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Think Latin is too hard to learn???        Think again!!!    

All throughout history, Catholics (many of whom lacked the benefit of any real education) have participated in the beautiful chants of the Sacred Liturgy for nearly two millennia in the Church's official tongue: Latin.

While many try to excuse themselves from participating at Mass when Latin is employed, doing so under the pretext that Latin is too difficult to learn, the witness of history shows this to be nothing more an excuse. 

With the assistance of technology, now it's easier than ever to learn how to chant, and chant well!, in Latin. All a person needs is time, effort, and love . . . and internet access (which you obviously have since you're reading this).

SJoA wishes to assist in increasing everyone's fidelity to Vatican II, for the Council taught very clearly that 1.) Latin must be maintained at Mass and 2.) that the laity are more than capable of learning how to recite and chant the prayers of the Mass in Latin. 

Here are Vatican II's teachings on Latin at Mass:

• "The use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites" (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 36.1).

• "Steps should be taken so that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them" (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 54).

• "The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services" (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 116.1).

So don't buy into the myth that "Vatican II got rid of Latin," and don't succumb to the error that Latin is too hard for you. And, by all means, don't be closed off to Latin anymore if you have been in the past. Be open . . . be open to beauty, to truth, to goodness . . . to a fuller expression of Catholicism . . . to a new way of life in the Lord. 

As St. Augustine once wrote:

"Sing to the Lord a new song; his praise is in the assembly of the saints. We are urged to sing a new song to the Lord, as new men who have learned a new song. A song is a thing of joy; more profoundly, it is a thing of love. Anyone, therefore, who has learned to love the new life has learned to sing a new song, and the new song reminds us of our new life. The new man, the new song, the new covenant, all belong to the one kingdom of God, and so the new man will sing a new song and will belong to the new covenant" (Sermon 34).

Truly beautiful indeed!

Below are videos of chants commonly used at SJoA. Click on the links and practice wherever you are and whenever you have time!   It's THAT easy!!!