Enthusiastic Music

We were out of town this past weekend and had the opportunity to listen to a group of musicians that were quite talented. There were three singers, two electric guitars, a clarinet, a very enthusiastic pianist and a drummer. Their music sounded beautiful, and the acoustics did a great job of amplifying their sound, so much so that my one daughter said she had to cover here ears at times. At one point, their music brought tears to my eyes. I'm not 100% sure of the name of their group, but I think it might be something as simple as the 9:00 Choir.

Beautiful music, lovely sound, absolutely wrong venue.

Many years ago, music like that would have lifted my spirits and made me rejoice inside. As the years have past, I have definitely come to appreciate sacred music at Mass. To hear the Poor Clares sing during Mass at The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament is like being in Heaven! Talk about music that really lifts your soul. My husband, on the other hand has always been a traditionalist when it comes to music at Mass. We all know his taste in church music, so its gotten to the point that every time we are at Mass and the choir sings a Kumbaya type song, we all can't help looking at him.

Anyhow, the tears I mentioned in the first paragraph came after communion, the time when Jesus is intimately united with us for those precious few minutes. The time when we are supposed to recollect ourselves in quiet prayer. A time when the music was so loud that I couldn't even hear myself think. Like I said before, if you put this group in a coffeehouse, it would have been enjoyable to listen to them and join in with them as they swayed back and forth to the music. During Mass, however, we found it incredibly distracting. It made me very upset the more I thought about it because they robbed me of my chance to quietly connect with God during that hour in church.

There was a bright side our experience and that was that we had the opportunity to very heartily thank God that we are not forced to be subjected to that every Sunday :)

God Bless!