Deepening Our Faith – Through Music

When I spent time away from the Catholic Church in my late teens and early twenties, I found myself drawn to churches which offered praise and worship style music. Music became a tool in which to deepen my faith. While I do not consider myself charismatic in any sense of the word, I appreciated the music which would help me ponder my faith journey, my relationship with Christ and the Father, and bring me closer to God through the prayerful, usually powerfully scripted, words.

As I made my reversion back to the Catholic faith in my late-twenties, I realized that a core support for my faith was laid during my time away from the Church. I found myself appreciating not just Gregorian Chant, and other music from the sacred history of the Church, but also the newer tunes with a more contemporary flare. 

Today, on any given day, if I am putting on music, the crooning voice of Marie Miller, the blasting rock vibes of The Thirsting, or the always consistent songs of Grammy-award winner Matt Maher will come up as an automatic shuffle on my playlist. All three of the aforementioned artists are contemporary Catholic Christian artists, whose names are counted among the many Christian artists in my collection of music.

What Purpose Does Music Serve?

The purpose of sacred art is to raise our hearts and minds toward God. The same is true with music. The National Directory for Catechesis explains in paragraph 211, “The power of sacred music is described well by St. Augustine: ‘How I wept to hear the hymns and songs in your honor, deeply moved by the sweet-singing voices of your Church! Those voices pulsated in my ears and the truth plunged into my heart, and all became a sentiment of love that brought me such joy I broke into tears.’”

In fact, according to the Vatican’s Instruction on Music in the Liturgy, Musicam Sacram, “Liturgical worship is given a more noble form when it is celebrated in song, with the ministers of each degree fulfilling their ministry and the people participating in it.” 

As Catholics, we aren’t supposed to sit passively at Mass while the choir sings. Rather, we are challenged, even if we struggle to carry a tune in a bucket, to step outside our comfort zone and raise our voices to the hearing heart of God. As Musicam Sacram continues, the purpose of the choir is to serve to, “ensure proper performance of the parts… and to encourage the active participation of the faithful in the singing.”

 

Music is powerful. 

Music affords us another opportunity to deepen our faith.

The roots of music as a prayer aid, and as a way to deepen our faith, are as old as time. Even Christ and His apostles sang a hymn prior to our Savior giving His life,

 

Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Matthew 26:30

Ideas for Music-Related Spiritual Resolutions for 2023

Advent has come and gone, and the days are edging closer to a new calendar year. If you haven’t yet set any spiritual resolutions, consider the following ideas to deepen your faith in 2023:

• If you don’t already regularly sing hymns or participate in singing at Mass, consider adding that element of prayer to your Mass routine. As St. Augustine is quoted as saying, “He who sings, prays twice”.
• Take some downtime from secular music, and research the genre of music you like most, but with talented Christian artists.
• Start slow and make it a point to only listen to Christian music one day a week. If you already to that, bump it up to two days… or, more.
• If you already listen to Christian music, do a deeper dive and find Catholic artists whose messages resonate with the depths of your heart.
• Take some headphones with you to Eucharistic Adoration this next year, and listen to only praise and worship music while sitting at the feet of our Lord.
• Memorize songs which have a meaningful, heartfelt message which connects you to God.
• Explore the history of music in the Church, and the hymns of the time of the Doctors of the Church.
• Consider penning your own meaningful lyrics to God, regardless of whether or not you ever perform the music in front of any other living person’s ears.
• Find some prayers set to music and simply pray along, whether they are the standard Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, or even the Divine Mercy Chaplet or Stabat Mater.
• Take some time to consider some of your favorite hymns, and pray over why they resonate so deeply within your soul.

Music is a great way to enhance our journey of faith. As we celebrate these days of Christmas, and usher in the Year of our Lord 2023, “Hold your eyes on God and leave the doing to Him,” (St. Jane Frances de Chantal), and raise your joyful heart and voice to God in prayerful song.

In Christ,

Anni