“TO SING IS TO PRAY TWICE.”

– SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

There is a song that starts with a lone violin. The melody is introduced to the listener with a long mournful note. It hovers in the air like a long-held breath on the cusp of exhalation. The musician gently evokes a string of quavers and crotchets, interspersed with minims and breves. You are ferried through a kaleidoscope of sound, skirting across the spectrum as bass notes that lower the mood or as a crescendo is knitted together to take you to rousing heights. There are subtle variations in the story being told, as you are taken on harmonic pathways that pull at your heartstrings. The song eventually resolves its way back to its main unfolding theme. This song is a new reality that has been lovingly and beautifully crafted, much like the world created by an artist at the tip of their paintbrush as colours and movements combine.

We all have a favoured tune, whether it is a song that brings you comfort or a guilty pleasure. Is there a piece of music that transports you to a place of joy and peace, or moves your heart with its simple beauty or mournful reminders? There is a reason why music accompanies every major life event: weddings, funerals, religious celebrations, birthdays, and anniversaries. Some songs and melodies become the soundtracks of our lives. Memories are captured when listening to a favoured pop song, or a song from a beloved artist played on repeat until it is tattooed in our ear canals.

Our Christian tradition has always involved singing and song. It is instilled in our souls. And stirs our souls. The Psalms were all originally written to be sung, expressing complex theological realities, lived experiences, or raw emotions. Early Christian communities would sing their truth and their burgeoning experiences of the Risen Christ in their gatherings. As the great Christian mystic and musician St Hildegard of Bingen described, “All of creation is a song of praise to God.”

St Vincent de Paul, by many accounts, was an avid and beautiful singer. During his alleged time of enslavement, he would recall, with longing, the songs “Quomodo cantabimus in terra aliena,”

“Super flumina Babylonis,” and the “Salve Regina,” among other great hymns of his time. His testimony of faith through song was so strong that it captured the attention of his captors, ultimately leading to his freedom.

All of these examples of the elevated place of music remind us of the transcendence that exists in the ordinary experiences of our lives. This boundless elevation that music provides can lead to another transcendent reality: the love of God revealed in Christ Jesus.

So, that melody that is quietly swirling around in your head? Go, have a listen!

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

• What is your favourite piece of music, and why?
• When has music brought you closer to God?

From: Firewood for the soul, vol. 2, A Reflexion Book for the Whole Vincentian Family
St. Vincent de Paul Society, Queensland, Australia.
Text by: Samantha Hill and James Hodge.