St. Pope John Paul II in his “Letter to Artists” talks about the “Beauty” that saves. That from the creative inspiration of an artist, beauty will be passed on to future generations to stir them to wonder. He speaks of the call to transcendence and that beauty is a key to this mystery. (Letter to Artists, St. Pope John Paul II: 1999)
I am blessed to be the director of music for Buckeye Catholic at the St. Thomas More Newman Center next to the Ohio State University campus in Columbus, and I have seen how the beauty of sacred music has been one of the means to encounter the One who is Beauty Himself within the Sacred Liturgy.
In my role as music director and within the mission of Buckeye Catholic, my goal is to help form missionary disciples of Jesus Christ at the Ohio State University by fostering a love for Jesus through the Catholic liturgy and sacred music, all for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
The Church beautifully expresses this truth in one of her documents, Sacrosanctum Concilium: “Sacred music surpasses merely religious music when it is joined to the liturgical rite to become a necessary and integral part of the solemn liturgy, ‘whose purpose is the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful.’” (112) In other words, sacred music is not just a preference but an objective reality.
The teaching of the Church expressed in the Second Vatican Council states that “Liturgical worship is given a more noble form when it is celebrated in song … 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 the 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.” (Musicam Sacram: 1967 no. 5) This shows the vital importance and the role that music plays in the Liturgy.
So how do I foster a love for the Sacred Liturgy at Buckeye Catholic through its rich treasury and patrimony of sacred music? Well, I would say, it’s not me but rather the Holy Spirit, who through the wisdom of the Church has given us a model and directives to help us achieve the goal of sacred music, which is 1) glorifying God and 2) for the salvation of souls.
Often these days, there tends to be strong preferences on traditional vs. contemporary music. To be honest, I try not to use too much of this language. I find it to be divisive — we are all called to be Catholic and are all called to be saints. This is not a halfhearted call where I pick and choose what I like. To be part of the one, holy, apostolic Church means embracing and living all of what the Catholic Church teaches, and in the Catholic Church, she has called us to worship God in a particular way with music most fitting of worship.
Why is this? Very simply, because God has asked us to; it is “right and just … our duty and our salvation” and, secondly, God truly knows what we need. The music the Church has used over the centuries “is a treasure of inestimable value” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 112) and has the capacity to not only glorify God but to help souls get to Heaven. This happens naturally by the faithful being drawn into the prayer and beauty of the Liturgy and, most importantly, the sacred text of the liturgy, which is scriptural.
I have found that the college-aged students I work with have responded to this “beauty” in a transformative way. Currently in my office there is a “favorite music list” that the students have created, and among those are music such as Victimae Paschali Laudes, O Magnum Mysterium, O God Beyond All Praising, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, Ubi Caritas, Anima Christi, just to name a few.
This list has grown not because it was something that most were familiar with coming to college but rather they were exposed to the rich treasury of sacred music that the Catholic Church has to offer and have been captivated by the beauty of the music that has helped them to encounter the living God who is Beauty Himself.
St. Pope John Paul II in his chirograph on sacred music reminds us: “As a manifestation of the human spirit, music performs a function which is noble, unique and irreplaceable. When it is truly beautiful and inspired, it speaks to us more than all the other arts of goodness, virtue, peace, of matters holy and divine. Not for nothing has it always been, and will it always be an essential part of the liturgy.” When I read that quote, I am struck with awe thinking that God has allowed me to participate in sharing the love for sacred music, which “speaks to us more than all the other arts of goodness.”
Why is this? Because it has a way to penetrate the depths of our soul. We are attracted to beauty because God is Beauty and we were made for God. Therefore, sacred music is not an end in itself but a means to the end, which is God. This music that we call sacred cannot be “ordinary, every-day or profane” but must draw us to the eternal saving Paschal Mysteries. Throughout the centuries, the Church has given us a model of sacred music that allows this to happen organically.
“The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as especially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, all things being equal, it should have pride of place in liturgical services.” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, No. 116). Through exposure to sacred music such as chant, teaching at times before Mass begins, offering a class on what exactly is sacred music, the students have opportunity for dialogue and to learn why the Church has a paradigm of sacred music. This is an opportunity to teach and form the young people so that they can be strengthened in their prayer life through the Liturgy and be sent out to evangelize the world.
Dr. Peter Kwasniewski in his book “Good Music, Sacred Music, and Silence,” says, “Gregorian chant has been the model of sacred music: fraternal twins from the cradle … Its exclusive function is to clothe in music God’s holy words to us, and our words to Him and about Him; it has no other realm or purpose.”
Chant is sung in unison showing the universality of the Church. It is scriptural and is a part of the Liturgy. Therefore, chant cannot be separated from the Liturgy; it is the very music of the Catholic Church. One cannot tap their foot to chant or grasp at it and so it creates an ethereal quality. Similarly, one cannot possibly grasp and comprehend everything about God — there is a mystery.
The Church has set a paradigm of sacred music to follow. Gregorian Chant, having pride of place, polyphony, pipe organ and hymnody. The further we stay within this model and paradigm the Church teaches us, “the further we are in accord with the spirit of the liturgy.” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 116) This is not to say that new compositions cannot be composed, but that the closer we follow this model the more we will be in line with the Church’s model of sacred music.
A question often asked regarding sacred music is why we can’t sing certain songs at Holy Mass. While there is a lot of religious music that is still “good” and one might be drawn to God through a particular piece of music, not all is fitting for the Sacred Liturgy and the worship of Almighty God. Certain songs are lacking in qualities that sacred music should possess that evoke the grandeur, majesty, dignity of God, and transcend time and space. (Kwasniewski)
St. Pope Pius X in his moto proprio reminds us that “it (sacred music) must possess holiness and beauty of form and from these two qualities a third will spontaneously arise — universality.” This allows for a greater accessibility to all. Just imagine going anywhere in the world for Holy Mass and still being able to sing the Sanctus — this unifies all of us.
Here are just a few examples of how I have seen the power of sacred music move the souls of students at Buckeye Catholic.
One student approached me to say how appreciative he was of the beauty of the music here at Mass. He went on to say, while not trying to put down anyone, that when he goes to his home parish, the music is distracting and takes away from prayer rather than drawing him closer to prayer and God. He started, without any instruction, to see how certain types of music referred only to themselves and their feelings and did not reference God and that the music should be about God.
Another student wrote me this summer expressing how much she missed the music from Mass at Buckeye Catholic and asked me to record the Ave Regina Caelorum that I taught the students so she could share with her friends. This is not a testament to me but rather to the power of sacred music in the Liturgy and how it transforms people’s prayer life.
For daily Mass, we sing the various Marian antiphons that the students have grown to love. Even some students will ask “when can we sing the Latin Sanctus?” Or will say “the choir sounded like angels” today. This clearly informs me that through the power of the beauty of the sacred music, they were able to be brought from the ordinary to a glimpse the heavenly realities through their senses and their participation in lifting their hearts to God in worship.
This past All Souls Day, before each Mass, I taught the congregation in about five minutes the entrance and offertory antiphons in English. To hear close to 1,200 students throughout the day chanting “Eternal Rest grant unto them, O Lord … “ for the Entrance chant brings tears to my eyes imagining the holy souls in purgatory entering the heavenly Jerusalem.
Here at Buckeye Catholic, I try to encourage the students that we “sing the Mass.” That we don’t just sing songs at Mass but rather we “sing the Mass.” We sing the entrance and communion antiphons that are a part of the Mass and the Mass Ordinary, which consists of the Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, etc. We chant the Our Father and preface dialogue.
These are all a part of the Mass and when we sing, it elevates the hearts and minds of the faithful toward the Eternal. Even if someone doesn’t actively sing the antiphon, they can still actively participate through uniting their heart to the prayers, text and music. We sing hymns that direct our minds and hearts to God and are about God. This is not something novel or new, but rather it is what the Church in her wisdom has handed down for centuries.
I came across this quote, and I think it speaks volumes. “The liturgy is demanding: one cannot just do whatever, and personal subjectivity must take a back seat, because one must above all follow the path of a centuries-old tradition of sacred music … God is the Sovereign Good and the Sovereign Beautiful — and the liturgy is a foretaste of His glory, an epiphany, Heaven on earth! So, mediocrity can’t be allowed!” (DiPippo, “We Sing of God Alone and for God Alone, through the Traditional Liturgy)
On Nov. 16 at Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral, the diocese had its annual Gold Mass that promotes sacred music according to Church teaching, which are the same goals that I try to adapt to my work here at Buckeye Catholic. There is a timelessness in sacred music, and people of all ages can participate. St. Pope John Paul II references this timelessness of beauty in his “Letter to Artists,” saying, “Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to transcendence. It is an invitation to savor life and to dream of the future. That is why the beauty of created things can never fully satisfy. It stirs that hidden nostalgia for God which a lover of beauty like St. Augustine could express in incomparable terms: ‘Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you!’”
Sacred music has a huge range of complexity from very, very simple to very complicated; so, people of all ages and abilities can be spiritually nurtured while also being technically challenged. It facilitates growth not only of the Christian person but also of one’s musical abilities. Sacred music is didactic: one can learn about the faith, the liturgy, the history of Western music and how it developed under the auspices of the Church, etc.
If you would like the opportunity to experience the beauty of sacred music at Buckeye Catholic, I would like to personally invite you to come join us for our Advent and Christmas Lessons and Carols titled “O Magnum Mysterium: O Great Mystery” on Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. at the St. Thomas More Newman Center. Here you will be able to hear some of these treasures of sacred music that the Church has to offer.
In conclusion, as Dr. Kwasniewski says so beautifully, “Let us begin, begin, if we have not yet started; let us continue, if we have already begun; let us bring to perfection all that concerns the divine, holy, pure, immortal, heavenly, life-creating, and awesome mysteries of Christ, for the glory of God and the sanctification of the people.” (Good Music, Sacred Music and Silence: Three Gifts of God for the Liturgy and for Life).
Musicians participate in Gold Mass at Cathedral
Dr. Richard Fitzgerald, director of music for the diocese and at St. Joseph Cathedral, directs some of the singers. (Middle right) Musicians from parishes throughout the diocese take part in the Gold Mass, which was celebrated by Bishop Earl Fernandes.
Related to: Sacred music in the diocese: Why have a Gold Mass? – Catholic Times: Read Catholic News & Stories