Help please with Catholic singing, chanting, prayers

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kathryn_Ann
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
K

Kathryn_Ann

Guest
Hi, could someone help me with how our Catholic singing of prayers, The Holy Rosary, Gregorian chants, hymns, etc, differ from so many of the Eastern healing vocalizations? I want to know so that I can discuss this with people who are agnostics and believe only in the power of the human voice as a healing source.

My initial reaction when I heard about these “vocalization healing processes” is that we as Catholics pray, sing and give our voices TO our loving Heavenly Father and trust in Him for everything, versus simply using the physical human voice to “transcend” illness.

I appreciate your help on helping me express and explain the differences.
 
The prayerful nature of Catholic songs and songs as a means of healing are not contradictory.

We Catholics do use songs for worship but some are not aware perhaps of the healing power of some of our songs, especially chant.

Katherine Le Mee writes a book on Chant and its healing powers. In it, she recounts of a monastery in France that dropped its chant routine. Within a year, the monks’ health declined. Their normal routine of work and prayer became too much for them. They became tired and prone to illness. The abbot allowed meat back into their diet, but it helped them none. Monks laid about like wet rags. A doctor came in and noted their hearing had declined. Ears play an important role in simulating the brain, and chant carries with it an energy that vitalize and strengthens the monks. The doctor prescribed that they return chant to their monastic routine. Chant more than an incidental facet of worship, plays an instrumental role in sustaining the monks through low hours of sleep and a rigorous schedule of work, study, and prayer.

Chant becomes a food in of itself in the monastery. It is no surprise that monks have used it for 1500 years in their monastic life.

Your friends are right and wrong. Our songs do have healing powers but we don’t consciously use them solely for that. Our first thought is worship. That in itself, however, can be a form of healing, supernatural healing, e.g. “Kyrie, eleison,” “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent,” etc. You might argue then that we do think of our songs as a means of healing. That’s a stretch, but I might say to your friends, “there’s a healing aspect to our prayers, true, but most Catholics think of our songs as a means of praising God and uplifting our souls to him.” Not many are aware of the physical medicinal quality of chant and songs.

Our songs differ in that we direct them to a higher power, God, namely. Our hymns have a supernatural quality to them. We ask God for forgiveness and graces. We thank and praise Him. That’s the obvious difference in our hymns from mere Eastern vocalization. Your friends are agnostic, however. It’s difficult to defend the difference between Catholic song and Eastern mere vocalization when your friends are not sure if there is a God. You might have to defend the existence of a God, first. Just my thought there.
 
Song raises the spirits of a person. Sick people especially.

My dad was partially paralized by a stroke, and my mother played religious and old time music quite a bit, to which they sang and hummed. It helped them a lot.

St. Augustine said that singing was praying twice.

Just a thought.
 
red85 said:
The prayerful nature of Catholic songs and songs as a means of healing are not contradictory.

We Catholics do use songs for worship but some are not aware perhaps of the healing power of some of our songs, especially chant.

Katherine Le Mee writes a book on Chant and its healing powers. In it, she recounts of a monastery in France that dropped its chant routine. Within a year, the monks’ health declined. Their normal routine of work and prayer became too much for them. They became tired and prone to illness. The abbot allowed meat back into their diet, but it helped them none. Monks laid about like wet rags. A doctor came in and noted their hearing had declined. Ears play an important role in simulating the brain, and chant carries with it an energy that vitalize and strengthens the monks. The doctor prescribed that they return chant to their monastic routine. Chant more than an incidental facet of worship, plays an instrumental role in sustaining the monks through low hours of sleep and a rigorous schedule of work, study, and prayer.

Chant becomes a food in of itself in the monastery. It is no surprise that monks have used it for 1500 years in their monastic life.

Your friends are right and wrong. Our songs do have healing powers but we don’t consciously use them solely for that. Our first thought is worship. That in itself, however, can be a form of healing, supernatural healing, e.g. “Kyrie, eleison,” “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent,” etc. You might argue then that we do think of our songs as a means of healing. That’s a stretch, but I might say to your friends, “there’s a healing aspect to our prayers, true, but most Catholics think of our songs as a means of praising God and uplifting our souls to him.” Not many are aware of the physical medicinal quality of chant and songs.

Our songs differ in that we direct them to a higher power, God, namely. Our hymns have a supernatural quality to them. We ask God for forgiveness and graces. We thank and praise Him. That’s the obvious difference in our hymns from mere Eastern vocalization. Your friends are agnostic, however. It’s difficult to defend the difference between Catholic song and Eastern mere vocalization when your friends are not sure if there is a God. You might have to defend the existence of a God, first. Just my thought there.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for this very thorough answer, red85. I really appreciate this!
 
fred_conty said:
Song raises the spirits of a person. Sick people especially.

My dad was partially paralized by a stroke, and my mother played religious and old time music quite a bit, to which they sang and hummed. It helped them a lot.

St. Augustine said that singing was praying twice.

Just a thought.
Click to expand...
Thank you for reminding me of St. Augustine’s words, fred. And that’s lovely to know about your parents and how your mother’s singing and music helped your father. I believe I need to sing more Catholic hymns, in addition to those sung during Mass. Perhaps we all need to remember this!
 
fred_conty said:
St. Augustine said that singing was praying twice.
Click to expand...
Actually, he did not.

wdtprs.com/blog/2006/02/st-augustine-he-who-sings-prays-twice/
St. Augustine of Hippo (+430) is often quoted as having said “He who sings, prays twice.” The Latin cited for this is “Qui bene cantat bis orat” or “He who sings well prays twice”.
Click to expand...
Actually, this does not appear in anything of St. Augustine that has come down to us. He did write, “cantare amantis est… Singing belongs to one who loves” (s. 336, 1 – PL 38, 1472). That is often invoked as the source of qui bene cantat bis orat.
Click to expand...
However, read on! He did say some beautiful things indeed about prayer and song.
 
Thanks for the reply, but you do know that you just took away one of my thunb suckies.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top