December 31 - B.V. Mary, Mother of God, Evening Prayer I

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You may have caught Vespers for Mary, Mother of God with Pope Benedict XVI at St. Peter's Basilica on EWTN.  If so, you probably noticed a striking similarity between my recording & the EWTN broadcast, notably that the texts were largely the same.

Looking forward to Extraordinary From Mass at Holy Ghost in Knoxville at 1:30pm tomorrow.

Wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy, & Holy New Year!
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December 27 - St. John the Apostle

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I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmastide!  

Mercifully, this may be one of the last postings of Vespers.  It just takes too much time to record, edit, & post these videos.  If I could figure out how to stream it live, that might work.  We'll see.

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Evening Prayer I for Sunday IV of Advent

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I recorded Saturday Evening prayer (actually first Vespers for Sunday) ahead of time, but now when I try to edit the file, MovieMaker wants to delete parts of it at random.  Totally untenable, especially when I need to spend that time working on the Propers for today's Mass.  Sorry, may can fix it later.  God bless.
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Week III of Advent - Friday, Dec 21

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This evening's Gospel "O" Antiphon:

O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice; come, shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Still a little clogged up.  Apologies.
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Week III of Advent - Thursday, Dec 20

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Tonight's O Antiphon:

O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel controlling at your will the gate of heaven; come, break down teh prison walls of death for those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death; and lead your captive people  into freedom.

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Week III of Advent - Wednesday, Dec 19

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This evening's "O" Antiphon:

O Flower of Jesse's Stem, you have been raised up as a sign for all people; kings stand silent in your presence; the nations bow down in worship before you.  Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.
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Week III of Advent - Tuesday, Dec 18

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This evening's "O" Antiphon:

O sacred Lord of ancient Israel, who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush, who gave him the holy Law on Sinai Mountain; come, stretch out your mighty hand and set us free.
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Week III of Advent - Monday, Dec 17

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I'm posting yesterdays prayers late - been a crazy past week or so, plus I'm still stopped up from my cold.  Yes, I screwed up the Psalm antiphons.  I actually did look for the special antiphons, but somehow they eluded me.  Here are the correct ones:

Antiphon I - The Lord, the ruler over the kings of the earth, will come; blessed are they who are ready to go and welcome him.

Antiphon II - Sing a new song to the Lord; proclaim his praises to the ends of the earth.

Antiphon III - When the Son of Man comes to earth, do you think he will find faith in men's hearts?

Also, Monday began the 'O Antiphon' countdown.  For Dec 17th, the Gospel Antiphon is:

O Wisdom, O holy Word of God, you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care.  Come and show your people the way to salvation.

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Week II of Advent - Friday

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Week II of Advent - Thursday

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Our Lady's image still on display from last night's Guadalupe celebration.  Tried to capture all the flowers surrounding it on the floor, but couldn't get them in the frame.  Still fighting the cold, but maybe have turned the corner.  "Become a saint!"
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Week II of Advent - Wednesday

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I actually started to sing morning prayer, then realized my mistake & restarted evening prayer.  Finally, I cut up the recording & stitched it all back together, so pardon if there are some errors.  God bless.
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Week II of Advent - Tuesday

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Singing totally impossible yesterday. Hopefully, can get back on track for the rest of Advent.

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2nd Sunday of Advent - Evening Prayer II

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Had a few minutes after youth group to record evening prayer.  Still sick, so had to edit out all the coughing. Sorry, no titles.  Hope you are having a blessed Advent.

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Immaculate Conception - Evening Prayer II

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At the end of the video is a slide show assembled from images of Our Lady I took at the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. a few years back.
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Immaculate Conception - Evening Prayer I

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Sick as a dog, but happy as a clam - I love Our Lady's feast days!  My apologies to Kevin Allen for taking his lovely 3-voice motet and, well, doing what I did to it.

Week I of Advent - Thursday

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I know it's St. Nicholas day, & I was tempted to post Springsteen's Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town instead, but I just decided to sing the straight-up evening prayer (if your generosity will permit this to be called singing).  If you consider the real St. Nick, you could add And He's Pissed!  At least if you happen to be an Arian heretic.  You're not, are you?  Plenty of them still around.

If you fast-forward, you can really see the dramatic light changes in the chapel.  In full disclosure, this was not recorded in the chapel; I just dubbed the audio over the video.  Still pretty cool, though.

Week I of Advent - Wednesday

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No time to add labels tonight.  Also, not sure why the canticle cut off early.

I may have to go offline while I fight this cold. It's starting to whip me.  I know: "Offer it up!"
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Week I of Advent - Tuesday

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Coming down with a cold, I think.

Week I of Advent - Monday

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Sorry for not posting Evening Prayer II from yesterday.  Hopefully you caught Vespers with Papa Ben on EWTN.  I added the words to the Marian hymn Alma Redemptoris Mater in both Latin & English.

Week I of Advent - Sunday Evening Prayer I

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I have to apologize - my "singing" really couldn't be any worse; but as my kind pastor says, "So long as God is praised."  The background photos are of Holy Ghost church in Knoxville, Tennessee, where the schola sang for an Extraordinary Form Nuptial Mass this afternoon.
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Week II - Friday

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Tomorrow evening, the Church begins using the lovely Marian hymn Alma Redemptoris Mater.  Be sure to catch Vespers from St. Peter's with Pope Benedict tomorrow at noon (repeat at 6pm) on EWTN (program in Latin/Italian/English HERE - fascinating!)

"Become a saint!"
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Week II - Thursday

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Penultimate evening of "Ordinary Time."

Week II - Wednesday

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This is one of several videos lately that has refused to upload via the "Insert a video" button for no apparent reason.  It seems that using the "Insert image" button allows you to upload a video, too, via a different process.  Seems to work.

Week II - Tuesday

Week II - Monday

Christ the King - Evening Prayer II

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Sorry, folks - not been able to keep up this past week.  Unfortunately, the battery went dead shortly into this recording.  I re-recorded the propers myself and patched in the ordinary from last week.  A bit of a patchwork mess - but at least y'all get to hear some of Ericka's lovely voice.  God bless.
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St. Cecilia

In honor of my beloved friends, the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville.  Sorry for the (even) poor(er) singing - could barely get a sound out without coughing today.

Week I - Wednesday

Though today is actually the memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I have sung the regular office for Wednesday of Week I.  The hymn, O Sanctisima, is my tribute today to the Blessed Mother.

Week I - Tuesday

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Sorry this is so late, Folks.  The video absolutely refused to upload last night.  God Bless.

"Become a saint!"
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Week I - Monday

33rd Sunday - Evening Prayer II

A little treat - I asked a few of my Knoxville Latin Mass Schola colleagues, Ericka & Seminarian Joseph, to stay after Mass & sing Vespers with me.  Honestly, we aren't very used to singing chant in English, & we threw this together at the last second, so please pardon our missteps.  I have to admit, I love the organ with the Salve Regina.  Perhaps we will try this again soon.  God bless.

"Become a saint!"

33rd Sunday - Evening Prayer I

I had some problems with the recording toward the end - had to re-record later & splice it in.  My apologies for any distraction.

"Become a saint!"

Week IV - Friday

Week IV - Thursday

Week IV - Wednesday

Week IV - Tuesday

Introduction

Praised be Jesus Christ & his virgin Mother!

On this site, I will post recordings of sung Vespers, according to the USCCB-approved version of the Liturgy of the Hours (single volume).  I'm sure I will also post other information about LOH as it comes along & almost certainly a few thoughts of my own about this most ancient form of Christian prayer.

I will post links to the recordings in some ordered & hopefully easy-to-navigate way in the side bar. I will try to stick to the basic 4 week cycle, and not post any recordings of saints days or other options (though I might), but I certainly will for solemnities & other major feasts.  I will also include the seasonal variants for Advent, Christmastide, Lent, etc. as best as I am able.

I use the St. Meinrad Psalm tones, nos. 2, 1, & 6, in that order for the Psalmody.  I generally use standard psalm tones for the antiphons, though occassionally I will write/make up a new one.  Ditto for the Intercession response.  I may occasionally sing the invocation & the Magnificat in Latin.  I will almost always sing the Lord's Prayer in Latin.  If you're Catholic, you're supposed to know this.

Note that these are "live" recordings, so there is quite a bit of improvisation required & not everything goes smoothly.  Further, I am not a professional singer by any stretch, so missed notes & stumbles of awkwardly-worded Psalm verses are the norm.  I don't always know or like the recommended hymn for a particular day, so I take a lot of liberty in my choice of hymns.  I will add notes of subtitles of what I'm singing as I'm able.

I first discussed having sung Vespers with my pastor at my parish of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Lenoir City, Tennessee about 2 years ago.  At the time, I was trying to keep alive a fledgling chant group; & my hope was that this group would sing evening prayer regularly.  As it turned out, the group dissolved & I began singing Vespers myself shortly after Easter in 2010.  It has been quite an experience, & I have no intention to stop.  The published times are Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday from 5:30 to 5:45pm, if you wish to join.

Hopefully, this will be of use to some of you, particularly if you are new to the Liturgy of the Hours or to singing chant.  You may also find the site divineoffice.org very useful, though what they post may not always match what I sing, due to all kinds of permitted variations.  You are free to comment or make suggestions about the format or content.  

"Become a saint!"