The Danger of Praise and Worship

FRIEND OF MINE wrote an article for Life Teen recently, entitled: Leading Worship with Purpose – The Temple Model. Even though I am not a big fan of Praise and Worship, I still know a lot about it because I grew up with it and I went to the College in Steubenville. And I was interested in what she has to say. Personally, I don’t think Praise and Worship music is bad. I think it is a good devotion and can be a great way to pray. However, it is not Sacred Music (and to be honest, I have never heard anyone call it Sacred Music, have you?), and therefore should not be used during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Her “model of worship” is very creative. The way she connect the Temple to Praise and Worship is very interesting. Her suggestion is very practical and I think it will help people to pray better. However, this article also brings up a great danger and confusion. Is “Praise and Worship” really a “Worship”? In the Catholic Church, the only form of prayer that is referred as “Worship” is the Mass. It is very confusing when people start referring Praise and Worship as “Worship”, because IT IS NOT! The title of the article is an example of that.

The same danger came up again when the Temple Worship and Praise and Worship being compared, and creating a sort of “rubrics”. I am glad that the act of sacrifice itself was not mentioned in the article. But I still don’t think it is appropriate to link up Temple Worship and Praise and Worship. The Liturgy of the Eucharist or the Mass of the Faithful is the unbloody sacrifice of the Lamb of God, originated from the Jewish Temple Worship. And this Worship should not be confused with Praise and Worship. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not saying Praise and Worship is dangerous, but confusing it with the Liturgy is dangerous.

Going off my friend’s article, may I suggest that we all sing the Mass following a “Temple Model”? We believe that Old Roman Chant, later became Gregorian Chant, was developed from the Chant they sing in the Temple Worship. The Jews used the Psalter as a hymnal in their Worship, and we should also use ours in the Mass. Ours is a little different from the Jewish Psalter, because scriptures from the New Testament were added to our Official Roman Catholic Hymnal, the Graduale Romanum. By chanting the Propers and Ordinaries of the Mass, we are picking up the “Temple Model”.