Sacred Music

An Effective Means

to Fruitful Evangelization

RATIONALE

In this short dissertation, we will scrutinize how Sacred Music can be a very effective means of evangelization, whereby, Music becomes an essential instrument in drawing people’s hearts closer to the Lord in the Eucharist. Here, we will try to seek evidence from existing sources, on how the mind works in relation to the auditory sense or hearing. We will also try to explain how certain kinds of music affect a person’s inner disposition, emotion and overall experience. Finally, we will try to identify the kinds of music that are effective in achieving the purpose of touching people’s hearts and bringing them to love the Lord more and more.

INTRODUCTION

According to Joseph Machlis, music is the language of emotions. Music, like language aims to communicate meaning. Like language, it possesses a grammar, a syntax and a rhetoric. But it is a different kind of language. Words are concrete, tones are fluid and intangible. A word taken by itself has a fixed meaning; a tone assumes meaning only from its association with other tones. Words convey specific ideas; music suggests elusive states of mind.

In the religious life, music, specifically Sacred Music is a way of life. In the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy, and in Chanting the Sacred Hours, Music simply and beautifully gives life to every word and every action of our prayer. It expresses the heart’s deepest longing and yearning for the Almighty, in a manner that can never be expressed by words alone. It portrays the profound divinity and holiness of God in a way that cannot be achieved by mere actions. Indeed, Music augments the celebration of the Liturgy. And as it is the handmaiden of the Liturgy, Sacred Music draws every soul into deep prayer, bringing everyone who hears it ever closer to God our Heavenly Father. But what is it in Sacred Music that draws us to itself? And what is it in Sacred Music that brings many souls closer to...