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CV NEWS FEED // Cardinal Robert Sarah on Jan. 15 said he is working on a book about music in the liturgy that will include practical insights for priests and musicians serving at church.
Peter Carter, founder of the Catholic Sacred Music Project, is working on the project with him. Cardinal Sarah said he and Carter are hopeful that Ignatius Press will publish the book, titled “The Song of the Lamb: Sacred Music and the Heavenly Liturgy,” later this year.
The book aims “to address many practical questions which I hope will be of help to priests and to musicians in restoring truly beautiful liturgical music to our churches,” Cardinal Sarah said in his Jan. 15 address at the Third International Catholic Clergy Conference in Rome.
Beauty is an essential part of the Mass, not simply as an aesthetic ideal, but also as an inherent and pastoral aspect of the liturgy, Cardinal Sarah explained.
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A specific element where this applies is sacred music, which is integral to the proper celebration of the Mass, as Pope Benedict XVI explained in Sacramentum Caritatis, Cardinal Sarah said.
“There is very much work to be done in singing the liturgy rather than simply singing something at the liturgy,” he continued. “I am aware of how difficult this responsibility of the priest can be, particularly when he is newly appointed and encounters people of good will and enthusiasm but with erroneous formation in liturgical music.”
He noted that when beauty is a matter of one’s individual preference, stress and tension can result. Cardinal Sarah encouraged the clergy present to not shy away from these situations, but to engage with much charity, care for the truth, and patience.
“We do not wish to drive souls away, but we must find ways of leading them to the discovery of the beauty of the Church’s heritage of liturgical music, particularly Gregorian chant, and of the importance and value of modern liturgical compositions that ‘correspond to the meaning of the mystery being celebrated, the structure of the rite and the liturgical seasons,’” he said, quoting Sacramentum Caritatis.
Cardinal Sarah praised efforts to expand resources for liturgical music and explained that the upcoming book is his contribution to the work.
He told the clergy in attendance, “I can only encourage you to do your best in this difficult area, to invest in well-formed lay personnel to assist you, particularly if your own musical gifts are not great, and to give them the resources they need to do so. Sacred music is not an optional extra, but an integral element of the beauty of the Sacred Liturgy.”
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