Online Edition:
December 2011 – January 2012
Vol. XVII, No. 9
Table of Contents
Singing Angels — from the Ghent Altarpiece (1432), oil on panel. Jan van Eyck (ca 1390-1441).
Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium.
O come, let us sing to the LORD;
Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation!
Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise! — Psalm 95:1-2
News & Views — Restoring the Words, Beauty, and Truth | Symposium on the Language of Liturgy | Musica Sacra Saint Louis Conference | 2012 SCL Conference: Liturgy and Asceticism | Holy Communion in Both Kinds | Vespers in Manhattan: Catholic Artists Society | Adoremus on EWTN
USCCB November meeting report: Bishops Address Religious Liberty Issues, Liturgy, at 2011 Plenary — by Helen Hull Hitchcock
Venite Adoremus — Fitting Music for the New Translation of the Mass — by Dan Burke
Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the Bishops from the United States of America on their Ad Limina Visit — "We Ourselves are the First to Need Re-evangelization
Translations and Controversies — by Helen Hull Hitchcock
Readers’ Forum — Manipulation of the Words of the Mass | Liturgical Disputes? | Rubrics for the Congregation | Consuming Precious Blood | More on Applause at Mass | A Few More Questions on Translation | Music at Mass and the Use of Instruments
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Pope Benedict XVI, Wednesday Audience, December 7, 2011 —
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened…”
In Matthew’s Gospel … we encounter one of Jesus’ most moving pleas: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” [Mt 11:28-30]. Jesus asks that we go to Him, the true wisdom, to the one who is “meek and humble of heart”; He proposes His “yoke”, the path of evangelical wisdom, which is neither a doctrine to learn nor an ethical proposal, but rather a Person to follow: He Himself, the only begotten Son, in perfect communion with the Father.
We also can address God with the confidence of sons and daughters, calling Him Father when we pray. But we have to keep the heart of a child, the heart of those “poor in spirit”, in order to recognize that we are not self-sufficient … that we need God, that we have to seek Him, listen to Him, speak to Him.
Prayer opens us to receiving the gift of God, His wisdom who is Jesus Himself, in order to accept the will of the Father in our lives and to find consolation in the weariness of our journey.
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