23 November 2020
Memorial of Clement I, Pope and Martyr, Columban, Abbot, Blessed Miguel Pro, Priest and Martyr.
In the fourteenth chapter of the book of Revelation, St. John tries to describe a unique voice that he heard coming from heaven. He says that the voice sounded like an ocean, like thunder, like harps and like singers. This is a voice that is quite beyond the scope of our imagination. How can a voice sound like an ocean, like thunder, like harps and like singers? St. John calls this voice a “new song” (canticum novum, ᾠδὴν καινὴν) which is sung by those who have been redeemed. Today, 2,000 years later, those of us who have been baptized are still called to sing take up this new song, in ways that surpass our ability to comprehend or even to imagine.
Songs, chants, and hymns have always been an important part of Christian worship. Whether we have a good singing voice or a poor one, we are all called to do our best to unite the voice we have with that voice of the great assembly. When you are in a church with a good choir, you don’t have to worry whether you can match the pitch or not, because the choir will carry the melody.
These days COVID keeps us from singing with our choirs in Church. What are we to do? We must find some way to add our own voices to the new song of heaven. Maybe it’s something we had not previously imagined. Maybe it’s singing a hymn at home in the shower or in the car. Maybe it’s alone or maybe it’s with others. In whatever way we can, with all our heart, let us raise up songs of thankfulness and praise.