Duszpasterski wymiar muzyki liturgicznej w świetle Adhortacji Sacramentum caritatis

It seems that in the face of the current situation of Polish Church, in the context of social and political transformations and all the years following the ending aggiornamento of the II Vatican Council, and while observing the decline of “dominicantes”, it is high time we dealt with the spiritual formation of those who greatly contribute to the creation of liturgy at our churches. Such a formation is a necessity of the present time! It is our pastoral duty, which we have to carry out by the force of holy orders as priests or bishops. It also seems it is the natural consequence of the Church life, the most important work of which has been deepening the faith of Christ’s followers and leading them to salvation, as The Catechism of The Catholic Church teaches us (cf. Mt 28, 19–20; The Catechism… – Preface). There are many people who cooperate with us at parishes. It is thus important not to treat all of these organized groups, their members and organists in an instrumental way. We should avoid noticing them and their work only then when we need them for our liturgical celebrations, to forget them afterwards. We should make a continuous effort to form their spirituality. Only then will their participation in liturgy be fruitful and complete so they could, through singing, organ playing, but also through their conduct, give the testimony of their strengthened faith. Clergymen need retreat and meditation, so as to more explicitly preach Jesus, but secular Catholics, our associates need them as well. Let us appreciate the possibility of influencing believers, helping them in deepening their faith, all done by good and valuable music. Let us avoid ignoring this charisma which has been given to us. Another, perhaps still little valued, possibility of pastoral influencing believers is good liturgical music, or church music in general. We can preach the mystery of faith through sounds. What we need the is to learn how to treat music in liturgy seriously. Not as a complementary element of silent moments of celebration, but as an integral part of it. Music can help us raise our hearts towards God, it can teach faith, bolster up hope, teach the spiritual way of everyday life. Liturgical music is then the pastoral way of Church doings. To sum up, it is worth to cite the words of Pope Benedict XVI: I encourage all shepherds to do their best so as to emanate with authentic Eucharistic Christian spirituality. The care for music and musicians should be the pastoral care of the Church.