I will remember your intention at my choir's Saturday morning practice (Central Standard Time).

Read this just in time.
Done.

(Save the Liturgy, Save the World)

Thanks for asking and for praying EX. This is rather long. Sorry about that!

The day began at 10 with morning prayer based on the breviary and worked well as an introduction to the day.

I had two choir practises, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, since we are a choir. These were disappointing. Humility, Humility. I refused to let all this get to me, because this was not the main purpose of the retreat. It was to help the choir understand their role in the church.

Apart from the rehearsals, lunch and great snacks, we had a speaker, who was the centre of the retreat. Father Peter was fantastic! I was so thrilled with his talks. I'm not sure that those who are having problems with our "stuffed" masses came around so to speak, but I hope that they better understood their role in the mass.

In the first session Father quoted our Cardinal, whom many in the choir think is hip and charismatic. "The priesthood of Jesus Christ is too precious a gift for us to use it for our own purposes." Then he continued with Lumen Gentium 10: "The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit are consecrated as a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, that through all their Christian activities they may offer spiritual sacrifices and proclaim the marvels of Him who has called them out of darkenss into His wonderful light." The VOCATION of the parish choir is to SERVE the EUCHARISTIC celebration of the parish community.

The second session began with questions. At this point Father was bombarded with questions such as, "Why do we have to cut off our fun hymns with these boring propers?" "I'm a charismatic and I think what we sing is so mundane." "Why all the Latin?" "A lot of people do not like the new translation... it is difficult, awkward and pedantic." "Other churches don't do this, why do we have to?" etc. And these questions, though I've heard them before and tried to address them, were a good exercise. Father did not judge their statements, but simply listened. He calmly stated that if people were really unhappy, that perhaps they needed to look to another parish? He also asked them to write letters to the parish priest, rather than stewing about it. He asked them not to approach the priest after mass, or without an appointment, because having time set aside would allow him to be able to prepare for a meeting, especially if he had a letter in advance. And better yet, invite the poor padre for dinner and a glass of wine! He mentioned if choristers feel too much pressure and not enough time focussed on the mass, to attend another mass on the weekend or during the week for the spiritual nourishment they need. Sometimes when we are working, we cannot be nourished. This session ended with an examine of conscience, promoting growth in self-awareness and understanding our sins of pride, anger and envy, so we can conquer them. He was also available for confession.

Our last session was entitled Priesthood and Authority in the Contemporary Church. He went on to discuss the first and thirteenth rule of Ignatius Loyola's Sentire cum Ecclesia. In the end he revised the thirteenth rule in this way: To be selfless for the sake of Christ as Christ was selfless for my salvation. I must always hold that what I think is black is really white if the Eucharist that is given to me by the Church decides that, believing that in Jesus Christ and His True Presence in the Eucharist I will find the grace of the Holy Spirit who governs and directs us all for the salvation of our souls. I will believe this because the same God who gave us His Son continues to direct and govern the Eucharist. Sometimes God gives us something we don't like to make us stronger, to encourage us to grow. We don't always get what is pleasant. These trials must be offered up. If we follow what the church asks of me I will be rich enough and ask for nothing more.

I think that the choir was generally very happy with the day and all they learned. Perhaps they were not happy that they did not get permission to go charging to our pastor asking for the Glory and Praise to be used on a weekly basis again, but they will write their letters, speak to Father privately and attend another mass a week for nourishment. We will continue to pray for one another and I hope that they will begin to understand that their roles as choristers means work and obedience... just like the role of the priest!

It is astonishing the amount tutelage and patient formation that it takes to get choir members to understand what a real choir is and what is its liturgical role... and then wish to commit to it. Whose fault is it that so many think it means just showing up to 'sing in the choir', assuming that what is sung doesn't require too much effort; and, perish the thought that any sort of discipline would be necessary for musical growth!
After all: it's 'JUST for the glory of God', and... 'God doesn't care about these things'.

It sounds to me like you are doing everything right! I wish you well, and that your efforts will bear much fruit. If you have a beautiful music program, new people will come to be blessed by it.

canadash: I just now saw this post, but my prayers are with you and your choir for the fruits of this Day of Recollection.