Music for the Mass
Music in the Parish: Making a Joyful Noise.
“To sing is praise God twice”: these words attributed to St Augustine lie at the heart of our parish’s approach to the celebration of Mass on Sundays, major Festivals and Holy Days. The answers to two simple questions point the reason for this: What is Music? What is Prayer? In its rawest sense music has two elements; sound and silence, and in its most basic sense prayer also has two elements; sound when we talk to God, and silence when we await God’s answer. Music can be thought of as the ultimate prayer, a natural response to God which is the motive for all our worship. Music also provides a framework for the liturgical year, noting as it does, the changes in season; for example the singing of Veni Emmanuel in Advent or Jesus Christ is Risen Today on Easter day. Week by week it helps focus our attention on the Gospel message and awakens deep emotional responses such as joy and sadness.
