Friday, March 15, 2013

Musica Sacra



Since we started discovering the beauty and richness of our Catholic faith through the Traditional Latin Mass, I have grown to love sacred music, particularly those sung in Gregorian Chant.  Personally, I think it enhances the Church's Liturgy and gives it so much more depth.  Hence, it is capable of uplifting our worship and deepening our prayer and meditation, rendering it more profound and therefore fruitful.

This is exactly the reason why, for this blogsite, I HAD to include sacred music.  I wanted it incorporated in such a way that it would play in the background as soon as the page was opened.  I remember a while back when I discovered MIXPOD, I felt like having won the lottery because this was exactly how I was going to be able to put the musical feature onto the page.  Once on, it was great having it for several months, until Mixpod closed up for good.  My disappointment over this happening was enough to keep me away from accessing the page, much less publishing new posts altogether (although my constantly busy schedule had a lot to do with my inability to visit my blogsite, as well).

Today I am so happy that after doing some research online, trialling this and that, and tweaking here and there, I finally managed to re-incorporate beautiful liturgical hymns in Gregorian Chant back into my blogpage. 

Sacred music has transcended both time and space, and is truly an experience in itself.  Traditional liturgical hymns in Latin which date back from the time of early Church fathers and great saints are especially spiritually powerful and moving.  Sacred music is such a part of our ancient heritage and tradition as Catholics, and listening to it and using it for meditation can even sometimes give us the feeling of being reconnected with our earliest predecessors in the faith, particularly the saints and martyrs!

Qui enim cantat laudem, non solum laudat, sed etiam hilariter laudat; qui cantat laudem, non solum cantat, sed et amat eum quem cantat. In laude confitentis est praedicatio, in cantico amantis affectio… 

For he who sings praise, does not only praise, but also praises joyfully; he who sings praise, not only sings, but also loves Him whom he is singing about/to/for. There is a praise-filled public proclamation in the praise of someone who is confessing/acknowledging (God), in the song of the lover.

- St Augustine




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