Mass the magnificent

This afternoon at 2:00PM a magnificent High Mass with orchestral accompaniment was celebrated at historic Our Lady of Assumption Church in Windsor, Ontario, in honor of the 25th anniversary of the ordination of Fr. Peter Hrystyk. Mr. Wassim Sarweh, who doubles as Music Director at St. Josaphat Church in Detroit, is also Music Director of the Assumption Church Tridentine Choir, which is accompanied by members of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. The Reverend Peter Hrystyk was celebrant. The Mass was preceded by J.S. Bach's "Air on the G String" as a Prelude. The Opening Hymn was "The King of Love My Shepherd Is." The Ordinaries of the Mass (the Kyrie , Gloria, Credo, Sancturs, and Agnus Dei) were from Schubert's Mass in G, with Mary Grivas, Basel Sarweh and Christian Caubet as soloists. The Offertory was Mozart's Regina Caeli, KV 276. Edward Elgar's Ave Verum and Jacques Arcadelt's Ave Maria were sung by soprano soloist Jackie Robitaille during Communion. The Propers were sung by Wassim Sarweh in his matchless style with his choir team. The Final Hymn, "That Eastertide With Joy Was Bright," and Postlude (Isfrid Kayser's Ouverture), was preceded by a glorious chanted Te Deum, that profound and most moving of hymns, the first time in my fifteen years as a Catholic that I have heard it sung in a Catholic church! What grave and solemn joy!