A Deo et Rege

I was driving to the YMCA to work out and I remembered something that happened in high school that bugged me. I was getting some academic honor at school and was asked by the school newspaper to give an account of my future plans. Well, I was trying to be funny and clever, so I put I wanted to major in "pre-med" at Northwestern Diesel College (I believe the place does exist). Now, clearly this was meant to be funny, because who majors in "pre-med" at a diesel college? The editor changed it to pre-med at Northwestern (the University). That is not funny. Of course some people may not think my first bit was funny, but I tried. This is about as random as it gets on this blog, but I wanted to share!

Or at least it should be. I’m referring once again to Benedict XVI’s The Spirit of the Liturgy. Heck, it should be required reading for liturgists, Church architects, Church artists, etc. Although the Catholic Church isn’t the worst offender with regard to music (non-denominational groups tend to have that honor), we certainly need a revival of the old music coupled with new songs that are written with a greater understanding of  what sacred music really is. For Benedict XVI, this answer lies in the logos. He writes (emphasis mine):

Not every kind of music can have a place in Christian worship. It has its standards, and that standard is the Logos. If we want to know whom we are dealing with, the Holy Spirit or the unholy spirit, we have to remember that it is the Holy Spirit who moves us to say, "Jesus is Lord" (1 Cor 12:3). The Holy Spirit leads us to the Logos, and he leads us to a music that serves the Logos as a sign of the sursum corda, the lifting up of the human heart. Does it integrate man by drawing him to what is above or does it cause his disintegration into formless intoxication or mere sensuality? That is the criterion for a music in harmony with the logos, a form of that logike latreia (reason-able, logos-worth worship)…