The Meditative Power Of Catholic Mass Songs

what is the meditation song in a catholic mass

Music is an integral part of the Catholic Mass, with songs and hymns used to glorify and honour God and lead the congregation into a deeper knowledge of Him. The Mass, or 'missa', is a sacred musical composition that sets the invariable portions of the Christian Eucharistic liturgy, and there are many songs that are used throughout the Mass, including during the Introductory Rites, the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and the Concluding Rites.

Characteristics Values
Purpose To bring glory and honour to the Lord, to lead to a deeper knowledge of Him, and to help become more aware of the presence of God
Selection criteria Songs that can be used as prayers, don't worry too much about how you sound
Examples Holy Hour by Matt Maher, You Are by Aly Aleigha Band, Make Your Home In Me by Ben Walther, What A Beautiful Name by Hillsong, Litany of Saints by Matt Maher, Ubi Caritas by Audrey Assad, Peace Be Still by John Finch, O Come To the Altar by Elevation Worship, This Is Jesus by Melanie Rea, All Hail The King by Vertical Worship, O Saving Victim by Curtis Stephan & Steve Angrisano, God I Look To You by Bethel Music, Lord Have Mercy by The Vigil Project, Boldly I Approach by Rend Collective, Mystery by Mathias Michael ft. Dana Catherine, Run To The Cross by Sarah Kroger, Divine Praises by Josh Blakesley and Sarah Hart
Timing After communion
Performance Congregational singing, choral music, a cappella, instrumental obbligatos, full orchestra

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The role of music in Catholic liturgy

Music has always been an integral part of Catholic liturgy, with the verb "to sing" being one of the most commonly used words in the Bible. It occurs 309 times in the Old Testament and 36 times in the New Testament. The singing of the Church comes out of love, and liturgical music is a higher form of proclamation. It is a clear dominance of the Word, rising out of the love that responds to God's love for mankind, made flesh in Christ.

The Second Vatican Council carefully considered the role of sacred music in divine services and issued principles and laws on the subject in the Constitution on the Liturgy. The Council explained that liturgical worship is given a more noble form when it is celebrated in song, with the ministers of each degree fulfilling their ministry and the people participating in it. The beauty of the sacred rites, performed in song, more openly shows the mystery of the liturgy, with its hierarchical and community nature. The unity of hearts is more profoundly achieved by the union of voices, and minds are more easily raised to heavenly things. Pastors of souls are therefore encouraged to achieve this form of celebration.

The proper arrangement of a liturgical celebration requires the due assignment and performance of certain functions, carefully observing the meaning and nature of each part and song. To attain this, those parts which by their nature require to be sung should be sung, using the kind and form of music that is proper to their character. The more ornate and magnificent the singing and ceremonial, the more truly solemn the liturgy. However, it is important that this does not lead to the omission, change, or improper performance of any part of the action.

The faithful fulfil their liturgical role by making a full, conscious, and active participation in the liturgy, which is both their right and duty as the Christian people. This participation should be both internal and external, showing their internal participation through gestures, bodily attitudes, acclamations, responses, and singing. They should also be taught to unite themselves interiorly with what the ministers or choir sing, so that by listening, they may raise their minds to God.

The active participation of the whole people, which is shown in singing, is to be carefully promoted. This includes acclamations, responses to the priest and ministers, antiphons, psalms, refrains, hymns, and canticles. The people should be gradually led to a fuller and more complete participation in the singing that pertains to them. Some of the people's songs, especially if the faithful have not been sufficiently instructed, can be handed over to the choir alone, provided that the people are not excluded from those parts that concern them.

The choir, or schola cantorum, has a particular role to play in the liturgy. Its duty is to ensure the proper performance of the parts that belong to it and to encourage the active participation of the faithful in the singing. Choirs are especially important in cathedrals and other major churches, in seminaries, and religious houses of study. It is also desirable to set up similar choirs in smaller churches.

The Second Vatican Council also directed that "bishops and other pastors of souls must be at pains to ensure that, whenever the sacred action is to be celebrated with song, the whole body of the faithful may be able to contribute that active participation which is rightly theirs". To achieve this full and active congregational participation, great restraint in introducing new hymns has proven most helpful.

In conclusion, music plays a vital role in Catholic liturgy, enhancing the beauty of the sacred rites and facilitating the active participation of the faithful. It is a means of expressing love and devotion to God and responding to His love for mankind. The proper arrangement and performance of liturgical music contribute to the solemnity and effectiveness of the liturgy, making it a more noble and fruitful celebration.

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The history of the Mass

The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church. The term "Mass" is derived from the concluding words of the Roman Rite Mass in Latin: "Ite, missa est" ("Go, it is the dismissal"), officially translated as "Go forth, the Mass is ended".

The first Mass was instituted by Christ at the Last Supper, on the first Holy Thursday. The first Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was celebrated on the eve of the Passion. The Mass contains the four essential elements of a true sacrifice: priest, victim, altar, and sacrifice. Its Priest, Jesus Christ, uses the ministry of an earthly representative; its Victim, Jesus Christ, truly present under the appearances of bread and wine; its altar; and the Sacrifice is a mystic representation of the blood-shedding of Calvary.

The Mass that Catholics participate in today is the same sacrifice, now made present to us. When we attend Mass, we obey the command of Jesus at the Last Supper, "Do this in memory of me". Since the time of the Last Supper, Christians have been asked to gather together once a week to celebrate the Lord's Supper as commanded by Jesus. The language of the Mass, originally celebrated by Jesus and the Apostles, was Aramaic. Then later the prayers of the Mass were in Greek, and later in many other languages of the ancient world: Syriac, Coptic, Latin, etc.

Throughout the history of Christianity, the format and prayers used for the Mass have changed and evolved, from Masses in the homes of early Christians (with everyone sitting or reclining at tables) to the Masses in the larger buildings of ancient Rome called basilicas. For many years, the language of the Mass was Greek, and from the end of the 300s, and throughout the 400s, parts of the Mass were read in Latin, which was the common language of the people of the time. With more and more people participating in the Mass, there was no longer any room in the home, even in larger homes, so after the emperor Constantine granted Christians the right to practice their religion publicly, the emperor or others built buildings made for larger gatherings.

The Second Vatican Council, held in Rome between 1962 and 1965, decreed a revision of the Roman Missal, which was put into effect by Pope Paul VI in 1969. The ceremonies of the Sacred Sacrifice of the Mass were simplified so that the basic structure of the Mass—Liturgy of the Word, and Liturgy of the Eucharist—was more easily visible and understood. The main purpose of the change was for the pastoral benefit of the Catholic people. The goal, first encouraged by Pope Pius X in 1903, was the greater participation of those who attended the Mass.

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The Mass and the Second Vatican Council

The Second Vatican Council, also known as Vatican II, was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. It was called by Pope John XXIII, who felt that the Church needed "updating" (in Italian: aggiornamento) to better connect with people in an increasingly secularized world. The council met in Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for four periods, each lasting between 8 and 12 weeks, in the autumn of each of the four years 1962 to 1965.

The council had a significant impact on the Church due to the scope and variety of issues it addressed. Some of the most notable changes were in the performance of the Mass, including the authorization of vernacular languages in addition to Latin. The "Dogmatic Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy" established the principle of greater participation by the laity in the celebration of Mass and authorized significant changes in the texts, forms, and language used.

The council also promulgated decrees on various practical matters, such as the pastoral duties of bishops, ecumenism, the Eastern-rite churches, the ministry and life of priests, the education for the priesthood, the religious life, the missionary activity of the church, the apostolate of the laity, and the media of social communication. Furthermore, declarations on religious freedom, the church’s attitude toward non-Christian religions, and Christian education were produced.

The Second Vatican Council's impact on the Church was immense, with some calling it "the most important religious event of the twentieth century" and "the single most important event for Catholicism in four centuries". The sixteen documents enacted by the council fathers are considered the most important texts produced by the Catholic Church in the past four hundred years.

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The Ordinary of the Mass

  • Kyrie eleison ("Lord, have mercy")
  • Gloria ("Glory to God in the highest")
  • Credo ("I believe in one God"), also known as the Nicene Creed
  • Sanctus ("Holy, Holy, Holy"), the second part of which, beginning with "Benedictus" ("Blessed is he"), was often sung separately after the consecration
  • Agnus Dei ("Lamb of God")

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The musical settings of the Mass

The Mass is a form of sacred musical composition that sets the invariable portions of the Christian Eucharistic liturgy, known as the Ordinary. The Ordinary of the Mass employs texts that remain the same for every Mass. Those sung by the choir are, in the Latin Mass, the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus (sometimes divided into Sanctus and Benedictus), and Agnus Dei, although the intonations of Gloria and Credo are sung by the celebrant.

The earliest musical settings of the Mass were plainchant (one voice part, in free rhythm) melodies. From the 9th to the 16th centuries, some plainchants were expanded by means of tropes—the grafting of new music and new texts onto the original chants. Organum, the simultaneous combination of more than one melody, was developed in about the 9th century. In about 1300, polyphonic cycles of the Ordinary appeared. The French composer Guillaume de Machaut (d. 1377) wrote the first complete Ordinary cycle, the Messe de Notre Dame.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, numerous composers chose the Ordinary as a chief means of musical expression. Masters of the 15th century were the Englishman John Dunstable and the Burgundian Guillaume Dufay. Both applied the treble-dominated style of plainchant. Dufay brought to completion the developments of cantus firmus mass, in which each section of the Ordinary is based on a pre-composed melody, or cantus firmus, usually either a plainchant melody or a secular song.

The celebrated Flemish composer Josquin des Prez (d. 1521), among his several other innovations, perfected the parody mass: the borrowing and free elaboration of two or more parts of another sacred or secular composition within a new setting of the Ordinary texts. He also standardized the use of melodic imitation by having each voice begin in turn with the same motif.

The works of the Italian composer Giovanni da Palestrina (d. 1594) summarize the techniques of his era. His style was later termed the stile antico, the ancient polyphonic style, in contrast to the stile moderno, the 17th-century modern solo style. In the 17th century, these two styles are found, sometimes even juxtaposed, in the Ordinary of the Mass settings, along with the use of the concertato principle: one or more solo voices or instruments, in running scale passages, that contrast with the whole choral and instrumental ensemble. In such settings, the text is separated into smaller units to permit varied settings and instrumental interludes.

In the 18th century, the Neapolitan Alessandro Scarlatti continued the operatic approach, as did Haydn and Mozart. Beethoven's Missa Solemnis (completed 1823) flows from the contemplation of the liturgy, as does J.S. Bach's Mass in B Minor (1724–46), but neither was meant to accompany it.

Near the beginning of the 19th century in Germany, there arose a renewed interest in plainchant and 16th-century polyphony, ideals that in 1868 initiated the Cecilian movement for reform in Roman Catholic liturgical music. But composers still wrote settings for orchestra, chorus, and soloists, notable examples being Franz Liszt, Charles-François Gounod, and Anton Bruckner.

In the 20th century, the Ordinary settings of composers such as Igor Stravinsky, the Hungarian Zoltán Kodály, the French composer Francis Poulenc, and the British composers Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, and William Walton continued to thrive. A kind of troped Ordinary is the American Leonard Bernstein's Mass.

Frequently asked questions

Some examples of meditation songs that can be played during a Catholic funeral mass include "Jesus Christ, Our Sovereign King", "Hail Mary, Gentle Woman", and "Let There Be Peace On Earth".

Some examples of choral meditation songs that can be played during a Catholic mass include Lambillotte's "Panis Angelicus", Arcadelt's "Ave Maria", and a Gregorian "Ave Verum Corpus".

Although I couldn't find specific songs, instrumental meditation songs can be a cappella or accompanied by instrumental obbligatos up to and including a full orchestra.

Unfortunately, songs outside of the parameters allowed by the church are generally not permitted during Catholic mass.

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