God's Musical Purpose

In his autobiography, Confessions, St. Augustine recounts an experience he had during the singing of the Mass : « How I wept, deeply moved by your hymns, songs and the voices that echoed through your Church! What emotion I experienced in them! Those sounds flowed into my ears, distilling the truth in my heart. A feeling of devotion surged within me, and tears streamed down my face – tears that did me good ». More than merely enjoying a beautiful esthetic moment, the saint’s entire being, body and soul, were profoundly transformed and moved towards Divine purpose.

Sung music plays a significant and powerful role in the liturgy of the Church and the spiritual life of the faithful. The Catholic Church has long advocated that the music of the liturgy participates in the purpose of the liturgical words and actions, for the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful. The Mass as a prayer, can also be understood as a song. Beginning with the initial Holy Eucharist where Jesus sang (Mt. 26 :30, Mk 14 :26), singing has continuously been a part of the Mass. Sung liturgical prayer more effectively reveals the mysteries of the liturgy and enhances its purpose and revelation. Singing should be an important part of every Catholic’s spiritual experience and fortunately for us today, can easily be given to young people.

Music moves people in powerful ways, for good and for bad. Sacred liturgical music expresses something unique: the sanctifying and sacrificial prayer of Christ and His Church in the liturgy. Sacred liturgical music assists the faithful in uniting their hearts and minds in a deep internal participation with the liturgical events before them. A traditional Catholic music education should supply students with a music education which not only provides them with a lifetime of skills for liturgical use, but fills them with the power of a music moving them towards God and His purpose. It must provide them with an antidote, a strong alternative, to the music the world offers. Young people have always been powerfully attracted to music, providing a dangerous opening for the world to fill. A good music education not only provides young people with skills, knowledge and exposure to the highest art forms, it gives them the ability to discern how music can affect them and why some music is of greater value to their souls than other music, which may even be harmful.

"Christianity is not an intellectual system, a collection of dogmas, or a moralism. Christianity is instead an encounter, a love story." Pope Benedict XVI Music is uniquely qualified to tell that love story, The romance of the soul and its creator told in music will move more towards God than serious discussions and theological discourse. Pope Benedict XVI is also famous for saying that it's not the arguments of the intellectuals that win converts, it's the lives of the saints and the beauty of the artists. Our work in the fields of music enables us to play a small role in the work of God's harvest

of souls.