Catechism Corner | Why Do We Sing at Mass?

In human life, signs and symbols occupy an important place. As a being at once body and spirit, man expresses and perceives spiritual realities through physical signs and symbols. Inasmuch as they are creatures, these perceptible realities can become means of expressing the action of God who sanctifies men, and the action of men who offer worship to God. This sacramental principle is the consistent belief of the Church throughout history. In Liturgy, we use words, gestures, signs and symbols to proclaim Christ's presence and to reply with our worship and praise.

Saint Augustine's experience when it teaches that the music and song of the liturgy "participate in the purpose of the liturgical words and actions: the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful." He adhered to the older proverb: "Whoever sings well prays twice over."

God has bestowed upon his people the gift of song. God dwells within each human person, in the place where music takes its source. Indeed, God, the giver of song, is present whenever his people sing his praises.

In the Bible a lot of joy and gratitude gets expressed in random acts of music. "Sing to the Lord a new song!" the psalmists say. Many of the big players have a song to sing, especially the women: Miriam at the Red Sea rescue; Hannah at the birth of her child; Deborah after her battleground victory achieved with the help of another woman, Jael; Judith after defeating Holofernes; and Mary when she visits Elizabeth and shares her annunciation. King David himself wrote music, played, and danced in front of the nation. Saint Paul advocated that believers sing "psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God" (Colossians 3:16).

A cry from deep within our being, music is a way for God to lead us to the realm of higher things. As St. Augustine says, "Singing is for the one who loves." Music is therefore a sign of God's love for us and of our love for him. In this sense, it is very personal. But unless music sounds, it is not music, and whenever it sounds, it is accessible to others. By its very nature song has both an individual and a communal dimension. Thus, it is no wonder that singing together in church expresses so well the sacramental presence of God to his people.

Obedient to Christ and to the Church, we gather in liturgical assembly, week after week. As our predecessors did, we find ourselves singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in our hearts to God. This common, sung expression of faith within liturgical celebrations strengthens our faith when it grows weak and draws us into the divinely inspired voice of the Church at prayer. Faith grows when it is well expressed in celebration. Good celebrations can foster and nourish faith. Good music makes the liturgical prayers of the Christian community more alive and fervent so that everyone can praise and beseech the Triune God more powerfully, more intently and more effectively.

The primordial song of the Liturgy is the canticle of victory over sin and death. It is the song of the saints, standing beside "the sea of glass": They were holding God's harps, and they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Liturgical singing is established in the midst of this great historical tension. For Israel, the event of salvation in the Red Sea will always be the main reason for praising God, the basic theme of the songs it sings before God. For Christians, the Resurrection of Christ is the true Exodus. The definitively new song has been intoned.

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.