Dark Night of the Soul My Monday Music selections are usually compositions from the treasury of Catholic sacred music, some of them centuries old. There are still some composers even today, however, who are composing music worthy of that tradition. A couple months ago I posted a setting to the “Te Deum” by Pedro Camacho. … Continue reading ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ by Ola Gjeilo

St. Monica softened Augustine’s heart, and prepared the ground to receive the seeds of his conversion, but she herself was not able to plant those seeds: she could not convince her son to change his life.

First of all, there is simply no way for a believing Christian to get around the reality of Hell. Jesus Christ himself is quite explicit about it, as we saw above. The Church has taught it as a foundational doctrine from the very beginning.

Last month we heard Alessandro Scarlatti’s magnificent Exsultante Deo. Today we have anequally inspiring Te Deum from his son, Domenico Scarlatti (1685 – 1757).  This apple didn’t far fall at all.

When we think of Beethoven, Sacred Music might not be the first thing that comes to mind . . . but what he did compose was, as we might expect, moving, powerful, and simply beautiful.

In the end, he gave the ultimate gift: his own life.  When his jailers chose ten men at random to be starved to death in retaliation for an escape, St. Maximilian, who had not been chosen, volunteered to take the place of one of the ten. 

Spiritual Warfare   The concept of spiritual warfare reminds me of a quote widely attributed to Leon Trotsky. To wit: “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” Now, there’s no evidence that the old Bolshevik actually said it, but it’s true. There’s a battle raging, and we’re all part of … Continue reading Spiritual Warfare, the Chain of Command, and St. Equitius

But this article isn’t about China or the hand-slapping incident. It’s my first response to Traditionis Custodes, Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio restricting the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM). Interestingly, I think my observations at that time still apply. Five years later TC does not seem to have brought the extinction of the old liturgy any nearer.