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Music in Our Liturgy, Part 2
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Music in Our Liturgy, Part 2
Last week I began a series on music in our liturgy to address some concerns that have been raised by parishioners, and also to chart a path for music at our parish. It is the duty of a Pastor to sanctify, instruct and govern the people of God entrusted to his pastoral care. My intention here is to instruct on what the Church teaches concerning music in the liturgy, and at the same time call everyone to embrace it as a way of realizing that universal call to holiness to which all the baptized are called.
What is the Liturgy?
Why do we come to church every Sunday, or as is the case for some of us, every day? What is the assembly of the faithful called? The Latin for the Church is ecclesia. This comes from the Greek, ekklesia, which means “to call out.” The Lord calls us out from the world so that we might be gathered into the church. Like the people who left Egypt in the exodus, the Lord calls us to separate us from the rest, the ordinary, and the familiar. This call is for a specific reason. It is in the gathering of the assembly that we realize the purpose for which we are called. And this is to worship. The official term for the church’s worship is Liturgy. The word “Liturgy” comes from the Greek Leitourgia, which is often translated as public worship. Because this action is the work of Christ, the head, and of his body, the Church, the liturgy can be understood as the public work which Christ performs on behalf of his body the church. We as church partake in this saving work of Christ by our participation in the liturgy. Simply put, Liturgy is what Christ does for us and through us.
Since the liturgy is Christ’s work, it seems appropriate to imagine that it is not left to us to invent how it should be done. The question of what the liturgy should look like or how it should be done has already been addressed in scripture, where God instructed the priests on how to worship (see Leviticus). The liturgy is not what men come together to plan, even though we do this in order to have prayerful and beautiful celebrations, the liturgy is purely the work of God (Opus Dei). This must be distinguished from the work of the people (Opus populi). It belongs to God to show us how to best worship him. It is not ours to invent. When the liturgy becomes the work of a committee, it becomes man-centered instead of God-centered. What I am trying to say is, in order for our liturgy to be what God intends it to be, it must be Theo-centric. That is, it must be focused on God, rather than just a celebration where all that matters is how we feel or what we think. The latter runs the risk of being anthropocentric, which literally means, focused on man, or the self. The Church over the centuries has tried to preserve the integrity of her worship by staying close to what she has always taught and believed, through her liturgy. Although the structure of our liturgy has seen some revisions over the ages, especially with the Second Vatican reforms, the core of the church’s worship remains unchanged. This explains why we continue to see revisions of texts used in the liturgy to align modern translations with their ancient roots. We are gradually seeing a return to Gregorian chants, the use of incense and a lot more.
I understand that times and culture might warrant certain changes in the expression of the liturgy. This is to be expected. We do not live in the Middle Ages, or even the early centuries of the Church’s existence. Our times are different, and we are far removed from the experiences of the first Christians. However, the purpose and focus of the liturgy must always be God. We are not a people who turn in on ourselves without an eschatological orientation. Our vision should always be Christ, and not just how we feel. When our liturgy is all about feeling good, it loses the ability to raise our minds and hearts to God who is the very object of our worship. The goal of the liturgy is to give praise to God and to sanctify the people. While ‘feel good’ music might give praise to God, they very often lack the ability to sanctify or inspire holiness in the people beyond the liturgical assembly. I dare say that feeling good never saves anyone. Rather, true worship saves, even when we might have to weep for our sins.
May Jesus bless you, and may Our Lady protect you!