People have to learn to embrace silence

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The point of this thread is, Mass is sometimes not a place for experiencing Holy Silence at all, though it always should be.
 
Dovekin said:
For some, however, the experience of the Communion Procession is far more prosaic, analogous perhaps to standing in line in the supermarket or at the motor vehicle bureau. A perception such as this is a dreadfully inaccurate and impoverished understanding of what is a significant religious action
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I see this far too often. Greetings, handshakes, whispering as they shuffle forward. Then, out the side door lickety-split! Well, at least those folks aren’t lingering and carousing in the pews after Mass.
 
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In my parish - description of an actual event.
Some years ago, the music director at my parish had decided that the best time to hold choir practice was immediately before mass. Right up to the moment the priest arrives. This made any effort at concentrating or saying a silent prayer before mass quite out of the question. So much so, that one Sunday, whent the screeching before mass became too irritating, I got up and walked out of church, right past the pastor who was entering the church just then.

Some time passed before I returned to this church, and to my pleasant surprise, the choir was silent before the beginning of mass. Maybe a coincidence.
 
JimG said:
I would love to have a 15 minute period of silence in the church before Mass begins
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Then next time you are the architect designing a Catholic Church, please put a sound-proof choir room with room for a piano or keyboard immediately off the nave with an easy entrance involving no stairs (to accommodate the many choir members and instrumentalists who have difficulty with stairs).

BTW. this is the design in many older Protestant churches. Not all, but many. It was this way in the Baptist church where I grew up.

Our choir room is in the basement of our church, and when a cantor or choir wishes to run through the Psalm or one of the hymns, that’s where we go. It might as well be at my house down the street.

Do you accommodate parents with small noisy children? Then please consider accommodating musicians who are volunteers. Professional musicians–I can understand why you might get a little fussed over them because they shouldn’t have to run through pieces at the last minute. But I think most parish music ministries are almost entirely volunteer, and the run-through is necessary for their peace of mind and for the congregation, who can be very distracted when it’s obvious that the musician(s) have no clue what they are singing/playing.
 
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This past Sunday I waited for the nearby yakking cluster to disperse after Mass.Then I gave up and prayed in my car.

Many are oblivious to the sacredness of the space, and hence have no concept of sacred silence. The two attitudes go hand in hand. Pray for them.
 
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The communion chant or antiphon is a small verse from scripture. It isn’t meant to have a woman shaking on a tambourine while I’m trying to pray.
 
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po18guy said:
we have “music directors” who, perhaps unconsciously, seek to justify their jobs by inserting music before, during and after the mass
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And there has to be constant change and variety and even virtuoso displays in the performance, regardless of the fact that many parishioners might take comfort in simple, easy to sing, familiar hymns.

Case in point–the bloated, praise band heavy Breaking Bread vs. the simple, concise Ignatius Pew Missal.
 
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I understand. For myself, I would prefer a choir loft.
In the parish of my youth, we had the grade school choir, which most often sang on weekdays and for weekday funerals, and the adult choir, which sang on Sundays. Both were volunteer, and neither practiced before Mass. My recent parish had a choir practice room near the community room, and they practiced at other times of the week, also volunteer.

I can recall as a child entering the vestibule of the church, and there was much conversation going on. But when one opened the heavy doors from the vestibule to the nave, a complete silence descended. Everyone was at prayer waiting for Mass to begin.
 
The reality is, the level of faith of those in attendance varies and not everyone is going to behave in a manor which doesn’t upset some one.

Sunday Mass in the average parish will never be the same as Mass celebrated in a monastery, nor should it.

I agree, more time for silence would be great, but we have to live with reality and accept what we can not change.

Jim
 
Thomasbradley312 said:
The communion chant or antiphon is a small verse from scripture. It isn’t meant to have a woman shaking on a tambourine while I’m trying to pray.
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I thought the bishops answered the question you asked. The communion chant, as they and the GIRM describe it, should last for the duration of the communion procession. It is not a time for silence.

Personally I prefer that the Body of Christ use their lungs to become aware of the Spirit of Christ uniting the Body. Anything that supports that is reasonable I would think.

Still it is hard to imagine a tambourine being inappropriate, given the many instruments invoked in the psalms.
 
Dovekin said:
I thought the bishops answered the question you asked. The communion chant, as they and the GIRM describe it, should last for the duration of the communion procession. It is not a time for silence.

Personally I prefer that the Body of Christ use their lungs to become aware of the Spirit of Christ uniting the Body. Anything that supports that is reasonable I would think.

Still it is hard to imagine a tambourine being inappropriate, given the many instruments invoked in the psalms.
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Speaking of bishops, here is another plug for the pastoral letter on sacred music written by Archbishop Sample in January 2019:
https://d2wldr9tsuuj1b.cloudfront.net/12494/documents/2019/1/Sing to the Lord a New Song.pdf

This is what he had to say about silence [boldface mine]:
j. Silence
God is manifest both in the beauty of liturgical singing and in the power of silence. The Sacred Liturgy has its rhythm of texts, actions, chants, and silence. Silence in the liturgy allows the community to reflect on what it has heard and experienced, and to open its heart to the mystery celebrated. Ministers and pastoral musicians should take care that the rites unfold with the proper ebb and flow of sound and silence. The importance of silence in the liturgy cannot be overemphasized. (USCCB, Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship, 2007, 118)

The notion that all moments of action, silence or inactivity in the liturgy should be filled with song or instrumental music is invalid.
 
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It’s good to be tolerant of others talking before Mass etc…
It’s also good for people to change.
Silence is something that is absolutely essential for sanity. And salvation is certainly about becoming healthy and whole, body and soul. Mass ought to be amenable to some of that, as it is the source and the summit of our lives.
 
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I was just talking about the Communion Antiphon in the Missal.
How EWTN mass does it is fine. But making it out like we’re in some Southern Baptist worship music is inappropriate.
 
Some people live with silence all week long, and Mass is a glorious respite, especially hearing live music.

I think that it’s a good idea to cultivate “interior silence,” so that no matter where you are, you can retreat to your inner soul and enjoy a quietness.
 
Silence is abnormal in the living of life.

Alive, there is always sound, if only the breath in one’s nose, and if not alone, the footfalls or weight shifting of others, etc.

Conversely, silence is a symptom of death. And total stillness is often unnerving for that reason.

ICXC NIKA
 
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