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Wednesday, November 14, 2012

THE HOLY FATHER SPEAKS! And I would like to stress that the active participation of the whole people of God in the liturgy does not consist only in speaking, but in listening, in welcoming the Word with the senses and the spirit, and this holds also for sacred music."




Our Faure's Requiem Mass in the Extraordinary Form proves what Pope Benedict has recently said of actual participation in the Mass "And I would like to stress that the active participation of the whole people of God in the liturgy does not consist only in speaking, but in listening, in welcoming the Word with the senses and the spirit, and this holds also for sacred music." :

From Zenit, Pope Benedict XVI's address to the choral pilgrimage organized by the St. Cecilia Association.

But we need not have recourse to illustrious persons to think of how many people have been touched in their depths of their soul listening to sacred music; and of how many more have felt themselves newly drawn to God by the beauty of liturgical music like Claudel. And, here dear friends, you have an important role: work to improve the quality of liturgical song without being afraid to recover and value the great musical tradition of the Church, which has in Gregorian Chant and polyphony 2 of its highest expressions, as Vatican II itself states (cf. “Sacrosanctum Concilium,” 116). And I would like to stress that the active participation of the whole people of God in the liturgy does not consist only in speaking, but in listening, in welcoming the Word with the senses and the spirit, and this holds also for sacred music. You, who have the gift of song can make the heart of many people sing in liturgical celebrations.

Our EF where everyone in attendance was actually participating, period!



1 comment:

Henry Edwards said...

Another USCCB-CNS supprise--a nice video on the pope's remarks here:

Chant, polyphony, and the new evangelization