Saturday, March 21, 2020

How Does a Laid-Off Organist Kill Time...

...besides potentially collecting unemployment pay?

I keep myself musically awake at all times.  Not only do I have to prepare for that day when the Bishop lifts the ban on public Masses and other celebrations within the church proper, I keep my composition skills awake as much as possible, too.  As some of you know, I'm in the midst of a large pet project.  It started out as Psalm 151, which was the Proper of the Mass set to music for Sundays and major feasts.  I've since been expanding it to The Christus Vincit Gradual, to also include weekdays (both ferial and sanctoral).  Some of the Responsorial Psalms and many of the Communion responsories you may have heard at Holy Mass at Sacred Heart are part of this ongoing project.

As I continue this project, I continue my prayers for the recovery of our fearless pastor, Father Bucci, for those suffering from the Corona Virus, and an eventual "return to normalcy", where one can once again go to Mass and get the full reception of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament, where one can once again go to a market and get the basic necessities in normal quantities and not have to worry about hoarders and black market salespeople snatching them all (toilet paper, particularly), and my return to full duty as your organist.  Most importantly, my prayers for you, the wonderful people at Sacred Heart, who, along with Father Bucci, have given me the best nine years of my church music career which spans well over 3-1/2 decades.

I'm proud to say my daughter Jessica has taken up poetry writing again, something she did very well when she was a teenager.  She asked me if I could set her most recent poem to music.  I sent her a sample of just myself on guitar.  She has more to add to the poem, but thus far, she likes what she's heard.  This is our first father/daughter musical venture.

FINALLY, I'm considering doing a video of the Stations of the Cross and possibly a Tuesday evening posting thereof onto the parish Facebook page, as well as my own Facebook page.  I have to find my home copy of the booklet - the same one we use at Sacred Heart.  Something to turn to on Tuesday evenings and Friday afternoons in lieu of being able to physically be present there.  I obviously can't do Holy Communion (I'm not a priest, nor a trained extraordinary minister of Holy Communion).

Quod scripsi, scripsi!
BMP