I am so excited about the “We Are Called” initiative Fr. Dudzinski introduced last week in his homily. How fitting as we approach Pentecost, to be reminded that we are the “Ekklesia: the called out ones.” At the very root of our mission is a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.
In an article I read recently, Carolyn Pirtle, program director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, writes that in liturgical music we encounter Christ in three modes: Christ the Song, Christ the Singer, and Christ the Choir Director.
Christ the Song
All throughout the Psalms, we are encouraged to sing a new song to the Lord. Whenever a “new song” is sung in Scripture, it is always in response to salvation. Whether it is the Israelites being saved from Pharoah’s army, the Psalmist being saved from his enemies, or those around the throne saved from death to eternal life, Pirtle states that, “Every time we sing in the liturgy, we not only sing
of the Word made flesh, we sing the Word made flesh himself.”
This week at Mass, let us reflect on the One whom we sing, "for there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).