Singing to save souls

Moments like this happen from time to time in the cloister, as they do elsewhere. We were in the midst of singing the Kyrie at Mass tonight, and it occurred to me that I was saving my soul by singing, of all things. Can it really be that simple? Well, in a sense, yes: The Lord our God is Lord alone and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength. Him alone shall you worship. What does He ask in worship? Here enters an act of faith: I worship as the Church instructs me. In our case that includes singing Gregorian chant. What a bargain!

I know that a day will come (or at least I should welcome it if it comes) when the office itself will no longer delight, and I will be challenged to be at peace in dryness and emptiness so that I will delight only in God as God is and not as God seems to me in my affections. But a God who gives us song on the road to the Dark Night surely can be trusted, don't you think?

"Sing, but keep going!"
--St. Augustine of Hippo