Joy, prayer and humility are the three key attitudes recommended by the Pope, on Saturday 30 December, during the audience in the Vatican with the International Federation of Pueri Cantores. To the young guests who help them pray through singing, Francis reminds them that it is “important that each of them keeps their heart close to Jesus, not only when he sings, but always”.
“What you do is very important, because with your voices you help communities to pray, to open their hearts to the Lord; and it is fundamental for the life of the Church”. This is what the Supreme Pontiff declared to the members of the International Federation of Pueri Cantores. Founded on 11 November 1944 by Monsignor Fernand Maillet, director of the Little Singers of the Wooden Cross, it brings together choirs of boys, girls, mixed choirs with sometimes adults for male voices. The meeting with these sacred singing choirs of children and young people was the ideal moment for the Holy Father to provide some advice in the context of their service and their mission as singers.
Joy
“Singing is joy.” This is what Francesco notices first, especially when we do it in chorus. And “the joy of your singing is a gift that you received from those who composed the music you perform, from those who teach it to you and from those who passed it on to you, sometimes even through the centuries”, he explains. Referring to the Bible, the Holy Father underlines that “God loves the one who gives joyfully” (see 2 Cor 9:7). «Therefore», he adds, «when you put your enthusiasm into singing, you give a great gift to those who listen to you», in a world where there is so much need for joy; where many, even “young people, are prisoners of anxiety or boredom”. Through singing and music we can touch hearts, give beauty and restore joy and hope in life, notes the Bishop of Rome.
Singers of the International Pueri Cantores Federation
Prayer
Prayer remains fundamental, because «you are not artists like the others, you don’t put on a show. You help others to pray with your sung prayer. Francis therefore invites these young singers “to keep their hearts close to Jesus, not only when they sing, but always”, in prayer and love. “If your heart is full of love for Jesus – said the Pope – this emerges from the voices and is like an arrow that hits the mark, reaching people’s hearts”. Saint Augustine taught that “singing is the characteristic of those who love” (Sermon 336, 1: PL 38, 1472), and that those who sing pray twice, remember.
For the Holy Father, singing is an act of love: “When we sing, we pray with words and with music, with the heart and with the voice, with devotion and with art”.
«When you sing “Lord, have mercy”, or “Holy, Holy, Holy”, or “The Lord is my shepherd”, you listen with your heart to what you say, because you have met God who is generous in forgiveness, who is holy , who is good and attentive to all our needs, and who always walks with us.”
Walk and grow together
Through singing we send an important message to the community: “By singing and praying together, in harmony, listening to each other, waiting for each other, inserting the rhythm of each one into the rhythm of all, says the Pope, you help the community to do the same, and teach them how much it is It’s nice to walk and grow together.”
Singers of the International Pueri Cantores Federation
A school of humility
A virtue supported by Pope Francis, who underlines that singing is a school of humility, because the singer is always part of a choir, in which we are at the service of each other, even the leader of the choir who directs. And “your song is even more humble, because it is at the service of God”, and “if it helps others to meet the Lord, it also knows how to turn off at the right moment, to make room for silence, where we can all listen to the words in secret that only Jesus can say to each of us”, declares the Successor of Peter. Francis insists on the humility that every good singer must have: «A singer who tries to place himself at the center, or to prevail over others, is not a good singer», says the Pope, inviting us not to try to appear, but rather “seek to merge into everything, because in the unity that comes from humility, your singing expresses true friendship: with God, with others and with each other”, he maintains.
Thanking them, the Holy Father concluded by encouraging these young and devoted singers in their mission which requires a lot of commitment, “just as living well together also requires commitment. But you, with the harmony of your interpretations, the light of your faces and the beauty of your voices, help us to understand that it is worth it”, he underlined.
2023-12-31 09:18:25
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