An Aid To Memory

One of my biggest complaints about Catholic worship in America is the slipshod way in which the novus ordo Mass has been implemented. For one, the English translation is unfaithful to the dignified Latin. Second, and my concern here, is the music many parishes choose for the Mass. While there are great contemporary hymns, much of what is sung is theologically thin and musically more suited to sitting around a campfire (and even then, why ruin a good campfire?). The Eastern Catholics and Orthodox haven’t been too affected by musical trendiness.  Eastern Christians haven’t lost their musical heritage, and Pope Benedict XVI is trying hard to assure that we in the west don’t lost ours either.

Here is a link to some great Eastern Catholic music: Choir Chant of the Byzantine Catholic Church in MP3.  The language is Church Slavonic, Slovak, and other languages, but simply hearing the music alone transports me heavenward. If it is possible to hear a preview of the heavenly chorus, this is it.

Image from: http://members.aol.com/louisav/windowstoheaven.html

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 6th, 2005 at 11:14 am and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.