Praise Choruses

Once there was a man who had been away from the Church for many years. Even though his wife said she was not ready to return, he decided it was time for him to go. The last time they had been to Mass was in the early 1960's and it was the Latin Mass only at the time. He picked the 11am Mass on Sunday and headed back to the same parish that he had last been to many years before. When he came home his wife asked him how it was.

"Well," said the man, "I guess it was ok; quite different. There was no chanting."

"It was a said Mass?" his wife asked.

"No," he said, "they sang, but they sang something called praise choruses."

"Praise choruses," said his wife, "what's that?"

"Oh, they’re not like what I remember. They’re sort of like Gregorian chant, only really different," said the man.

"Well, what’s the difference?" asked the wife.

The man said, "Well, it’s like this. If I were to say to you, 'Martha, the cows have gone into the corn,' well that would be a chant. If on the other hand I were to say to you, 'Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS, are in the corn, corn, corn, they're in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, corn, corn. Yes, they are in the corn. Aaayyyy-men!' Well, that would be a praise chorus."

"I'm still not ready to go back", his wife said.

Although, this story is just made up, there is truth in it; a truth that is crucial to what it means to honor God. Make sure you get it; if not, please contact me.