Monthly Archives: March 2020

Passion Sunday (Fifth Sunday of Lent)

Posted on March 29, 2020 by marklangley

One unforeseen perk of being a parish music director is the ability to participate at Holy Mass during this strange period. I am grateful to my wife and daughters for providing the beautiful chant. In the future, I am hoping … Continue reading →

Posted in beauty, Music, Sacred Music, Sacrosanctum Consilium | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A Confusion about the Common Good

Posted on March 28, 2020 by marklangley

In the not too distant future, I am hoping that someone much brighter than I will perform the heavy philosophical lifting that it will take to state precisely what is wrong with the current approach that our Church is taking … Continue reading →

Posted in America, Aquinas, Common Good, liberal education, Modernists, philosophy, Socrates, The Mass | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

A Dialogue Concerning Large Discourse

Posted on March 25, 2020 by marklangley

Today we shall content ourselves with purely intellectual discourse. OX: Why? Lion: Because you and I, my dear Ox, both possess the ability for large discourse! And as we all know, reaching way back to the vestiges and remnants of … Continue reading →

Posted in enlightenment, Heraclitus, Hesiod, liberal education, Shakespeare, socratic dialogue, truth for its own sake, Wisdom | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Sadness and Anxiety With William Byrd

Posted on March 22, 2020 by marklangley

No better way to purge anxiety and sadness than through the music of Byrd!   Tristitia et anxietas occupaverunt interiora mea. Mœstum factum est cor meum in dolore, et contenebrati sunt oculi mei. Væ mihi, quia peccavi. Sed tu, Domine, … Continue reading →

Posted in beauty, Music, passions, William Byrd | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

On March 23, 1775 Patrick Henry made a famous speech. Would he repeat it today?

Posted on March 20, 2020 by marklangley

In the face of COVID-19, one wonders if Patrick Henry would have repeated today the sentiment that he uttered before the second Virginia convention on 23 March 1775. Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What … Continue reading →

Posted in America, classical education, Custom, enlightenment | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Samaritan Woman at Jacob’s Well: Who Were Those Five Husbands?

Posted on March 15, 2020 by marklangley

[I could not resist reposting this – the original may be found here with a number of great comments!] The Gospel for the third Sunday of Lent offers a special little gem for the classically minded church-goer. As Jesus is … Continue reading →

Posted in Augustine, Catena Aurea, classical education | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Learning in Virus Time

Posted on March 9, 2020 by marklangley

In a sermon delivered in the Fall of 1939 titled Learning in Wartime, C.S. Lewis asserts, every Christian who comes to a university must at all times face a question compared with which the questions raised by the war are … Continue reading →

Posted in catholic education, Christendom, classical education, education, Latin, Liberal Arts, liberal education | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments