Sung by the St. Ann Choir last Sunday at the noon Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas:
Waclaw z Szamotul, Ego sum pastor bonus
Jacobus Gallus, Stetit Jesus
Every time I read about some wretched parody of a Mass -- or just an ordinary Mass in an ordinary parish church, when both have been stripped of all reverence and beauty -- I get really grateful for what we have here in Palo Alto. For as long as it lasts.
In 1867, Matthew Arnold wrote "Dover Beach", a haunting poem evoking the "melancholy, long, withdrawing roar" of the Sea of Faith. As a boomer who finished Catholic elementary school in 1964 and then watched my Church falter, I've found the roar all too audible. So here I wait, listening for the whispers of that Sea's invincible return.
