The Recovering Choir Director

Hey, I’m actually having a hard time remembering the tune (or lack thereof). That’s a Good Thing. Let’s keep it that way.

The music was very beautiful and spiritually uplifting , It was great as it made good reflection on the liturgy and the Eucharist. What ever you call reverent music I don’t know but was this music about God and linked to the liturgy of the mass ? Yes , The bible says ‘Acclam Yahweh ,all the earth , burst into shouts of joy ‘ The catechism says in 1157 Song and music fulfill their function as signs in a manner all the more significant when they are “more closely connected . . . with the liturgical action,” according to three principal criteria: beauty expressive of prayer, the unanimous participation of the assembly at the designated moments, and the solemn character of the celebration. In this way they participate in the purpose of the liturgical words and actions: the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful:

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.
The musaic at the mass was extremely emotional and made me feel proud to be a Catholic and in a church from different cultures and backgrounds celebrating in one faith.

Speaking of the words of His Holiness on this subject, here are his words from that very homily:

“Two hundred years later, the Church in America can rightfully praise the accomplishment of past generations in bringing together widely differing immigrant groups within the unity of the Catholic faith and in a common commitment to the spread of the Gospel. At the same time, conscious of its rich diversity, the Catholic community in this country has come to appreciate ever more fully the importance of each individual and group offering its own particular gifts to the whole. The Church in the United States is now called to look to the future, firmly grounded in the faith passed on by previous generations, and ready to meet new challenges — challenges no less demanding than those faced by your forebears — with the hope born of God’s love, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 5:5).”

It seems to me that this was very much a case of “each…group offering its own particular gifts to the whole.” Or as His Holiness said in his message to the US Bishops: “Many of the people to whom John Carroll and his fellow Bishops were ministering two centuries ago had traveled from distant lands. The diversity of their origins is reflected in the rich variety of ecclesial life in present-day America.” Indeed.