Monday, August 13, 2012

Popular Music and Prayer

Music can be a very beautiful thing. (How's that for a platitude?) As such, it can be a way of bringing glory to our Creator in its very essence. That is not to say that all "music" falls into this category nor that only hymns can be used for prayer. 

Basically, what I am trying to say is this: music, even that not expressly written to praise God, can be used as a conduit to prayer. As such there is a time and a place for both popular music and hymns. Obviously, pop music does not belong in the liturgy, nor should hymns be restricted to liturgical use.

Nevertheless, popular music, as long as it is not inherently evil, can be a very useful jumpstart to prayer. Even the saints have used it to praise God. In particular, "St Josemaria used to love singing love-songs, to which he gave a new meaning about loving God. “Never be afraid,” he said, “to use clean human love songs to sing about divine love. Because we love with one same heart. God loves us like that, madly, each of us, as if we were the only person on earth” (quoted by Ana Sastre, Tiempo de Caminar). " From http://www.josemariaescriva.info

 A song that I've come to appreciate more in light of God's goodness is "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri. 



I cannot listen to it without meditating on Christ's presence in the Eucharist. I like to see it as a dialogue between the soul and Christ. For example, the song begins with a soul afraid to submit to God's will. In the refrain, we find Christ's response:

I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more


Who else has loved and waited for us for thousands of years in the tabernacle? Who's death is made present in the Sacrament of the Altar every day in all corners of the world?  


Time stands still
Beauty in all she is
I will be brave
I will not let anything take away
What's standing in front of me
Every breath
Every hour has come to this


The purpose of our life here on earth is to follow Christ's will for us: in every moment, at any time, fiat! Let it be done!  "Every hour" of our life comes down to this. Strengthened by God's grace, we must "be brave" and rid ourselves of attachments which distance our relationship with not what, but Who is standing before us in the Eucharist. 


"Jesus has made Himself the Bread of Life to give us life. Night and day, He is there. If you really want to grow in love, come back to the Eucharist, come back to that Adoration."
--Mother Teresa


"When you approach the tabernacle remember that he has been waiting for you for twenty centuries."
--St. Josemaria Escriva

Let us make an effort to visit our Divine Love in the tabernacle today in gratitude for his great goodness to us poor creatures.