan has lived an obscure but important life. She has been a companionable and caring daughter. It’s people like her who are the unseen glue in society; the ones who day in and day out put themselves last. They make this country civilised and they deserve acknowledgment and respect.
Susan has been given respect because of her talent. She should always have received it because of the caliber of her character.

HT to  The Anchoress

For Auld Lang Syne

OK, a couple of questions come to mind whenever I sing this song.
What am I saying exactly? and . . . What language is it?

On New Year's Eve, we have probably all sung, "Auld Lang Syne." Isn't it funny how it's possible to be so familiar with a song and have no idea what it means? And wouldn't it be funny if it meant something like, "Eat More Brussel Sprouts"?

And what language is it?
It turns out that "Auld Lang Syne" is an very old Scottish song. Back in the 1700s Robert Burns is the person whose transcription of the song got the most attention, so the song is associated with him.
A good translation of the words "auld lang syne" is "times gone by." So we are basically saying, "We'll drink a cup of kindness yet for times gone by."

I like that! I like the song even more now. Happy New Year everyone.
Let's drink a cup of kindness yet for auld lang syne.

Straight No Chaser - Carol of the Bell

Straight No Chaser - Silent Night, Holy Night

Straight No Chaser - The 12 Days of Christmas (well, sort of)

A must . . . . saw this last year and couldn't wait to post it again! A Crocus in the Valley is of a like mind!

Matthew 9:36

Part of this Sunday's Gospel reading is the inspiration for one of the songs in our play, Acorns to Oaks! I am going to call all the kids and give them the heads up! I LOVE when the readings are familiar to the kids because they have sung them or acted them out!

Here is the part of the reading (Matthew 9:36) :

At the sight of the crowds, Jesus' heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest."

Here are some of the words from our song:
The harvest is planted but the workers are few.
And Lord, there are so many people who need to know you!
So here I am Lord, send me, send me!
Here I am, Lord, send me, send me!

Another passage reference is, of course: Isa.6:8

1. [8] And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."

Love and Prayers

A great day to take the time to "take a listen" . . . . Nick (and Jake:-) are part of this singing group.
Music Director: Dante Royer.

Open My Eyes, Lord - A Song for Prayerful Reflection

Open my eyes, Lord
I want to see your face
Open my eyes, Lord
Help me to see

Open my ears, Lord
I want to hear your voice
Open my eyes, Lord
Help me to hear



Open my heart, Lord
I want to love like you
Open my heart, Lord
Help me to love

And the first shall be last
and our eyes shall be opened
and we'll hear like never before.
And we'll speak in new ways
and we'll see God's face
in places we've never known.

sources: http://holyvocations.blogspot.com/2006/10/open-my-eyes-lord-song-for-prayerful.html
ASL : http://www.theinterpretersfriend.com/songs/opn-mi-iz.html