www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology What's "Wrong" with "On Eagles Wings"

As per my post in
https://www.byzcath.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=264444#Post264444

The problem with "On Eagles Wings" is not the fact that it comes from a Pslam. It's multifold, and though I don't have time to make a good critique I'll put forward some of the problems with it. Liturgical music must be uttler Apollonarian; it is the prayer of the Church to God. It must express precise theology, in accord with the other prayers and the whole liturgical cycle of the Church. It's not personalistic: it's not about my individual feelings about God or my individual "relationship" with God. It's about the Church and the whole cycle of salvation history which we express in each particular day of the Church's Liturgy. It must integrate with the rest of the Liturgy, it must also reflect- even proclaim- orthodox theology, it must have a formal beauty to it that does not appeal to the emotions .

These characteristics are present not only in Byzantine Chant, but also in Gregorian Chant, in Slavic Chant, and in the better Western "liturgical music" of the past 700 years - albeit the relative freedom of the Western church has produced numerous works of "liturgical music" which are not worthy of the name over the past 700 years.

This is why in the Byzantine Church we have Christmas hymns like Romanos the Melodist's "Today the Virgin...", the Kontakion of the Nativity. The kontakion is not about the cute baby Jesus or the cold baby or anything like that, it proclaims instead that Jesus is the preeternal Word of God, born ineffably of a Virgin, and that the whole universe rejoices at the news - be they mighty Angels or be they lowly sheperds - which (as the dismissal hymn of the feast states) is a light amidst the darkness. There are many other hymns - including from the Western tradition - that express this, though in my personal opinion "Today the Virgin..." is among the best examples. That is of course why it's still sung after 1500 years.

"On Eagles Wings" is not at all like that. The fact that they used a pslam as a base text is good. However, the translation is HIGHLY personalistic, and the way the music is written greatly amplifies this. The music appeals directly to the senses and tries to get an emotional reaction from the listener. The whole point of the song is to make someone feel good, and this is the crux of why I don't think it's appropriate for church (besides the fact that I think it stylistically represents the worst of the so-called "folk music" of the 60s and 70s).



Finally, even if I dislike the "hymns" of the 1970s and 80s, it's also 100% true that it's the only hymnography that many people have heard for the past 40 years. Were some pastor to put me in charge of music at a Latin parish (or at least one Mass in a Latin parish), I'd go all out for the "restoration" of Gregorian chant: propers and ordinary, as well as chanted Matins and Vespers (as per the request of Vatican II). I'd also gradually introduce some of the older Latin hymns. But I'd also mix in "On Eagles Wings", "I will Raise You Up on the Last Day" and the like.

I think it'd be wrong to just throw out what your parishoners are used to because you dislike it.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Despite my opinion, there's nothing wrong if someone likes any of those kinds of songs. Sorry if there are typos, if it sounds pedantic, or if you can't follow a thought. Feel free to ask for further details if you like.


Markos

Self professed musical expert and Member of the Society for a Moratorium on the Music of Marty Haugen and David Haas
http://www.mgilleland.com/music/moratorium.htm

Yes, I know about that Haugen/Haas site. I am, as nearly everyone knows, Byzantine but an organist/music director in a RC parish of approximately 900 families. The former choir director used quite a bit of the 70s and 80s music. Interestingly, the first thing the congregation indicated when we surveyed them was - they hated the 70s and 80s music. It's been easier for me than for many since the congregation wants a restoration of traditional music. We are not all the way to great amounts of chant and the choir is certainly not capable at this point of the more difficult polyphony. However, we do what is possible and use the more traditional hymns. In time, we will get there.

Eagle's Wings and all the songs of that genre tend to subvert souls from the Church Militant to the Community Sentimental.

Furthermore the Catholic Church's authentic understanding of the Psalter is Christocentric. In Wings and other supposedly Psalm-based Novus Ordo ditties, Christ is notably absent.

This is one of the best, pithiest explanations I have ever heard. I am going to use it freely, if you don't mind.

Heretofore, I have always said that most of the 60s-70s-80s music simply does not bear the weight of the liturgy.

Strong agreement with Gabriel and Penthaetria.

My greatest objection is to the use of this ..umm, thing..
at funerals. We are there to pray God to grant mercy to a
sinner, "regarding not his sins deliberate or indeliberate"
as we say in the Panikhida. The Latin funerals I attend seem
to be celebrations of the lives of sinners with a facile and
mindless assumption that the deceased has been whisked off to
heaven "on eagle's wings", no matter what kind of a life they
led, whereas the best of us are in desparate need of God's
mercy. This cheats the dead, who need our prayers, and cheats us,
whom charity requires to pray for them, and who are also
thereby tempted to disregard the gravity of our own sins.

Maybe the Latins need to bring back the "Dies Irae" . It sure
makes the point.

[I'll do without the black vestments, however. Scared me to death
when I attended my first funeral at the age of seven. That was
my great-grandaunt Maggie, (born during the Civil War). If any of my relatives where whisked off to heaven, she was.]

Edmac

Do the Latins wear black vestments outside of Holy Week?

Alexandr

Alexandr,

If what you mean by "Latins" is Catholic priests who celebrate the Tridentine Recension of the ancient Roman Rite, the answer is yes; black vestments are also used for the Requiem Mass and on All Souls Day (November 2).

If you mean the Novus Ordo of Paul VI, Black as a liturgical color has been generally abandoned. Why do you ask?

By the way, I had the privilege to attend a Solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass last Saturday, November 17. The celebrant was His Excellency, Salvatore Cordileone, Auxiliary Bishop of San Diego. The Mass was for the repose of the soul of Father Hugh Dacre Barrett-Lennard (1917 - 2007), at the request of the Brothers of the Little Oratory of Saint Philip Neri. This was the first Solemn Pontifical Requiem Liturgy in San Diego in 45 years. It was very beautiful, and yes the vestments were black with gold embroidery.

We Catholics of the Byzantine Rite were officially represented. Hegumen Nicholas of Holy Resurrection Monastery and two of the monks were in the sanctuary.

At the reception which followed, Hegumen Nicholas told me that Bishop Salvatore had spent all of Holy Week at their monastery in the Mojave Desert, and that he was praying in the church more than the monks!

All told, it was a wonderful taste of the true communion of East and West, each fully respecting their own and the others' traditions.

Yeah, seeing that the psalms are in the Old Testament, I wonder why Christ isn't mentioned in those songs?

Personally I've never seen a Roman Catholic priest wear black. Before Vatican 2, they wore black at funerals as well. Now they wear white at funerals.
green red white purple rose
I think those are the four Roman Catholic vestment colors for a priest celebrating the current mass.

Alexandr:

Not even during Holy Week in the United States. Holy Week specifies red on Good Friday. The old custom of wearing purple until the entrance for the Paschal Vigil is also no longer observed; it's white fromt he start. Purple is the color until Holy Thursday's white.

While funerals can be white, purple, or black, no one wears black for funerals and one would be hard pressed to find a parish with a black set today.

BOB

Well, whatever said and done, I believe that the composers wrote their hymns (if you would want to call it that) with the best of intentions, but of course, sometimes the best of intentions may not exactly be driven by the realities or environment that should dictate how one writes a hymn.

Nevertheless, these songs can be used as personal prayers, personal devotions, or can be used as praise songs amongst small groups. These songs still have a devotional quality nonetheless and for as long as they bring focus to God, any attempt to discredit that must be discouraged. In addition to that, if someone were to compose a hymn true to the Byzantine tradition, we must welcome that as it all leads to the glory of God.

This is of course, true. I dearly love some of the "oldies" (ha-ha!) and find myself humming them as I go about my day. They do speak of a relationship with God; they do soothe or uplift the soul.

They serve well for private prayer, or small groups -- but they do not bear the weight of the liturgy.

Friends,

Being of the Latin Rite, and a member of a parish that regularly (though not exclusively) serves the Liturgy in the Extraordinary Form, in our parish on All Soul's (Nov 2), Mass was celebrated with black vestments and all the parts of the Mass , the Introit, the Sequence "Dies Irae", the Offertory and Communion antiphons, were chanted by the celebrant or by the choir/people, as appropriate. Because of the frequency of funerals, these used to be some of the most well-known of Latin chants in the Church up to the "reform" of the Liturgy, especially by lay people.

When the actual parts of the Mass/Liturgy itself are chanted, it clearly helps one to participate more actively, especially if there is a choir to carry the more difficult or less known parts.

Whatever else good or bad one can say about modernistic songs, it cannot be said that they are written as part of the Liturgy, or that they can serve as a modern substitute for what Gregorian or other bona-fide liturgical chant does.

For this reason, and speaking for myself alone, I find them always to be more of a distraction than a way to participate actively in the Mass. They are a kind of "voice-over" that prevents me from participating in the authentic prayers and actions. I find myself actively "resisting" such music. I never have the same reaction when a choir or choir and people chant the actual parts of the Mass. (I am aware that in Eastern (and Latin too, e.g., the "split" Sanctus/Benedictus at "High Mass") Liturgies often the choir/people chant or intone hymns that are also added-on to the Liturgical prayer itself; I think the difference is that immemorial usage has ensured that they are, in fact, appropriate to the moment, and not just what somebody has recently thought might sound nice.)

Best,
Michael

Here is a link to On Eagle's Wings [sweetmemoriessite.com]. It plays the song. Is it Veni Creator Spiritus? No. Is it what tens of millions of Catholics were brought up with? Yes.

And it's almost impossible for normal congregational singing