NCW Devotion To Our Blessed Mother Mary

The NCW has many Marian songs devoted to her. We have always acknowledged that the NCW was inspired by the Mother of God. The seminary is also called "Redemptoris Mater", which means "Mother of the Redeemer." Christ is our Redeemer, and Mary always points to her son. At the wedding of Cana, she pointed to her son Jesus and instructed the guests to "listen to Him."  Blessed Mary always points to her son Jesus, and tells us to "listen to Him" and to "follow Him."  In fact, the icon of the NCW depicts Mary and the child Jesus.  In the NCW icon, Mary leans toward her son Jesus.  She also tells us to lean toward Christ, her son.  

This is one of the Marian songs in the NCW.  This song was sung by Kiko Arguello with the NCW orchestra.  Yes, the NCW has an orchestra.  

He Rose From Death

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!

The Easter Vigil

The Easter Vigil in the Way takes approximately 6-7 hours. Preparation for the Vigil starts on Saturday morning. The community gets together for morning prayer and then breaks up into groups. Many communities have their Easter Vigil at a hotel. There would be a set up group setting up the place, a cantors practice, and readers practicing the readings and their admonitions on that day. By the afternoon, everything would be set up, and members would go home to prepare for their agape. Some communities do not need to prepare their agapes because the hotel provides it.

The Easter Vigil usually starts at 10:00 or 11:00 pm. The community does not go to the regular parish Mass for Easter Vigil. Why? Because they are at home sleeping.  We need to sleep in order to attend the NCW Easter Vigil.  Those who are in the NCW already know that the preparations have all been set up since Saturday morning after morning prayer. The NCW Easter Vigil also do not start until an hour or two hours after the parish Easter Vigil ends.  And the NCW members know that they need to sleep after the preparation in order to keep awake for the next 6 or 7 hours during the Easter Vigil.  

It is only during Holy Thursday and Good Friday that we attend the parish Mass before going to our own community celebration, which always takes place in the home. And even then, we do not rush out of Church early because the home celebrations have already been set up in the morning.

What I find even more remarkable about the Easter Vigil is that people (especially the youths and the children) stay up for six or seven hours celebrating the Easter Mass. It is a long night, but no one feels the time because everyone (including the young children) participate in the celebration.  Below is a video of children participating in our 6-7 hour Easter Vigil.   

Una Gran Senal - Kiko Arguello Madrid 2011

There is a saying that goes like this:  "Music has a way of soothing the savage beast."  The one thing I admire about the Charismatic Catholics renewal is their music.  It is no wonder why they offer a challenge to the Pentecostals who speak in tongues.   Good music is also spoken in tongues but with great harmony.  Below we have Kiko Arguello singing with the Neocatechumenal Way symphony in Madrid in 2011.  Like the Charismatic Catholics, we also have our own songs.  And we have our own symphony of talented people.   :)   The song is entitled "A Woman Clothed with the Sun."   

Neocatechumenal Way In Israel

This video is not in English, but the song is from the Neocatechumenal Way. The song is entitled "A Grandiose Sign in Heaven" and shows beautiful photos of the Holy Land.

I Lift My Eyes To The Mountains.

This is another Neocatechumenal Way song that I like.  The title is called, "I Lift Up My Eyes To The Mountains".  In the Holy Bible, the mountains is a place where one can find God.  It was on Mt. Sinai where Moses met God who gave him the Ten Commandments.  It was also on a mountain that Christ gave His life to redeem us. 

How Lovely Are Your Dwelling Places

"How Lovely Are Your Dwelling Places" is another beautiful Neocatechumenal song that we sometimes sing in the Way.  At any rate, this song below is sung by a young man named Damian Beltran.  Despite that he is obviously recording it from the bathroom, it is nonetheless a beautiful song.  The young people nowadays.....they record music in strange places.....???? 

If Today

If today, if you listen to His Voice, do not harden your heart.  This is a song we usually sing at the start of morning prayer.  This song is also often sung at the start of every Beginning of the Year retreat.  The song is from Psalm 95. 

Neocatechumenal Way LEBANON

The Neocatechumenal Way is not only in Israel, but also alive and well in Lebanon.

Psalm 8: Oh Lord Our God.

I've published a few Neocatechumenal Way songs in my blogsite.  As I mentioned, my favorites are Shema Israel and Mary Little Mary.  Many of the songs sung in the Neocatechumenal Way comes from the Book of Pslams, so I see no reason why any Catholic should complain about it.  There are a few that were composed by Kiko Arguello.  Below is a video of Father Luis playing "Oh Lord Our God" in a Way celebration in Washington DC in 2010 while he was still a seminarian.  The song came from Psalm 8.  

NCW Mass in Philadelphia

According to Father Neil O'Donogue, who has a Ph.D in Liturgy, he stated: 

If the celebration of the Eucharist is in a church or a chapel, then the altar is usually used, and if the Eucharist takes place in some other room of the parish, then a very dignified altar is prepared. They do not "sit round the altar in a ciricle, " but as in many churches, the assembly sits on three sides in an orderly fashion and the priest sits at the head of the assembly.

In the Way's Mass, everyone or the majority participates in singing the songs, and no one leaves Mass early after Holy Communion.  Guam's communities that I know of celebrates the Mass on church grounds. Some communities in the United States celebrate inside a chapel such as the one in the video:  


http://youtu.be/a27mgUF_tpc

Neocatechumenal Way Orchestra

The Neocatechumenal Way has an orchestra, which has performed in the United States, Rome, and other places.  :)   

Mary Little Mary

Another one of my favorite songs in the Neocatechumenal Way is Mary, Little Mary.  This song is usually sung at the beginning of catechesis. There is an old Eastern Orthodox painting of Mary depicted as the burning bush of Moses. She is prefigured as this burning bush because she carried God (who is a consuming fire) in her womb.  But the bush was not consumed by fire because Mary was holy. 

Shema Israel.

This is one of my favorite songs that we sing in the Neocatechumenal Way.  I hear it sung in our Easter Vigil all the time.