Quiet contemplation before Mass?

[newspaper123]

The Catholic Church that I am now attending (half of the time, since my wife does not like it and wants to attend elsewhere) seems to be constantly changing. We no longer enjoy quiet contemplation before Mass. The choir now practices several songs before Mass, and they frequently introduce new songs to be sung by the congregation and ask us to practice them several times. Now, due to the increasing activity occurring before Mass, people feel comfortable talking and socializing as they sit and wait for Mass to begin - making it difficult to pray and concentrate. Should quite time be provided before Mass?

 

[puzzleannie]

I think you are dreaming, unless you can interest a significant number of like-minded parishioners together to speak to the pastor, This has to come from him.

 

[Cat]

I think you have to consider the practical considerations, and perhaps put your own personal desires aside for the sake of others.

It’s harder and harder to get a group of people together during the week for a choir practice. There are child care issues. Often a man or woman wants to come to practice, but at the last minute, their spouse is not available (often due to work) to babysit the kids. And there are conflicts with school activities. Choir practice used to be a social event for people. Now it’s just one more chore on the big list of things do to, and people avoid it.

So the choir often has little choice but to practice immediately before the Mass to make sure that all the people who missed practice for legitimate and non-legitimate reasons are up to snuff on what’s happening.

And from what I have seen, most Catholic churches are not built with a choir practice room. Ours has one, and thankfully the choir usually practices down there. But most don’t have a practice room. So they have to run through their songs in the choir loft. (Even if they have practice room, the organ is only in the nave, and the choir has to run through the pieces with the organ.)

If your church has a choir practice room, then I think you are reasonable to ask the priest if the choir can please run through their songs in the practice room before Mass.

Be sensitive–if the practice room is in an area accessible only by stairs, there will be people both old and young who, due to physical disability, are not easily able to get to the practice room and back up to the choir loft in the short time before Mass, and perhaps this is why the choir runs through the pieces in the choir loft in the nave–out of consideration for these people. I’m one of these people, and I find stairs exhausting on days when my knees are acting up. I think it is kind and commendable of a choir director to want to keep disabled or elderly people involved with the choir for as long as possible.

But if the church doesn’t have a practice room, what choice does the choir have, other than to wing it and hope that everything works out and nobody does an unexpected solo because they weren’t there when that part of the anthem was cut by the director.

You, on the other hand, have several options available for quiet contemplation. You can go elsewhere in the church and find a quiet spot. You can sit in your car. You can sit outside on a bench. In our church, thankfully, there is a 24/7 Adoration chapel, and you can go there.

Of course, you probably want to pray before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle, and I don’t blame you. So one option you have is to try to learn to shut out the world around you and pray. Many people have to do this. I’ve often used the example of St. Maximillian Kolbe. I doubt that he had a lot of peace and quiet and solitude at Auschwitz, but he managed to pray and contemplate the Lord. I’m not saying it’s easy, but what else are you going to do? Would you rather that the choir not practice and end up sounding really bad? Would you rather just sit there and stew about your choir and how irritated you are?

At any rate, I think that this is a situation that you really can’t do much about, unless you have money and can donate it to the church earmarked for building a choir practice room. You can’t demand that the choir not practice. You can’t force people to come to a weekly choir practice (I wish we could force people, but we can’t.)

So what I’m saying is that you have to learn to put up with it and be cheerful. The alternative is to not put up with it and be disgruntled. Which approach will help you get to heaven?

 

[stuart12]

Music and talking before Mass, talking and running about after Mass…how we have lost the reverence due to the House of God and His Presence. I understand that music may have to be practiced before Mass begins, but there must be a less conspicuous means.

 

[Student09]

Well I for one have never been to a church that was *not * completely silent before Mass. At my current parish and all the churches I have been to, it is silent. I think what you describe sounds horrible. Besides, isn’t the time before Mass supposed to be a time of spiritual preparation, as opposed to merely a time for band practice? If the choir cannot find time to practice other than right before Mass maybe they should just drop the choir.

 

[Cat]

Well I for one have never been to a church that was *not * completely silent before Mass. At my current parish and all the churches I have been to, it is silent. I think what you describe sounds horrible. Besides, isn’t the time before Mass supposed to be a time of spiritual preparation, as opposed to merely a time for band practice? If the choir cannot find time to practice other than right before Mass maybe they should just drop the choir.

This is quite a black and white approach, and not a wise or charitable one.

“merely a time for band practice?” The choir deserves more respect than this.

A choir or cantor is there to lead the congregation in worship through music. Choirs have been part of worship since Biblical times. They are a foretaste of heaven, as they remind us of the “choirs of angels” that await us in our eternal reward.

As I mentioned in my above post, a believer can prepare for Mass anywhere, including at home. Yes, it’s nice to have a silent nave in which to contemplate the crucifix and enjoy the company of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. But we don’t always get our way, do we? As I said above, we need to learn to retreat to a silent place in our own souls, where nothing distracts us. Saints have learned to do this. Protestants can do this. I have a hard time when I hear that Catholics are only able to contemplate the Lord and prepare for the Sacrifice of the Mass in silence. JESUS didn’t have silence as He prepared for His own death. Why should WE demand it?

 

[Student09]

This is quite a black and white approach, and not a wise or charitable one.

“merely a time for band practice?” The choir deserves more respect than this.

A choir or cantor is there to lead the congregation in worship through music. Choirs have been part of worship since Biblical times. They are a foretaste of heaven, as they remind us of the “choirs of angels” that await us in our eternal reward.

Maybe if they sounded more like a choir and less like a band …

Part of the problem is that there is very little silence in the world anywhere today. However, there is a reason why monasteries and convents have rules of silence for certain times: it fosters prayer and attentiveness to God. For some people, the only time that they are ever in silence may be the ten minutes in church while they are waiting for Mass to start. If everyone is talking while the choir practices, that will not happen.

I think the reason why people are upset is because some of them (not you, apparently) crave silence. They want to get away from the noise for a minute and listen for God’s voice. See 1 Kg. 19:9-13. God’s voice is quiet.

 

[Seatuck]

The Catholic Church that I am now attending (half of the time, since my wife does not like it and wants to attend elsewhere) seems to be constantly changing. We no longer enjoy quiet contemplation before Mass. The choir now practices several songs before Mass, and they frequently introduce new songs to be sung by the congregation and ask us to practice them several times. Now, due to the increasing activity occurring before Mass, people feel comfortable talking and socializing as they sit and wait for Mass to begin - making it difficult to pray and concentrate. Should quite time be provided before Mass?

Yes quiet time should be provided. Our Bishop pitched a fit at our parish one year when he was visiting it for the day because of the noise prior to Mass. It takes a lot of education to switch a parish back to observing the sacred silence that is encouraged and actually proscribed if the tabernacle is there .

We made up signs and put them on stanchions. We had articles in the bulletin for weeks on why we should be quiet before Mass.The Pastor put the letter that the Bishop wrote chiding us for our behavior with his suggestions in the bulletin as well.All practices must end 15 minutes before Mass starts. We are working on building practice rooms.

 

[japhy]

GIRM 45: Sacred silence also, as part of the celebration, is to be observed at the designated times. … Even before the celebration itself, it is commendable that silence to be observed in the church, in the sacristy, in the vesting room, and in adjacent areas, so that all may dispose themselves to carry out the sacred action in a devout and fitting manner.

 

[Phemie]

Yes quiet time should be provided. Our Bishop pitched a fit at our parish one year when he was visiting it for the day because of the noise prior to Mass. It takes a lot of education to switch a parish back to observing the sacred silence that is encouraged and actually proscribed if the tabernacle is there .

In our parish some of the worst offenders are members of the choir – and I’m not talking ‘practising the hymns’.

Last week we had a funeral and the choir started chatting and laughing before 1/2 the people had left the church. It was loud and obnoxious and I was totally disgusted and had a moment when I seriously wanted to go into Sister Mary Elephant mode: choir… choir… choir… SHUT UP! Thank you.

It’s the same way after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper when people are trying to have their time of adoration.

 

[Cat]

Maybe if they sounded more like a choir and less like a band …

Part of the problem is that there is very little silence in the world anywhere today. However, there is a reason why monasteries and convents have rules of silence for certain times: it fosters prayer and attentiveness to God. For some people, the only time that they are ever in silence may be the ten minutes in church while they are waiting for Mass to start. If everyone is talking while the choir practices, that will not happen.

I think the reason why people are upset is because some of them (not you, apparently) crave silence. They want to get away from the noise for a minute and listen for God’s voice. See 1 Kg. 19:9-13. God’s voice is quiet.

I like silence, too. But I don’t need external silence because there is a place in my soul where I go, and that place is utterly silent. God is there, and I meet Him there and we talk and He tells me what I need to hear to be good.

I think it’s easier for me to find my way to this silent place in my soul when there is external silence. But I’ve learned and I’m still learning to make my way to this place in the midst of cacaphony and noise and rudeness.

I started going to this place back when I was in 7th grade. My family life was full of noise and unhappiness at times. At church, I learned this song by Ralph Carmichael:

*There is a quiet place
Far from the rapid pace
Where God can soothe my troubled mind

Sheltered by tree and flower
There in my quiet hour
With Him my cares are left behind

Whether a garden small
Or on a mountain tall

New strength and courage there I find
Then from this quiet place
I go prepared to face
A new day with love for all mankind*
That’s when I learned that I didn’t have to let the noise up-end me. The “quiet place” wasn’t a physical place, but it was inside my soul. So I started going there.

I continued to learn about this silent place as I’ve gotten older and have more stress and more physical problems.

I recommend that others try to find their way to that inner place of silence within themselves. There isn’t a lot you can do about the noise of living in these modern times. You can try to find quiet places on this earth, but they are rare, and chances are good when you find one, someone will drive by with their car stereo blasting four-letter words. So it’s much much better to just retreat to your inner soul, to that quiet room inside you, instead of getting upset when everything and everyone around you is noisy. You’re not going to stop the noise. Why fret over it?

BTW, if you’ve read Little Men, you’ll remember that Demi describes this same “inner room” to Dan, and recommends going to this room. So I know that everyone has the “Quiet Room” inside them. But if you spend all your time looking for a quiet place here on this earth, you won’t take the time to try to find your way to your “inner room.” Forget about finding quiet on this earth. Go to your own Quiet Place.

 

[CarrieH]

And from what I have seen, most Catholic churches are not built with a choir practice room. Ours has one, and thankfully the choir usually practices down there. But most don’t have a practice room. So they have to run through their songs in the choir loft. (Even if they have practice room, the organ is only in the nave, and the choir has to run through the pieces with the organ.)

Our church is very good about maintaining quiet before Mass, I’m happy to say. We don’t have a choir room, and Father didn’t like having the choir practice in the loft before Mass while people were trying to pray. So they rounded up an old piano and put it in the basement, and we warm up there. It has worked out OK, although it’s not the most luxurious place to practice. Our small choir does fine practicing with just the piano, as long as they have had a chance to run through the piece with the organ during the regular rehearsal session outside of Mass. Don’t have a piano? One of those $200 electronic keyboards will do in a pinch, and I’ll bet that if an ad were placed in the bulletin or even on craigslist, there would be someone who would be happy to unload a piano which is sitting in their house, unused and taking up space, in exchange for a tax donation slip.

My former church was also pretty good about maintaining a quiet atmosphere before Mass, but some of the worst offenders were the choir members! We were up front in the corner on the “Mary” side, and these choir folks would wander in, take their places, and then begin conversations with their neighbors! I complained about this more than once, reminding them that as people in a leadership position, we had a responsibility to model appropriate behavior at Mass, and that by sitting there chit-chatting, we were setting a bad example. It helped…a little, anyway…

 

[miamijoe]

I’d prefer more quiet right after/during the reception of the Eucharist. There is always a litany of “Communion Hymns” that are sung and just makes it so difficult to concentrate on silent prayer. I know the words to these songs can be prayer in themselves, but I’ve just always held that time to be most important prayer time for me.