Don't overlook the future


Most readers of this site will agree that church musicians need to understand the theory and theological rationale of the chant and music that is proper to the Roman Liturgy. But one group that is often overlooked is the children. Spending time and energy on their education both musically and liturgically is critical to the future face of the Church in America and throughout the world.

Pope Benedict XVI has stressed the importance of the Church’s not bending its will to a society steeped in relativism. Children raised in such a society fail to learn that good and evil are real, are not based solely on one’s perception, and that it is absolute truth that must guide us in our lives.

But Catholic liturgy offers a truth, beauty, and clarity otherwise unknown in today’s relativist surroundings. Its real drama has the unique ability to impart our children with an understanding of what is of real value.

Dietrich von Hildebrand writes:


… In the Liturgy we find embodied in a unique fashion the spirit of true response to value, this awareness that an adequate answer is due to value because it is such as it is. Not in the name of this or that aim, nor in order to improve sanctify ourselves but because “Thou alone art Holy.”

…. To be irradiated and affected by values, to affirm and give oneself up to all things that possess a value, and to be joyous over them – above all to love them – is to be wed to the world of values. Thereby we become transformed: the fullness of personal values blossoms in us. In the adoring love of the God who disclosed Himself in Christ we become like Christ. The life of Christ ontologically implanted in us by Baptism develops personality in us.


Children can participate in the struggles and triumphs as well. When they hear the sound of chant within the context of the Liturgy, even the youngest children understand, almost intuitively, that they are not in an ordinary place, and that mysterious and wonderful things are taking place around them. They will learn over time to take upon themselves the appropriate attitudes of reverence. In time, the reverence will become not a posture, but a part of their understanding of their world. Their character will be formed.

Hildebrand continues:


...The person formed by Liturgy will absorb in his flesh and blood the notion that he owes a suitable response to every value. He will rejoice in every exalted spectacle of nature, the beauty of the starlit sky, the majesty of the sea and mountains, the charm of life, […], the nobility of a profound truth, [and] the mysterious glow of a man’s purity.

(from Liturgy and Personality; Sophia Institute Press, Manchester, New Hampshire, 1993, pp. 59-66)


Elementary and middle school aged children can participate even more actively. Children between the ages of 8 and 12, and even teens, have a remarkable ability to absorb new ideas and attitudes, memorize texts and learn complicated systems of notation.

Why not spend time now teaching them what they need to know about music and its role in Catholic Liturgy. They can also learn practical lessons: how to master their own voices and work with other singers, how to navigate the rigors of the chant, and how, as up and coming church musicians, to approach the gift of the Mass with humility.

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