First, the introit of the Mass at midnight from Westminster Cathedral, which I first saw on NLM. I have been listening to this over and over; it's just so hauntingly beautiful to me, and illustrates what reverence and beauty could be accomplished if we just let go of this practice of substituting the actual antiphons and texts of the Mass with hymns and songs.
Second, from a Facebook post of a very old friend, Ronnie James Dio singing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. I think that's the great Tony Iommi on guitar.
Not to mention the lovely fiddle backs that all the concelebrants are wearing.
ReplyDeleteFather Charles, the music is beautiful, as is the entire setting with the vestments, the high altar being used without an additional altar at the front of the nave, etc. Our worship would be greatly enhanced by emulating what they did in the London Cathedral.
ReplyDeleteDio is awesome. I really wish we could have a metal mass! Can't you just imagine the "Mosh of Peace?"
ReplyDeleteWhom shall we commission to write the metal Mass?
ReplyDeleteI imagine Slayer is out of the question.
ReplyDeleteIron Maiden. I can just hear the enterance hymn, "Run to the Pews."
I think a variation of "The Trooper" would work as the faithful leave to go to the parking lot.
I should paste in the email I got back from the New York Times reviewer who amused me no end by calling Slayer's music "unreasonable."
ReplyDeleteI would love to read that email.
ReplyDeleteI just remember their classic line from the song "Silent Scream," and I quote,
"Pain, suffrage toyed
life's little fragments destroyed"
I guess no one mentioned to them that suffrage wasn't about pain, it was about the right of women to vote.
Westminster Cathedral is a beautiful work of architecture. It evokes St Mark's in Venice with it's cupolas and mosaics in the interior. It is really out of place on Victoria Rd. But I think that was the point, as if to say, here is a slice of Rome in the heart of England--like it or not. Out of all the years I lived in London, I only once went to Westminster Abby, and that was during the annual Good Friday procession which begins at Westminster Cathedral and ends there. I wonder if this will continue after Anglicanorum Coetibus.
ReplyDeleteAnd congratulations, Father. You got a full 15 seconds out of me listening to heavy metal music: more than anyone has done since highschool. And this was primarily due to the fact that the singer's name was "Dio" : )