Singing to God is a prayerful means of evangelisation

On 24th November 2024, St. Cecilia Lubaga Cathedral Choir clocked 100 years of animating worshipers, and participating in the evangelizing mission of the Church. It was established a year before the official blessing and consecration of the Lubaga Cathedral Church in 1925.

This is a good occasion to be reminded of the expectations of a Church choir. 

The Church is there to uplift people’s hearts to God, inviting their active participation in worship. "Worship is the rendering to God what is owed God by intelligent beings" (Virgil Michel, OSB). In worship, we offer a sacrifice of praise and give everything we have to God. 

Catholics believe that the Eucharistic liturgy is a sacrifice identical to the Sacrifice of the Cross.

We are invited to appreciate Sacred/liturgical music as being distinct from the rest of religious music, which aids and supports Christian faith but is not primarily a part of the sacred liturgy. 

Religious music includes various devotional music, such as much popular praise and worship music, or gospel songs. The texts and the musical idiom of sacred music must be inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is imperative to sing it reverently and prayerfully, not playfully.

Gregorian chant and polyphony have been the Church’s ancient heritage. Gregorian chant is a simple tune with no regular rhythm that is sung in unison and without accompaniment. Its repetitive melodic phrases helps to induce a meditative state. Polyphony is multiple voices, with multiple melodies interwoven together. 

Unfortunately, some composers of modern church music don’t care about these settings at all. 

They chose to let people free to express themselves. Moreover, many choirs are bent on entertaining fellow worshipers, usually, with banal pop melodies. The music director picks what he/she likes or what the choir wants to sing.

This trend has engendered the appalling scenario of different parishes singing all different types of music. It contrasts with the movements by the Holy Spirit, for the cause of evangelisation. We ought to aim at being faithful to the liturgical spirit and norms than to a successful realisation of numbers, who may not even end up converting. “I would rather worship at Mass with crying babies and beautiful, sacred music than a Mass with music and lyrics that make me want to go to the cry room!”, said Pope Benedict, speaking on liturgical music and the new evangelisation.

Jesus tells us that true worshipers will worship God “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). It’s the Holy Spirit who awakens in us an understanding of God’s beauty and splendor and power, and leads us in corporate praise of God. It must originate from within, from the heart; it must be sincere, motivated by our love for God and gratitude for all He is and has done. Worship is meant to be formed by the light of the Truth, as revealed in the Scriptures and Tradition of the Church.

Song is known to be one of the most effective means of impressing spiritual truth upon the heart. This is how St. Augustine’s was attracted to the Church, leading to his conversion to Christ. He is remembered for saying, ”He who sings well, prays twice”. 

The Mass itself is a song; it is meant to be sung. When we sing, we must penetrate the inner meaning of the sacred liturgy and not simply perform its external rituals without the engagement of our hearts, minds, and souls. Before every Mass, the choir should pray that they might give fitting worship to God and, through the Holy Spirit, reach the hearts of those who have come to pray, lifting their hearts and minds and souls to the contemplation of truth, beauty, and goodness Himself. This is proper evangelisation.

St. Cecilia, is regarded as the patroness of musicians. She was a brave girl who also on her wedding day, because of her talent and love for singing, made a performance to praise God. 

She is represented in art with an organ-pipes in her hand. She spent her time evangelizing through song, and was able to convert over four hundred people.