Qui bene cantat bis orat

Your hands, O Lord in days of old
Were strong to heal and save;
To you they went, the blind, the mute,
The sick and those in shame.
And then your touch brought life and health,
In ev'ry troubled friend.
That whole and sick, and weak and strong,
May praise you evermore.

Sometimes I go to church and it becomes obvious to me that Someone knows what is troubling me, knows what is going on in my life right then. Yesterday I slipped into my pew to pray before Mass with a long litany of friends and loved ones in need of prayer—even lit a candle for two of them—and then the organ started playing the opening hymn. Above, I've condensed all the verses of that hymn into one verse, but you can see how so many things in that longer song are right on point.....the sick and those in shame.....ev'ry troubled friend.....weak and strong.....and it reminds us how we all have the comfort of our Lord and Savior to get us through trying times. We aren't the first people to have problems and challenges, and, like those who have gone before us, we will find that things really aren't that bad and we will survive and prosper with the strength, love, and spiritual grace we get from God.

I went to the early service at St. Stephen's, so it was a cantored Mass without choir. The hymns included the aforementioned opening song sung to Forest Green; the offertory was Kingsfold and the recessional was In Babilone. For the communion procession, the cantoress and organist sang a tune (it was supposed to be a congregational responsorial hymn, but you have read my thoughts and experiences on that in previous posts) written by the organist with the antiphon words "Those who eat your flesh and drink your blood live in you and you in them, and you will raise them up on the last day."

The Mass setting was the usual Lenten mix of Gregorian chant and the Mass of the Divine Word. Too bad the choir wasn't there; I saw in the program they at the eleven they were going to be singing Purcell's "Thou Knowest, Lord, the Secrets of Our Hearts" during communion.

In Enarratio in Psalmum, Saint Augustine wrote about singing to God, saying:

Qui enim cantat laudem, non solum laudat, sed etiam hilariter laudat; qui cantat laudem, non solum cantat, sed et amat eum quem cantat.

Now, forgive my rusty Latin, but I think this will translate into something along the lines of "He who truly sings praise, not only praises, but also joyously praises; he who sings praise, not only sings, but also loves the One about whom he is singing." This concept has been condensed to (now often erroneously attributed to St. Augustine) "Qui bene cantat bis orat"—he who sings well prays twice. It's a bit of a mistranslation of Augustine, but prayer and love are often the same thing.

Music is always an important part of the worship experience for me. That point is made all the clearer to me on days such as yesterday, when we pray twice with our singing, or perhaps we love God twice with our singing. My loved ones are still in my prayers, but I feel better knowing that we all have prayed for them in our song and that the grace and love of our Lord is freely there to comfort them and to comfort us all.