Liturgical Song - Service to the Liturgy
Everything in liturgy serves the Lord in glorifying the Father and sanctifying the faithful. Liturgical song is the priveleged means by which the assembly particpates in this work of the Trinity.
The song texts of the liturgy are largely drawn from Scripture. And when the baptised assembly gives voice to these songs, they sing the living Word of God, breathing the very in-dwelling Spirit into the Word. The words and music of liturgical song bear an awesome responsibility. So care is needed in selecting songs, that words are largely drawn from Scripture, and music expresses the universal beauty that invites the involvement of the entire assembly in prayer.
What the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy Says
"To promote active participation, the people should be encouraged to take part by means of acclamations, responses, psalmody, antiphons, and songs, as well as by actions, gestures, and bodily attitudes. And at the proper times all should observe a reverent silence" (SC, 30).
"Holy Scripture, indeed, has bestowed praise upon sacred song, and the same may be said of the fathers of the Church and of the Roman pontiffs who in recent times, led by St. Pius X, have explained more precisely the ministerial function supplied by sacred music in the service of the Lord" (SC, 112).
What the Instruction on Music in the Liturgy (Musicam Sacram) Says
"Sacred music, one of those aspects that concern the liturgical renewal, was thoroughly considered by the Second Vatican Council. It explained the role of music in divine services, issued a number of principles and rules on this subject in the Constitution on the Liturgy, and devoted to it an entire chapter on the subject" (MS, 1).
"The recently begun reform of the liturgy is already putting the conciliar enactments into effect. The new norms relative to the faithful’s active participation and the structuring of the rites, however, have given rise to some problems about music and its ministerial function. In order to draw out more clearly the relevant principles of the Constitution on the Liturgy, it is necessary to solve these problems" (MS, 2).
"Liturgical worship takes on a nobler form when it is celebrated in song, with the ministers of each degree fulfilling their ministry and the people participating in it.
Indeed, through this form,
- prayer is expressed in a more attractive way,
- the mystery of the liturgy, with its hierarchical and community nature, is more openly shown,
- the unity of hearts is more profoundly achieved by the union of voices,
- minds are more easily raised to heavenly things by the beauty of the sacred rites, and
- the whole celebration more clearly prefigures that heavenly liturgy which is enacted in the holy city of Jerusalem" (MS, 6).
What John Paul II's Chirograph on Sacred Music Says
"Motivated by a strong desire "to maintain and promote the decorum of the House of God", my Predecessor St Pius X promulgated the Motu Proprio Tra le Sollecitudini 100 years ago. Its purpose was to renew sacred music during liturgical services. With it he intended to offer the Church practical guidelines in that vital sector of the Liturgy, presenting them, as it were, as a "juridical code of sacred music". This act was also part of the programme of his Pontificate which he summed up in the motto: "Instaurare omnia in Cristo".
The centenary of the Document gives me the opportunity to recall the important role of sacred music, which St Pius X presented both as a means of lifting up the spirit to God and as a precious aid for the faithful in their "active participation in the most holy mysteries and in the public and solemn prayer of the Church".
The holy Pontiff recalls that the special attention which sacred music rightly deserves stems from the fact that, "being an integral part of the solemn Liturgy, [it] participates in the general purpose of the Liturgy, which is the glory of God and the sanctification and edification of the faithful". Since it interprets and expresses the deep meaning of the sacred text to which it is intimately linked, it must be able "to add greater efficacy to the text, in order that through it the faithful may be... better disposed for the reception of the fruits of grace belonging to the celebration of the most holy mysteries" (OSM, 1).
What John Paul II Says to Teachers and Students of Sacred Music
"There is a close link between music and song, on the one hand, and between contemplation of the divine mysteries and prayer, on the other. The criterion that must inspire every composition and performance of songs and sacred music is the beauty that invites prayer. When song and music are signs of the Holy Spirit's presence and action, they encourage, in a certain way, communion with the Trinity. The liturgy then becomes an "opus Trinitatis". "Singing in the liturgy" must flow from "sentire cum Ecclesia". Only in this way do union with God and artistic ability blend in a happy synthesis in which the two elements - song and praise - pervade the entire liturgy" (PIMS Address, 3).