At 10.30 this morning, in St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father Leo on the occasion of the Jubilee of Choirs and Choirs and of the diocesan anniversary of the XL World Youth Day on the theme: “You too bear witness, because you are with me.”
We publish below the homily that the Pope pronounced during the Eucharistic celebration.
Dear sisters and brothers, in the responsorial psalm we sang: “We will go with joy to the house of the Lord”. Today’s Liturgy invites us, therefore, to walk together in praise and joy towards the Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, gentle and humble Sovereign, He who is the beginning and end of all things. His power and love, his throne and the Cross and, through the Cross, his Kingdom radiates over the world. “From the Cross he reigns” as Prince of peace and King of justice who, in his Passion, reveals to the world the immense mercy of the heart of God. This love is also the inspiration and reason for your singing. Dear choristers and musicians, today celebrate your jubilee and thank the Lord for having granted you the gift and grace to serve him by offering your voices and your talents for his glory and for the spiritual edification of your brothers.
Your exultation, which comes from a heart flooded with the joy of grace.
Your task is to involve them in praising God and making them participate more in the liturgical action through singing. Today you fully express yours “iubilum”your exultation, which comes from a heart flooded with the joy of grace. The great civilizations have given us the gift of music so that we can say what we carry deep in our hearts and that words cannot always express. The whole set of feelings and emotions that arise deep within us from a living relationship with reality can find voice in music. Singing, in particular, represents a natural and complete expression of the human being: the mind, feelings, body and soul here come together to communicate the great things of life. As Saint Augustine reminds us: Cantare amoris estthat is, “the song belongs to those who love”: the one who sings expresses love, but also the pain, tenderness and desire that dwell in his heart and, at the same time, loves the one to whom he directs his song.
For the People of God, the song expresses the invocation and praise, and the “new song” that the Risen Christ raises to the Father, making all the baptized participants, as a single body animated by the new Life of the Spirit. In Christ we become singers of gracechildren of the Church who find the cause of their praise in the Risen One. Liturgical music thus becomes a very precious instrument through which we carry out the service of praise to God and express the joy of new life in Christ.
Saint Augustine exhorts us: «Sing but walk (…) advance in goodness»
Saint Augustine again exhorts us to walk singing, like tired travellers, who find in singing a foretaste of the joy they will feel when they reach their destination. «Sing but walk (…) advance in good». Being part of a choir therefore means moving forward together, taking our brothers by the hand, helping them to walk with us and singing God’s praise with them.consoling them in suffering, exhorting them when they seem to give in to tiredness, giving them enthusiasm when fatigue seems to prevail. Singing reminds us that we are a Church on the move, an authentic synodal reality, capable of sharing with everyone the vocation to praise and joy, in a pilgrimage of love and hope.
Saint Ignatius of Antioch also uses touching words relating the singing of the choir to the unity of the Church: «From your unity and your harmonious love we sing to Jesus Christ. And each one becomes a choir, so that in the harmony of your agreement, taking the tone of God in unity, you sing with one voice for Jesus Christ to the Father, so that he may listen to you and recognize you for your good works.” Indeedthe different voices of a choir harmonize with each other, giving life to a single praise, a luminous symbol of the Church, which unites everyone in love in a single sweet melody.
Yours is a true ministry.
You belong to choirs that carry out their activity mainly in the liturgical service. Yours is a true ministry that requires preparation, fidelity, mutual understanding and, above all, a profound spiritual life, which, if you pray while singing, helps everyone to pray. It is a ministry that requires discipline and a spirit of service, especially when you need to prepare a solemn liturgy or some important event for your communities. The choir is a small family of different people united by the love of music and the service offered. Remember, however, that the community is your big family: you are not in front of it, but you are part of it, committed to making it more united by inspiring and involving it. As in all families, tensions or small misunderstandings can arise, normal things when you work together and struggle to achieve a result. We can say that the choir is somewhat of a symbol of the Church which, reaching out towards its goal, walks through history praising God. Even if at times this journey is fraught with difficulties and trials, and joyful moments alternate with more tiring ones, singing makes the journey lighter and brings relief and consolation.
Therefore, commit yourself to increasingly transforming your choirs into a prodigy of harmony and beautybe ever more luminous image of the Church that praises her Lord. Study carefully the Magisterium, which indicates in the conciliar documents the norms to best carry out your service. Above all, be able to always involve the people of God, without giving in to the temptation of performance which excludes active participation in the singing of the entire liturgical assembly. In this, be an eloquent sign of the prayer of the Church, which through the beauty of music expresses its love for God. Make sure that your spiritual life is always equal to the service you carry out, so that it can authentically express the grace of the Liturgy.
I place you all under the protection of Saint Cecilia, the virgin and martyr who here in Rome with her life raised the most beautiful song of love, giving herself entirely to Christ and offering the Church her luminous testimony of faith and love. Let us proceed singing and make our own, once again, the invitation of the responsorial psalm of today’s liturgy: “Let us go with joy to the house of the Lord”.
Reuters photo
