This Psalm Offering is a musical representation of the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt. When the Magi returned to their homes, each going their separate ways, King Herod was greatly angered. He, very much aware of the prophecy around the Messiah, was eager to kill the newborn Jesus. He ordered his soldiers to go to Bethlehem and slaughter all male children 3 years of age and younger. Melody A is Joseph, warned of Herod’s plans by an angel in a dream, quickly roused his young family to escape. Melody B is the Holy Family journeying through strange land to Egypt. Melody A returns as the Holy Family arrives in Egypt, safe from all harm.
I wrote this as a Christmas present for Sharon Olejnicak, a piano accompanist for St. Hubert. Sharon and her family were only parishioners of St. Hubert for a couple of years. By the time that Sharon was there, the number of “old St. Hubert families” began to dwindle and new families began to flood into the parish. Some put down roots and settled in the parish, others, like the Olejnicak family, would be only in the parish for a short period of time before job relocations would move them on to another place and another parish. I am very grateful for the time Sharon devoted to St. Hubert as a musician while she and her family were there.
Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
This Psalm Offering, with its march like melody, is a musical representation of the Magi journeying from faraway places to see the Messiah. Melody A is the Star they are following to lead them to the birthplace of the Messiah. The middle section, Melody B, is when they seek information from the Scribes and King Herod. Melody A returns to conclude in a majestic manner the Magi finally finding the stable and adoring the Christ Child.
I wrote this Psalm Offering as a Christmas present to Gwen Pearson. Gwen was the organist who accompanied the choir at St. Hubert. She, though Lutheran, was very generous with her time and her musical skills. She was a lovely woman, and a good musician. She used to love Central Lutheran Church in downtown Minneapolis and the organ concerts they use to present there. She loved the pipe organ and truly believed it to be the King of all instruments. A most faithful Lutheran who played more Catholic Masses than Lutheran services, may she rest in the eternal peace of God.
Scripture passage: When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod,behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.” After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.
This Psalm Offering is a musical representation of the Mary and Joseph presenting their infant son, Jesus, in the Temple. As the Lucan account of the story tells us, while there, the family encounters Simeon, who gives praise to God for having lived to see the birth of the Messiah, as he expresses in his great Canticle “Nunc Dimittis”. The Holy Family also encounters the prophetess, Anna.
Melody A, introduces the Holy Family arriving at the Temple. Melody B is Simeon and Anna viewing Jesus and talking with Mary. Melody A returns to conclude the music, as the Holy Family leaves the Temple and ponders what was told to them by Simeon.
I composed this Psalm Offering as a Christmas present for my wife, Ruthie. Though there is some dissonance within its harmonies, I consider it one of my most beautiful compositions. I literally poured out my soul into this music as a love song to my beautiful Ruth. The mysterious qualities she possesses, the beauty of her soul as much as that of her physical features, I tried to express in these simple notes and rhythm. There is none that can compare to my Ruth. She embodies for me all that is good and is the living expression of God to me.
When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,” in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
The shortest Psalm Offering of Opus 3 is a musical representation of the shepherds coming to see the new born, Jesus. The first melody, A, all in staccato, has almost a joyful sound of people skipping, running, bounding in a rush to see the Christ child. It segues to melody, B, as the shepherds delightfully look upon Mary, Joseph, and their newborn, son. Melody A returns more slowly and stately to conclude this Psalm Offering.
This Psalm Offering was a gift to Dr. Bob Conlin, a very dear friend of my sister, Mary Ruth, and my family. Were it not that Bob was homosexual and my sister heterosexual, they might have married. Indeed, they loved each other very much. Over the many years of my sister’s chronic illness, Bob would often show up, following one of my sister’s many surgeries, in the middle of the night to relieve my parents from their bedside vigil. He would keep vigil by her bedside to talk with her and comfort her if she were awake with pain, or to greet her in the morning when she would awaken. As my sister was in hospice, dying, as a family we discussed who we wanted to be with her in her last hours. The first name that came up was Bob’s name. He arrived about 2 hours before she died. I remember him sitting alongside her in her hospital bed and holding her head in his lap. She died in his arms. I am forever grateful for the love he extended to Mary Ruth, and to my family ever since.
Scripture passage: When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.
The angels announce the good news to the Shepherds in the field. (Artist unknown)
Psalm Offering 3 Opus 3
This Psalm Offering musically represents the choir of angels announcing the birth of Jesus to the shepherds watching over their flocks. There is a place in the closing measure of the music where the angelic proclamation is made. The angel motif is the opening three notes in the music and recurs throughout the Psalm Offering. Melody A announces that angel motif, which segues to the second melody B, representing the shepherds. There is a bridge consisting of the angel motif in varying key areas and time signatures finally restating all of melody A, with a dramatic flourish at the end.
This Psalm Offering was given to Helen Kerber, Elaine Roesser’s big sister. Helen was a good friend and confidant to me at St. Hubert. She had a wonderful, earthy sense to her and of the two sisters was the most active, musically, in the parish. She accompanied the Guitar Group, as it was known, throughout the time that I was the liturgical music director of the parish. She continued to play music for the parish until she was no longer able to do so for reasons of health. She passed away approximately one year ago. I returned to St. Hubert for her funeral and sang with the funeral choir. Her husband, Bernie, who died several year before Helen, was a carpenter. Bernie and his brother, Vernon, helped to install the windows in my dining room at home. Wonderful people the Kerbers. May they be forever blessed!
Scripture Passage: Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
This was originally a song I wrote for our wedding. A good friend of mine from the College of St. Catherine, Diane Strafelda, a voice major, sang it at our wedding. The text was taken from the Song of Songs, a book in the Hebrew scriptures, used quite often at weddings (” Set me as a seal upon your heart,as a seal upon your arm”).
The music has long been lost, but over the years I have remembered the primary melody of the song. This past April, I took that melody I had composed for our wedding and composed an entire new setting of it piano. In short, this is not what was sung at our wedding, but something much more expansive, much more beautiful.
Ruthie has long been the inspiration for much in my life. The love, the joy, the care, the compassion, the intelligence, the beauty of life I have experienced with Ruth is present in every pitch. She is my life’s breath and without her I would wither and die.
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The piano score for the new setting of our wedding song.Ruth and I on our 40th wedding anniversary.
“The Nativity”, a painting by John Singleton Copley
Psalm Offering 2, Opus 3
This Psalm Offering is a musical rendering of the Lucan phrase, “and Mary pondered all these things in her heart.” The recurring figure in the left hand is reminiscent of Chopin’s “Berceuse”, literally a lullaby. Within this gentle music I see Mary cradling her new born child to her breast, affecting that rocking back and forth movement that is inherent, it seems, to all mothers. The musical form of this Psalm Offering is 3 part, ABA form.
I wrote this Psalm Offering for Elaine Roesser. Elaine, and her sister, Helen, began playing music in church as children at St. Victoria Church in Victoria, Minnesota, a few miles west of Chanhassen. They continued to play Masses throughout their entire life. Elaine married Ron Roesser, from Chanhassen, and has lived and raised her family there. She is a lovely woman, with a very sharp mind (she worked at the Chanhassen Bank for a very long time), and a good friend. Ron and Elaine have pretty much adopted Kenny Smith as a member of their family.
Scripture passage: Luke 2:19
And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.
This, the longest of the Opus 3 Psalm Offerings, is a musical retelling of four Christmas stories. The opening melody, A, is the angel Gabriel announcing to Mary that if she wills it, she will be the mother of the Messiah. The second melody, B, is when the now pregnant Mary visits her elderly and very pregnant cousin, Elizabeth. It is in this meeting that Mary proclaims her great Canticle, the Magnificat. The slower third melody represents the journey of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem for the census, attempting to find a place to stay. The music ends with a juxtaposition of melody B in the right hand over melody A, representing the birth of Jesus in the stable.
I wrote this Psalm Offering for Ken Smith. I got to know Kenny when he was the faith formation director at St. Hubert. Much earlier in his life, Kenny was an educator at St. Hubert School, later becoming principal of the school. He left education for a while, but returned in that capacity as faith formation director. He later went on to be the faith formation director at the Church of St. Stephen, when I had the honor of working with him again, but this time, as parish life administrator, I was his boss. He is a gentle, kind man. I often thought of Kenny as more Catholic than the Pope. He has very strong political convictions, largely progressive (like me), and will share those with any who oppose those convictions.
Scripture: Luke 1: 26-38
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. (NAB)
Here I am at the old St. Hubert, directing music from the piano.
In the Catholic Tradition, Christmas Day is more than just the 25th of December. Time is suspended, and 8 days become 1 day. In other words, the Solemnity of Christmas begins on the 25th of December and ends on January 1st. We call this the “octave of Christmas.” In music, an octave is an interval of 8 pitches, and, when one thinks of the overtones contained within one pitch, the idea of 8 days equaling 1 day is not so farfetched. The following music over these 8 days are my musical celebration of the Octave of Christmas, composed by me in 1991 as Christmas gifts for the significant people in my life at that time.
Dr. Maurice A. Jones, seating atop of his wooden stool in the Chorale’s rehearsal hall at the College of St. Catherine.
I have related this story a number of times. I have always felt I have never quite capture the essence of what I experienced, and, probably will not at this, my current attempt.
At the end of the Fall semester, the last rehearsal of the Chorale of the College of St. Catherine, was always magical, at least for me. The Christmas concert having been performed, we came into the rehearsal hall relaxed and in good spirits. The rehearsal hall was set up very simply. Along one of the walls was a large coffee urn filled with hot chocolate. Alongside the urn was a basket filled with small candy canes. And, next to the basket were napkins and Styrofoam cups. In the middle of the hall was the wooden stool utilized so often by our director, Dr. Maurice Jones.
We would get our cup full of hot chocolate, a couple of napkins, insert the candy cane into the hot chocolate and sit on the floor around the wooden stool. Maurie sat down, and opened his copy of Dicken’s Christmas Carol. As we sipped our hot chocolate and ate whatever food we may have brought with us for lunch (many of us were “brown baggers”), he would launch into a dramatic reading of the Christmas Carol.
Dr. Jones in one of his dramatic roles in a stage production in the Twin Cities.
It should be noted that Maurie Jones was not only an excellent choir director and professor of music, he was an outstanding actor, well known in the Twin City for his acting skills. His face and his voice were animated as he began the story, “MARLEY was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”* Because our rehearsal time was only an hour long, Maurie would read up to the part in which the Ghost of Christmas Past visited Scrooge, and then, segue to Scrooge awakening Christmas morning, following his grim visit from the Ghost of Christmas Future, and read to the conclusion of the story.
Many of us would have been happy to sit all afternoon to hear the entirety of the story, but since this occurred at the end of the semester and we all had finals in the rest of our classes, we reluctantly left the rehearsal hall, albeit, far better than we had entered, and filled with anticipation for Christmas.
In that short hour, sitting on the floor sipping hot chocolate and eating cookies, transfixed and enthralled by the storytelling skills of Dr. Jones, all of us “adults” were transported back to the time of our childhood when our parents would similarly read to us from the story books we had in our little libraries. I remembered well my dad reading to me while we sat on the couch in our living room. That short hour with Maurie Jones and Charles Dickens was, for lack of better words, a “magical Christmas moment.” One could say that if the Ghost of Christmas Past came visiting me, this moment in time would be one to which I would be whisked back.
What does this Christmas memory have to do with the Incarnation of Jesus?
Advent is a time, in the parlance of Charles Dickens and his story about Scrooge, in which we get a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Past and the Ghost of Christmas Future.
In Advent, we look to the future coming of Jesus, the time when Jesus will come again and all hunger, all poverty, and all the insufferable things that human beings do to one another will cease. This moment we envision will be truly “magical”, when God’s love will be made manifest and true peace, contentment, and love will be experienced by all. As we anticipate the second coming of Jesus, we remember the time in history when God was made manifest in human history, the time in which God put on, crawled into, so to speak, human flesh and bone in the person of Jesus, God incarnate.
What of the Ghost of Christmas Present? In whom or in what do we experience the Incarnation of Jesus? This is where the onus of making Jesus Incarnate falls not upon some past event or future event of Jesus, but upon us. The only one who can make Jesus Incarnate in the present is our own selves.
As an expectant mother, the presence of Jesus has been gestating within us for the past 4 weeks. On Christmas we must give birth, must make Incarnate, the presence of Jesus. As Jesus “put on the skin of humanity” at his Incarnation, we, at Christmas (and, for that matter all other days) must “put on the skin of Jesus” and within ourselves make his presence known to all people. In the imagery of the Gospel, we must enflesh ourselves with Jesus Christ.
After all these many years, 44 years to be exact, following my initial experience of Dr. Jones retelling of Dicken’s Christmas Carol in the rehearsal room of the Chorale at the College of St. Catherine, I finally begin to appreciate the significance of the event. In Maurie’s own person, he embodied Jesus the master storyteller enthralling people with his words, his stories and parables leading people closer to the God who created them. Maurie in the Present of that time, made Christ manifest, not in some elaborate way with all sorts of storytelling pyrotechnics and CGI, but in the simplicity of a bare rehearsal hall, a coffee urn full of hot chocolate, a basket of candy canes, a wooden stool, and, a well worn copy of Dicken’s Christmas Carol.
If the Ghost of Christmas Past would visit all the people who have known us, would they find within their relationship with us at that time, the presence of Jesus Christ? If not, now is the time in which we must, like Scrooge in the story, begin to Incarnate the presence of Jesus Christ to those we know, so that Christ’s presence made be manifest also when the Ghost of Christmas Future comes a-knocking.
* Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol (p. 1). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.
