Singing at Mass - How God Feels About It

Dear Friends,
Our second reading two weeks ago from the letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians said: Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father. Over the years, often in the courtyard, I’ve heard a number of reasons given for why not singing at mass would be all right:

Reason Given	Response
My voice is terrible.	God doesn’t think so.
I can’t carry a tune.	God doesn’t care.
My family tells me not to sing.	God tells you to sing. Who wins?
A grownup told me when I was young that I should just “mouth the words” and not ruin the sound by singing out.	God disagrees.
I’m “tone deaf”.	That’s highly unlikely – science tells us that only between 2% and 5% of people truly are, and many of them can be cured if they’re willing to try to sing.
The songs are too hard.	We try to choose singable music, though I’m bound to miss the mark occasionally. With repetition, and your willingness to try, and persist, you’ll learn them.
The songs are too high.	​So sing them down the octave, or skip certain notes.
I don’t know the songs.	Yes, but you can learn them. We normally sing new songs several weeks in a row to help you grow comfortable with them.
I’m not here to make noise... I’m here to pray quietly.	There are times at Mass for quiet, inward prayer, like when the priest says or chants “Let us pray.” At other times, though, God asks us to speak out, gesture, or sing together.
​Singing during communion is distracting.	Distracting from what? The point of singing during the communion procession is to pray, expressing our unity with God and each other.
​I don’t want to spoil what the music ministers are doing.	​The only way to spoil what we are trying to do in music ministry is by NOT participating, so please do!

As we have heard before, we are not the audience at Mass; God is. We are the performers. Not just the priest, or the choir… but all of us. Our contribution matters to God, as we see from the Scripture above.

We music ministers are not here to entertain you. We are here to support your efforts to pray in song. Even when the choirs occasionally sing choral music on their own, the aim is not entertainment, but to lift your minds and hearts – along with our own – to God, often by emphasizing a particular idea or image from the day’s readings, or from the season we are celebrating. But those moments are rare and occasional, and will happen mostly at offertory or after communion. Everything else from the entrance song through the sending forth song, is meant to be sung by all present. God doesn’t need our worship but we do.
And it does delight him ... and he’s asked for it!

Siempre Adelante,

Dominic MacAller
Liturgy and Music Minister

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