Rest, Inc.: It’s So Hot Right Now! Contemporary society is increasingly marked by a pervasive sense of burnout. We are more developed, advanced, healthy, and connected than ever, yet we are weary. The yoke of modernity appears hard, and its burden is heavy. In this exhaustion lies a hunger for the rest of the Living…
My Journey into Psalm Chanting (with the St. Bernard Breviary)
The St. Bernard Breviary offers a gentle introduction to chant, explaining why it is beneficial and giving a primer on how to get started. For parishioners with no previous experience in chant or musical education, it is a wonderful resource.
I Will Lift Up My Eyes: Reflections on the Midday Psalms
The meat of the Midday Prayer rests in its psalms. Four options can be read, though some prefer to read all of them daily.
Hymn Guide: How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place
“How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place” is a hymn of longing and spiritual ascent. It is a paraphrase of Psalm 84 and began in the ancient Hebrew practice of pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Let Us Keep the Feast: Reflections on the Pascha Nostrum
The world God made is a world of rhythm and rhyme. Seasons change and come again before leaving us once more. There is a predictable stability in the constant diversity that God has made, something C.S. Lewis once brought out in his masterpiece The Screwtape Letters. As his fictional demon once put it, God has…
Let Us Sing Unto the Lord: Reflections on the Venite
Augustinian monk-turned-Magisterial Reformer Martin Luther once called the Psalms a miniature Bible. It was remarked that a Christian could find his entire life experience on display in them. This has been found true throughout the ages, and it is one of the many reasons Archbishop Cranmer thought it fit that Christians should journey through the…
My Songs Extol Thy Name: Thomas Sternhold and English Psalmody
Thomas Sternhold is the founder of English psalmody and the inventor of the metrical form at the base of English hymnody. Little known except in histories of church music, Sternhold’s contribution is now better understood, thanks to the pioneering work of scholar Beth Quitslund. Sternhold is commemorated on August 23, or at least he would…
Jesus and Psalm 22: Sorrow and Satisfaction
When Jesus was crucified on His Cross, the last words He spoke before he died are extraordinary examples of what was in His heart. Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” This is one of the most passionate and intense moments in the entire Scripture—the Son of God crying out…
