Monday in the Second Week of Lent

We reflect on why sacred music must be set apart for worship and how beauty, clarity, and ordered sound draw us into God’s holiness. We also distinguish liturgical music from devotional songs and offer questions to guide prayerful participation.

• sacred music as set apart and sanctifying
• beauty, order, and priority of the sacred text
• why liturgy centers on God, not preference
• difference between sacred and devotional music
• reflection questions for deeper engagement
• closing prayers and resources for Lent

If you found this time of prayer and reflection fruitful and would like more opportunities to grow in your faith this Lent, consider joining the Cristeros and purchasing our Lent and Reflection booklet, now available on Amazon.com
The Cristeros app is available on the Apple app and Google Play Store
More information on the Cristeros can be found at theCristeros.org

Transcript

Opening Prayers Of Lent

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Monday, in the second week of Lent, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. For the remission of my sins, for the intentions of my family and friends, and in particular, for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen. Music for Mass. Continuing from yesterday's reflection on the introit chant, we can say a few words about the music chosen for Mass in general. I have written on this topic elsewhere, and you can read that at your leisure. For our purposes here, I will simply quote a bit of that article. Sacred music must in fact be sacred, holy, and sanctifying. This means, as the history of the word holy shows, sacred music must be set apart for worship, consecrated. Think of Isaiah 6.3, where the prophet sees the seraphim chanting holy, holy, holy, in the presence of God. This shows that God is thrice holy, thrice set apart. In other words, he is totally other, as the scholastics would say. At the same time, however, he is able to sanctify, to make holy those who come to him, as Isaiah's own purification in verse 6 shows. Following this, sacred music should be something set apart, specifically for liturgical purposes, and, by that fact, should be something that helps to sanctify. Finally, sacred music must, as obvious as it seems, be music. According to the dictionary.com entry, music is an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through rhythm, melody, harmony, and color. The most important part of this definition is that sacred music must be an art. It must be beautiful and uplifting, stylistic and logical. Christian worship is, after all, defined by the logos of God, meaning by its very nature, it must be reasoned and ordered. In other words, it cannot be a slovenly, a tonal, unsettling amalgam of random and cacophonous sounds, but must rather be a beautiful, clear, coherent set of notes that give priority to the text being sung and foster a prayerful setting. When this happens, sacred music lives up to its high calling as a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art. The main reason for this preeminence is that, as sacred song united to the words, it forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy. On the whole, then, sacred music is an art set apart for worship which makes holy. It is sacred before it is music, meaning the focus is on God, not us. For the liturgy is about God coming to us and taking us to Himself, not us making God happen by our coming together. Keeping this in mind helps us to keep liturgy rooted in God and in mystery, rather than in us and in trying to solve the mystery. At this point, I would like to make a distinction. Sacred music and religious or devotional music are different. Both are certainly good, but one, sacred, has its proper setting in the liturgy, whereas the other, religious or devotional, can easily be used elsewhere, from private prayer to concert stages. This by itself disqualifies it from the sacred liturgy, for it is not specifically set aside for it. Do you enter into the music of the church for prayer? Do you put personal preference above the church's preference? Do you engage with heart, mind, soul, and body at Mass and in prayer? Does your voice harmonize with your heart and thoughts? All that I have, and all that I am, I give to your hands, Jesus, through the heart of Mary, your blessed mother. Amen. Sacred heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. If you found this time of prayer and reflection fruitful and would like more opportunities to grow in your faith this Lent, consider joining the Cristeros and purchasing our Lent and Reflection booklet, now available on Amazon.com. The Cristeros app is available on the Apple app and Google Play Store. More information on the Cristeros can be found at theCristeros.org.