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Years ago, Sister Victricia chose seventh and eighth graders for the Kieler Immaculate Conception grade school choir. Miraculously, I was chosen. At rehearsals, however, whenever I sang, Sister stopped playing the piano and stared at me. My voice was changing. To survive her stares, I began to lip-sync long before I ever heard of it.
A positive thinking friend told me, “Maybe Sister was admiring your singing.” If so, why did she quit staring after I stopped singing? Dad often said that the Louisburg Langes can’t sing. Fr. Ron Lange, my missionary first cousin, agrees.
Perhaps this is a senile illusion, but now I think I can sing a little better at Mass. Because of old age, however, when celebrating Mass I often refrain from singing hymns that I don’t know to conserve my limited energy for parts that I proclaim and for the Gospel reading and homily.Singing with joy
In Acts 2:46, it says, “Singing is the sign of the heart’s joy.” In his Dissertation on the Psalms, St. Augustine wrote, “To sing is to pray twice.”
One reason God gave us our voice is so we can praise him in song. In Colossians 3:16, St. Paul says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”
Christian joy expressed in song should mark every day of the week for us. However, on Sunday at Mass, we should sing with special joy. In Liturgical Music as Participation in Christ, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted taught, “Our model for music in the liturgy is Jesus himself, who sang psalms with the apostles at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26).”
Music is an integral part of our participation in liturgy and our participation in the work of God.” In no. 3 of his Address to the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, Pope St. John Paul II taught, “When song and music are signs of the Holy Spirit’s presence and action, they encourage, in a certain way, communion with the Trinity.
Venerable Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli, OP, encouraged singing and hired a music teacher to teach music and singing at Benton’s Female Academy. Five dollars an hour was lots of money then. Despite meager funds, he purchased pianos and harps at great expense that were hauled by ox cart from the East. He believed that music produces wonderful effects in the human soul.
Religious songs inspire us
Religious songs can inspire us to do noble, loving deeds. Travis Tritt, a country music star, spent years playing and singing in some dangerous bars before he made it big. In some bars, drunken fans started fights over nothing. When this began to happen, he sang “Silent Night” and the fights stopped just as they were about to begin. Some of the would-be brawlers even wept. Would that it would always be that easy to stop fighting and embrace peace.
In congregational singing, we express our faith and love of God and others. Sacred songs are often Scripture set to music to express our faith and open us more fully to the transcendent. Singing at Mass helps us praise God at a deeper level.
During Advent, as we prepare for Christmas, we can ask whether we make an effort to sing at Mass? We probably know the religious Christmas songs and the sung responses at Mass. Inspirational Christmas carols especially capture in poetic language more of the mystery of Christmas.
During the Christmas season and the new year, let us do our best to sing at Mass, because as St. Augustine says, “Whoever sings prays twice!” The Venerable Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli agrees. Let us pray!
Fr. Donald Lange is a pastor emeritus in the Diocese of Madison.