Bishop Athanasius Schneider: A quiet voice of reason in a world of noisy insanity.

One of the most memorable scenes (at least for me) in C.S. Lewis's famous book, The Scewtape Letters, occurs when the senior devil writes this to his apprentice, Wormwood:

My dear Wormwood,

So! Your man is in love — and in the worst kind he could possibly have fallen into — and with a girl who does not even appear in the report you sent me..... I have looked up this girl’s dossier and am horrified at what I find. Not only a Christian but such a Christian — a vile, sneaking, simpering, demure, monosyllabic, mouse-like, watery, insignificant, virginal, bread-and-butter miss.The little brute. She makes me vomit. She stinks and scalds through the very pages of the dossier. It drives me mad, the way the world has worsened. We’d have had her to the arena in the old days. That’s what her sort is made for. Not that she’d do much good there, either. A two-faced little cheat (I know the sort) who looks as if she’d faint at the sight of blood and then dies with a smile. A cheat every way. Looks as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth and yet has a satirical wit. The sort of creature who’d find ME funny! Filthy insipid little prude....the very house she lives in is one that he ought never to have entered?...The whole house and garden is one vast obscenity. It bears a sickening resemblance to the description one human writer made of Heaven; “the regions where there is only life and therefore all that is not music is silence”.

Something Beautiful for God: Monks Singing Gregorian Chant

Isn't this a little bit of heaven here on earth? It puts you in touch with the eternal.

I actually feel a little monastic today because we've been playing with our bees and many monasteries keep bees. In fact, during the Middle Ages, many monks made mead, a drink brewed from honey If you want to get a feel for our little beekeeping operation check out the bee page at Camp Kreitzer and my latest post on bee managment. Maybe when the honey harvest is complete we'll try our hand at making some mead.

Gregorian Chant for Advent

Fr. Z has the literal and poetic translation on his website. Here's a small taste:

Creator of the starry height,
Thy people’s everlasting light,
Jesu, Redeemer, save us all,
Hear thou thy servants when they call. 

Thou, sorrowing at the helpless cry
Of all creation doomed to die,
Didst save our lost and guilty race
By healing gifts of heavenly grace.

Isn't it lovely?  Now don't you wish your parish would do some Gregorian Chant? 

Meditation for Sunday: Give Glory to God!

Looks like some sanity may be returning to our Sunday worship when the new translation goes into effect at the beginning of Advent. Here is the new ICEL translation of the Gloria in Gregorian Chant. Sure beats the tambourine and foot tapping modern versions that would be more appropriate for the music hall dance concert. And Gregorian Chant is easy. I was singing it in the choir when I was in fourth grade. So, please, no more about how it will discourage participation. It brings dignity and ceremony back into our worship. Shouldn't the worship of God be different than our date-night entertainment?

Praised be Jesus Christ! Both now and forever.