You have probably heard the old saying: "you are what you eat". My grandma used to tell me that every time I wanted an extra serving of dessert (not sure if it meant "I'm sweet" or "I'm junk food"?). I would like to take that idea and apply it elsewhere (the phrase, not my grandma's meaning). We could say "you become what you sing". The Church has always said that we are formed by the liturgy we participate in; garbage in, garbage out; bad liturgy, bad spirituality. Let us just set aside the general form of the liturgy itself for a moment and consider the music of the liturgy (which is not just "frosting" on the cake).
Music has a powerful influence on so many things in our soul. It can impact our emotions (think of how they manipulate you in movies with music). It can impact our inhibitions (think of how people will "dance" to some raunchy lyrics). Music stays with us in ways that we do not always think about (I can still remember tunes from commercials that were on t.v. when I was a kid). Take just those three factors, roll them into one concept, and you can see that music plays a part in forming our spiritual well being (whether we know it or not).
If the music we hear (regardless of whether we participate in the singing) in Mass is trite and irreverent, if the words are weak, or if the themes of the lyrics are limited to what is comforting (and never challenging as a large chunk of the Psalms are!), then what can we expect to be the spiritual impact on people's souls? Mollycoddling music makes mollycoddled people. Music that appeals only to a desire to be "affirmed" leads to people who believe that they always need to be affirmed (even in their sinful choices).
Think about the words of the hymns that you are familiar with. Can you think of any hymns that actually challenge your faith? It is one thing for a hymn to say "everything's gonna be OK" and completely another for a hymn to say "Jesus is Lord of all, so stand up and be courageous". There are some out there that have words like the latter, but they are few and far between ("Christ Shall Have Dominion" is a great one, but few people know about it). If you sing about "soft and fluffy" things all the time (especially when you are in holy worship of the Lord), then you become "soft and fluffy" yourself.
Think of music like food. Could you survive on a diet of Twinkies? We all know what that would lead to: diabetes, clogged arteries, possibly even cancer, then death. Some may say, "but Father, not all hymns are like musical Twinkies!" True; I will not deny that fact. Let us take that to its logical conclusion though. If there are some songs that have musical and lyrical value, then which ones are we choosing? You also cannot survive on a diet of just one food. Eat nothing but lettuce, or nothing but chicken, and even with those foods being good for you, you will be missing out on a host of essential vitamins and minerals that are not found in them. We need a well balanced diet with our food; and we need a well balanced diet with our music (because we need a well balanced diet in our theology).
Let us take this one step further and consider the music we listen to outside of Mass (because it will often have some kind of an impact on how you engage with the music in the Mass. If you choose to listen to music written by pagans, you must be very careful in what you choose. Consider the words of the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes:
It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools (7:5).The "song of fools"; now that is an interesting perspective! The context of the chapter is saying "be careful about what you find pleasure in, because some pleasure leads to ultimate misery". The warning should be clear. If we find joy in things that do not lead to a well balanced and healthy spirituality, then that is not a godly joy. If the music you listen to in your spare time has you sing about fornication, disrespect, and selfishness, then you will become a fornicator, disrespectful, and selfish -- it is virtually unavoidable. St. Augustine said "he who sings, prays twice", and we all know that we are formed by our prayers. Therefore, we are formed twice as much by what we sing.
So, I urge you, do not think of music as a neutral issue that is entirely a free personal choice. You may like something musically, but that does not mean that it is good for your soul; and it certainly does not mean that it is worthy of giving to God as an offering in the Mass (because all music in the Mass is offered for His pleasure, not ours). As you consider this, look at where you are spiritually. Are you growing in your faith? Do you struggle with the "hard parts" of Catholic truth? It may be because you are avoiding those hard parts (both in your music, and in your very soul). Whether you are making choices about the music in Mass or not, do everything possible to make good choices in the music you listen to on your own. Then pray that we all do what is necessary to lift up holy voices to the Lord and praise Him with the music we present before His throne.
