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“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Silence (Part 3 of 3)

Dr. Peter Kwasniewski · July 25, 2013

641 Guido Marini OME MIGHT WONDER if silence in the liturgy isn’t opposed to the “active participation” of the people. In reality, the fundamental precondition for active participation is interior silence, since, as Fr. Edward McNamara explains, a spirit of recollection “does not impede, and indeed favors, full and active participation in those parts of the celebration where the community is united in acclamation and song, for each person is more fully aware of what he or she is doing.” Indeed, praying in silence is a particularly noble form of human activity, more active than merely speaking or singing, which can easily be done in a distracted frame of mind; and so, developing the dispositions of heart and mind necessary to be able to derive spiritual refreshment from silence is a school of virtue in which every Christian should be enrolled as a lifelong pupil. Fr. McNamara thus counsels: “To help achieve this [interior silence], we should foment by all available means the spirit of attentive and active silence in our celebrations and refrain from importing the world’s clamor and clatter into their midst.”

Silence together with appropriate sacred music convey to our minds the awareness of a transforming mystery by which we can come to grips with sin and death and pass beyond them into love and life, a mystery that is both frightful and alluring. The Mass is nothing less than the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary in our midst: this is the reason why the Crucifix is central in Catholic worship. For this reason Pope Benedict has counseled priests everywhere to celebrate ad crucem, towards an altar cross, if they do not yet judge it expedient to worship ad orientem, towards the East, symbol of the same Christ. The death of God is put before us: this is reason enough for silent awe, and that makes either the altar cross or the eastward stance a kind of “visual silence,” a concentration of our faculties on that which is essential and central. I am reminded here of a characteristically forceful statement by Ratzinger: “If the Church were to accommodate herself to the world in any way that would entail a turning away from the Cross, this would not lead to a renewal of the Church, but only to her death.”

The papal Master of Ceremonies, Monsignor Guido Marini, has written a magnificent summary of Pope Benedict’s views on silence in the liturgy and in the life of the Church. Marini writes:

It is of fundamental importance. Silence is necessary for the life of man, because man lives in both words and silences. Silence is all the more necessary to the life of the believer who finds there a unique moment of their experience of the mystery of God. The life of the Church and the Church’s liturgy cannot be exempt from this need. Here the silence speaks of listening carefully to the Lord, to His presence and His word, and, together these express the attitude of adoration. Adoration, a necessary dimension of the liturgical action, expresses the human inability to speak words, being “speechless” before the greatness of God’s mystery and beauty of His love. The celebration of the liturgy is made up of texts, singing, music, gestures and also of silence and silences. If these were lacking or were not sufficiently emphasized, the liturgy would not be complete and would be deprived of an irreplaceable dimension of its nature.

Msgr. Marini helps us to see the wonderfully reciprocal functions of music and silence at Mass. Authentic sacred music is born out of silence and returns gently into silence. It arises not as an imposition on people or as a provocation of them but as an awed response to God’s beauty—an attempt at interpreting, among us, the heavenly music far above us. Similarly, a truly prayerful silence is one that is, of its very nature, receptive to appropriate sound, whether spoken or sung. In other words, if one’s community does not have a regular experience of profound and meaningful silence, the souls of the faithful cannot be expected to respond sympathetically to the “musical tradition of the universal Church” that the Second Vatican Council called “a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art,” and that the same Council instructed us to “preserve and foster with great care” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 112; 114). You cannot plant seeds in ground that has not been thoroughly cultivated and expect an abundant harvest; you might as well be throwing seeds out for the birds (cf. Mt 13:4). The interior cultivation of a habit of adoring silence is therefore the precondition for the fruitfulness of sacred music. Truly sacred music acts as a frame around the silence and so defines it as sacred silence. Conversely, prayerful silence at Mass acts as an internal direction or weight for the music and so keeps it anchored in the eternal stillness, the “Word without a word.”

Both music and silence, therefore, are profoundly united in their dependence on each other, and even more, in their inherent trajectory beyond themselves into the heart of the mystery of God.

(Read Part 1 and Part 2 here.)

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Dr. Peter Kwasniewski

A graduate of Thomas Aquinas College (B.A. in Liberal Arts) and The Catholic University of America (M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy), Dr. Peter Kwasniewski is currently Professor at Wyoming Catholic College. He is also a published and performed composer, especially of sacred music.

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. However, on the feasts website, the chants have been posted for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), which is this coming Sunday: 6 July 2025.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Bugnini’s Statement (6 November 1966)
    With each passing day, more is revealed about how the enemies of the liturgy accomplished their goals. For instance, Hannibal Bugnini deeply resented the way Vatican II said Gregorian Chant “must be given first place in liturgical services.” On 6 November 1966, his cadre wrote a letter attempting to justify the elimination of Gregorian Chant with this brazen statement: “What really gives a Mass its tone is not so much the songs as it is the prayers and readings.” Bugnini’s cadre then attacked the very heart of Gregorian Chant (viz. the Proprium Missae), bemoaning how the Proprium Missae “is completely new each Sunday and feast day.” There is much more to be said about this topic. Stay tuned.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

Friedman met Egon Wellesz in Altaussee on one of the walks, and Egon started to speak about atonal music—and Ignaz replied: “No, no, no. Melody for me.”

— From the Life of Ignazy Friedman

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