• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

The Fruit of Silence is Prayer

Richard J. Clark · March 19, 2020

EAREST musicians, colleagues, and friends, I wish you all God’s peace and protection during this exceptionally difficult time. Societal lockdown and cancelation of Mass is unprecedented in any of our lifetimes. It’s a spiritual, emotional, and economic challenge. It is difficult to know where to place our energies while remaining physically safe and adhering to our grave responsibility to keep others safe.

I’m concerned about those who may suffer creeping depression from prolonged isolation or underutilization. I am concerned about underemployed and unemployed liturgical musicians,  pastoral staffs, and teachers who are not lucratively paid during the best of times. I am concerned for the safety of our priests.

I am worried about volunteers who depend on their choirs and communities to sustain their spirit. I am concerned for more vulnerable volunteers.

The litany of worry is endless. We are forced to trust in God, perhaps to a degree that makes us uncomfortable. (I am speaking for myself.) We are brutally — and mercifully — confronted with the necessity of prayer.

Likewise, there are opportunities such as learning new repertoire, composing, or preparing for the future — or better yet — opportunities and blessings to be more present to our families, friends, and neighbors.

“Music arises out of silence and returns to silence.”

Perhaps the greatest opportunity is for prayer. Under normal circumstances, most of us would be exceedingly busy preparing for Holy Week. Now Holy Week celebrations are shrouded with a big question mark. The likelihood is that we are facing prolonged silence.

Yet the fruit of silence is prayer. Cardinal Seán O’Malley is fond of quoting Saint Theresa of Calcutta:

“The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, and the fruit of service is peace.”

On the surface, silence is antithetical to musicians. But prayer is not. Church musicians are familiar with sacred silence; its importance cannot be underestimated. Today, we may be given the gift of an overabundance of silence, but perhaps its fruit will reverberate for years. “Music arises out of silence and returns to silence.” (Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship, No. 118)

My mother is quite fond of saying, “Man proposes. God disposes.” (Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit) Thomas à Kempis writes in The Imitation of Christ:

“Just men depend on the grace of God rather than on their own wisdom in keeping their resolutions. In Him they confide every undertaking, for man, indeed, proposes but God disposes, and God’s way is not man’s.” (Book I, Chapter 19)

Disruption

Plans and lives uprooted, we may be called to examine aspects of our lives otherwise neglected. With silence and prayer comes faith and love. Faith and love may drive inspiration, call to service, and renewed action. Certain opportunities may be limited today. God will assuredly bless you tomorrow with renewed plans that arise unexpectedly and joyfully.

Gratitude

Meanwhile, our Lenten fast has radically shifted course just before Laetare Sunday. We likely don’t feel the inspiration to rejoice, but we might with a spirit of gratitude. Rejoice in gratitude for each other’s prayers. Rejoice in gratitude for God’s eternal love. Rejoice in the Lord always who will see us through hardship while drawing us to Him closer than we have ever been before.

Furthermore, we have Pope Saint Pius X to thank for the paradigm shift of encouraging frequent reception of communion — something we take for grated now, but was rare throughout the Church’s history. In fasting from the Eucharist now, we may have greater appreciation for the grace of the sacraments, prayer, and a renewed understanding of the power of Spiritual Communion. Our joy when receiving the Eucharist again may be boundless!

I don’t pretend to have any answers or possess wisdom greater than any of you. I am attempting to learn with each passing hour. I am greatly comforted by your prayers. Know you are in mine every minute of every day.

Oremus pro invicem
Let us pray for each other.

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

Follow the Discussion on Facebook

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: March 20, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Hymn by Cardinal Newman
    During the season of Septuagesima, we will be using this hymn by Cardinal Newman, which employs both Latin and English. (Readers probably know that Cardinal Newman was one of the world's experts when it comes to Lingua Latina.) The final verse contains a beautiful soprano descant. Father Louis Bouyer—famous theologian, close friend of Pope Paul VI, and architect of post-conciliar reforms—wrote thus vis-à-vis the elimination of Septuagesima: “I prefer to say nothing, or very little, about the new calendar, the handiwork of a trio of maniacs who suppressed (with no good reason) Septuagesima and the Octave of Pentecost and who scattered three quarters of the Saints higgledy-piddledy, all based on notions of their own devising!”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Introit • Candlemas (2 February)
    “Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here's a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.) We still need to improve, but we're definitely on the right track!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3). I'm not a fan of chant in octaves, but we had such limited time to rehearse, it seemed the best choice. After all, everyone should have an opportunity to learn “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium,” which summarizes Candlemas.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Orlando de Lassus died in Munich on 14 June 1594, the selfsame day his employer decided to dismiss him for economic reasons. He never saw the letter.”

— New Grove

Recent Posts

  • Did Pope Francis Just Publicly Rebuke the Prefect of Divine Worship?
  • Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “The Normal Syllabic Value” (6 Feb 2023)
  • Hymn by Cardinal Newman
  • Church Music Shouldn’t Be “Headache-Inducing”
  • Introit • Candlemas (2 February)

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.