LO-FI LITURGY is a series of 21st century musical reflections that are firmly rooted in the tradition of the prophets, psalmists, troubadours, mystics and saints. The songs, like liturgical hymns, are prayers of praise (adoration), pleading on behalf of others (intercession) and complaint (lamentation). Yet, these songs are not intended for the sacred spaces of the Church’s sanctuary, choir or even one’s monastic cell, but simply to act as companions to contemplation in the desert, the wilderness, the stormy waters, and on the road to Emmaus.

These songs are not overly produced masterpieces strategically composed for public consumption or commercial gain. Instead, they are rough drafts of an ongoing unfinished work-in-progress that is true not only of the art but also of the artist himself. These songs are the reflections, visions, longings and aspirations of a soul trying to reason with the mind of Christ, see with the eyes of the Spirit, love with the heart of the Eternal Father, and simply do God’s Will.

These are not the songs of a salesman’s persuasive propaganda or a guru pontificating from the so-called rooftops. These are questions lived by an itinerant pilgrim on the Way, a crusader-martyr of the Church Militant, and a beggar begging for and sharing his bread. These are not pearls of a projected super-spirituality but crumbs of meditation from a religious life well-tried and the seeds of a fruitful contemplation – prayers rooted in the honesty required to confess one’s sins, the humility to even be heard by God, and the vulnerability (or “soul”) necessary to even make a good song.

These songs are incarnational, rooted in the human condition – the struggle of a soul wrestling with angels, imitating saints, making peace with others, and always growing and hoping to become like God. These songs are dialogical in that they are not the dogmatic dissertations from one who has figured it all out or sarcastic sofisms from one who has lost hope, but conversations of faith seeking understanding, sacrifices being offered, and love bearing the burdens of its lover.

These songs are universal (Catholic) in that they are written and performed, not from the island of self, the ghetto of the shunned, or the cult of exclusive, but in full communion with the Church, under the great cloud of witnesses who walked the Way of the Cross before us, and in solidarity with those who are lost in the world and trying to find their way home.

These are songs that people of faith as well as people of doubt can relate to – prayers that converse not only with heaven but also resound within one’s interior life loud enough for the listener to hear. In short, these are songs that, if even only by way of contrast, reflect the beauty of God’s Order – his Divine Truth, Holiness, Justice and most of all, his Divine Mercy.

“Lo-Fi Liturgy (Psalms, Hymns, Intercessions & Lamentations) Volume 1" was released 14 August 2012 (Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe) courtesy of MONKROCK.