“When we objectify human persons, we limit them unnecessarily, and we also impoverish our own opportunities to come to know them more deeply, thoroughly, and wholly […] how much more is this true when we are speaking of the Word-made-Flesh, made truly and substantially present again in the sacrament?”
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In this book, Reverend Craig Mueller is at once shepherd, mentor, companion, teacher, referee, and something of a Sherpa.
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“The organ in worship is the sign of Baal.”
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We always overlook scripture at our own peril. Perhaps it would be to our benefit to be informed by the texts of the entrance antiphons and their psalms as well as those of the Lectionary when doing our music planning, and realize we don’t always have to be driven only by the Lectionary texts.
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“Indeed, that is the charm about Christ, when all is said: he is just like a work of art. He does not really teach one anything, but by being brought into his presence, one becomes something.”
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On this feast of the archangels perhaps it would be more fruitful to set aside some silent space—today may be the day when God has sent a messenger.
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“Religion guides all the processes in our lives, without us even knowing it. It is true that religion has a very important role in my composition, but how it really works, I am not able to describe.”
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For any number of years now, I’ve thought of the responsorial psalm less and less as a response to the first reading, and more as the second of four proclamations of scripture. Therefore, it seems logical to me that we treat it as we treat the other three proclamations.
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As I prepared this talk, I also consulted with some of my hymn-text-writing colleagues. These are people who craft texts only, apart from music. I asked them questions along the lines of “why do you write hymn texts?” or “what value do you see in hymn texts?” and such. I don’t think it was a coincidence that there was a lot of resonance between their various responses, or that I was able to use their responses to sort my own perspectives together into six separate groups.
Read moreAs I looked at those centuries-old structures in Spain, built by religious folk whose gods had beaten another’s, I thought of the increasing number of razed or re-purposed church buildings in the U.S. and found myself wondering what might or might not be left of current structures in the year 2500. Who will be viewed as the conquered or conqueror? I don’t pretend to be a savvy prognosticator, but I do believe that history is beginning to be written…today.
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