Meditation for August 28, Singing

We do not sufficiently develop Christian joy. If we would esteem at their true value the divine riches with which we are loaded, we would exult with perpetual happiness; it would be difficult to stop singing, to refrain from offering up an incessant Alleluia.

We are so often dull, weighed down, languishing, and groaning on our way!

Because he penetrated more deeply than anyone the super­natural splendors with which the human soul is filled by God, St. Augustine used to interrupt his doctrinal explanations from time to time, in order to invite his audience to intone the Te Deum with him.

Sing ye to God, sing a psalm to his name, and make a way for him who ascendeth upon the west: The Lord is his name. Rejoice ye before Him. . . .
Sing ye to God, ye kingdoms of the earth; sing ye to the Lord: Sing ye to God who mounteth the heaven of heavens, to the east. (Ps. 67, 33-34.)

Our greatness certainly does not come from ourselves, it comes from what we do in union with Christ. If we were to say that we are holy through our own strength, that would be folly, but as members of Christ, we are holy; if we were to say that we are not holy that would be ingratitude. . . . It would be equivalent to saying that the members of such a Head are not saints. Have joy, but joy in complete humility, and in the realization of our magnifi­cent responsibility as members of Christ.

"Let my life be a mass," someone said once, "but let it be a Missa Cantata - a sung mass." Splendid Ideal!
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)