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: A Commentary 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: A Commentary 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: A Commentary 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…
The Psalm on the Cross: Learn More about Psalm 22, Christ’s Song of Sorrow and Victory
Psalm 22 is a pilgrimage from the depths of pain and suffering to the final proclamation of victory. Jesus knew the entire psalm by heart and understood the psalm as a prophetic depiction of his own death but also a prophetic declaration of hope and victory at the end. The Psalm on the Cross is…
