From word to action

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

As music ministers and presiders, one of the main ways we express our faith in prayer is through words. Today’s Gospel, however, reminds us that words alone are not enough. Our actions reflecting our understanding of those words matter. Yet I know how easy it is to overlook the words we use in our liturgical prayer and song. Worried about musical notes, finding the right page in the book, and attending to the thousand other details of liturgy, we risk making our words mere vehicles for sound or scripted transitions into the next ritual action.

Here’s one way to help our words shape our lives. Starting the Monday before, begin each day speaking and reflecting on the text for next Sunday’s gathering song and collect. At midday, speak slowly the responsorial psalm. At mealtime, pray out loud the text for the Communion song and the prayer over the gifts. At bedtime, pray the words of the closing song and the post-Communion prayer.

Doing this helps us to understand and mean what we say and sing. With God’s grace and through the steady work of the Spirit, our minds and hearts are changed day by day to conform to the mind and heart of Christ, that we may say, “Yes, I will go,” mean it, and do it.

This post was first published in “GIA Quarterly: A Liturgical Music Journal.”

Image credit: Photo by Kaz–19203 on pixabay.