Sing to the Lord a New Song

“As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.”

Today, sisters, we celebrate the feast of St. Hildegard von Bingen because the Holy Father, Pope Francis, desired that she be added to the general calendar for today along with St. Robert Bellarmine. And I actually love St. Hildegard. Everyone goes to St. Cecilia as a patroness of sacred music, but St. Hildegard intercedes for us musicians as well.

And I want to bring her up because one of my favorite parts about celebrating Mass for you sisters is the fact that, especially on mornings I’m running a little late, you’re so faithfully and reverently singing an opening hymn. And most of these mornings, I get to listen to your singing as I’m vesting. And it just reminds me of what heaven is supposed to be: the continuous and eternal singing of the New Song, taught to us by the New Moses himself.

And this is what St. Hildegard teaches us: that liturgical singing, whether it’s the chanting of the psalms or the singing of the hymns of the Church, is not merely done because we like to sing. Rather, she was bold enough to claim the proper worship requires singing. To St. Hildegard, Adam could offer perfect worship to God as His first high priest because Adam’s voice blended with the voices of the angelic hosts. But the Fall caused Adam to lose that divine voice.

But thanks be to God that Christ the New Adam has redeemed us. Thanks be to God that He has given us the Holy Spirit, who St. Paul says “intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” What mode of sighing can be too deep for words but that of song? Music can express something much deeper than mere words can. Music charms the soul.

In that way, dear sisters, we all have a role to play. Just as an ensemble or an orchestra is incomplete when it lacks certain voices, so too the body of Christ. Thank you for your prayers expressed in song. Please continue to pray for me, pray for yourselves, and pray for our Church in song, in that mode that is too deep for words. Truly, to sing with one another here on earth is a preparation for when we will sing together in the heavenly liturgy. To sing with one another is one of the greatest spiritual gifts. Let us together fulfill the command of today’s psalm: Come before the Lord with joyful song.