Gregorian Chant: The Eternal Song http://www.communityofjesus.org/?p=4088117

Gregorian Chant: The Eternal Song
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By Cantor Prayer For All Yesterday, November 2nd, was the Feast of All Souls. I have always found the Divine Offices for this feast to be mystifying and moving. Unlike the Feast of All Saints, which is an extraordinarily elaborate celebration, the chants for the Feast of All Souls are quite simple. In fact, the chants for this feast day bear considerable resemblance to the Divine Office chants of Good Friday. [ 188 more words. ]

By Cantor

Prayer For All

Yesterday, November 2nd, was the Feast of All Souls.  I have always found the Divine Offices for this feast to be mystifying and moving. Unlike the Feast of All Saints, which is an extraordinarily elaborate celebration, the chants for the Feast of All Souls are quite simple. In fact, the chants for this feast day bear considerable resemblance to the Divine Office chants of Good Friday. On these two days, there are no opening prayers, no doxology verse at the ends of the psalms, and no closing sentences. The services begin in silence without a signal from the Superior of the monastery, and there are no opening sentences which are common to all other other Divine Offices. In addition, antiphons are often completely removed.

That which remains is the psalmody, the scripture readings, the confession and the Lord’s Prayer. Only that which is of most significance — the true heart of the Divine Office — remains in place. How appropriate and inspired that the Church Fathers saw fit to relate the Divine Office of the day when Jesus himself bore the sins of everyone to the Divine Office of remembrance for all souls! It is also a timely marker of the coming of Advent, only four weeks following this feast, that Jesus came for all mankind. And finally, we are  reminded that these chants — these prayers — are truly for all of us.

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Prayer for All Saints:
Angels, Archangels,
Thrones, Dominions,
Principalities, Powers,
heavenly Virtues,
Cherubim and Seraphim;
all Saints of God,
holy men and women,
and especially my patrons:
intercede for me
that I may be worthy
to offer this Sacrifice to almighty God,
to the praise and glory of His name,
for my own welfare
and also that of all His holy Church. Amen.
— From the Roman Missal
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November 2 Echoes of Eternity
And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said unto her, “Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.”
Luke 13:12
Take this day as it comes, as My gift to you and those you love. They are Mine, and My love for them is greater than yours. I know their inmost thoughts and their deepest wounds. I know where they have hardened themselves against further hurt. I am the Lord who heals. I am the repairer of breaches—the builder of ruins. Just as the woman was bound and bent with “the spirit of infirmity” for eighteen years, and could not walk straight, so My children become bound with troublesome spirits of unforgiveness and hurt, and remain crippled until My freeing touch releases them to new life. Do not be surprised at My goodness. Do not blink at the way I achieve My purpose. Trust in Me, O ye of little faith, that My promises will be fulfilled. Take this day as it comes. Rejoice, trust, hope—in Me.

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November 1 Echoes of Eternity
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Romans 8:1
Know this, My child, there is no condemnation to those whose trust is in Me. My righteousness covers the wrongness that belongs to your old nature. My sacrifice of Myself is your “ticket” to heaven— not any rightness of your own. You still flinch and draw back when confronted with the “badness” of what your human nature is without My intervening grace. You still struggle to find evidence of “goodness” in yourself, and this becomes bondage instead of freedom.
Relax and let go. I am still with you. Do not try to reason everything out, but trust in My mercy.