Required Reading for Church Musicians
Catholic, Writings June 10th, 2005Or 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)…