Sing to the Lord
December 21, 2022 - Wednesday, 4th Week of Advent
Psalm 33:2-3, 11-12, 20-21
Music has always played an important part in worship. We have the Gregorian chant, Taize songs, and contemporary worship music. I remember how our seminarian band drew hundreds of young people back to the Church through music. Today, the psalmist invites us to give thanks to the Lord through music by singing, shouting with joy and playing string instruments. Why should we do that?
The psalmist offers many reasons. The Lord created the entire universe through his Word (Ps 33:6). The Lord loves justice and the earth is filled with his grace (Ps 33:5). Then, the psalmist speaks about human plans and designs. Someone said that if you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans. According to the psalmist, “the Lord frustrates” the plans and designs of nations and people, but His plans and design endure forever (Ps 33:10-11). We can think about the Pharaoh of Egypt from the book of Genesis. But, the main reason to thank the Lord is for being chosen to be God’s people. “Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he has chosen for his own inheritance” (Ps 33:12). I wonder whether we also see our election to be Christians, to be the Church, as a blessing.
Today, in the Gospel Elizabeth filled with the Holy Spirit, cries out praises about Mary. Later on, we will have more songs in the Christmas story. Mary will sing her Magnificat and the old Zechariah his Benedictus. The angels will sing glory to God, the old Simeon will thank God for seeing the Messiah, and the old prophetess Anna will give thanks to the Lord when the infant Jesus enters the temple. All those songs and prayers were new at the moment of their singing. Through those songs, they thank God for the fulfilment of the promise made by the Lord to humanity: the offspring of the woman has finally come to set us free from the power of evil.
There is something about music that is difficult to explain. It touches our hearts. It makes us sad or happy, relaxed or energetic. A message communicated through music has more power than one delivered through speech. Combined with words that express our faith, music has the power to transform us from the inside out. Someone said that “A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” We have the most beautiful song about God who loves us so much that he comes to save us. Let us then sing that song in such a way that it will draw more and more people to Jesus Christ, the mighty Saviour who renews us in his love (Zep 3:17).