Despite a faithful Catholic upbringing and plenty of book-learnin’ in my faith, there were so many spiritual lessons I didn’t really learn until becoming a parent. Becoming a mom helped me more deeply understand the beauty and truth of Humanae Vitae, allowed me to feel the need for the mother our Lord so generously shares with us, and revealed to me the spiritual weapon of prayer forged with music.
I’ve heard the St. Augustine quote, “Singing is praying twice.” throughout my life. I didn’t fully appreciate the simple truth in this. When music and faith are combined together, they become more than the sum of their parts. Music multiplies prayer. It forces us to engage both spiritually and physically, and embeds in our memory in a powerful way.
Music is a great parenting tool. Songs can help young children transition through the day with clean-up, bath-time and bedtime songs. When a toddler is screaming in the car, a favorite song can instantly change her mood. Quality music education and exposure is clinically proven to enhance almost every skill set and aptitude in children from math and reading to emotional and gross motor skills. While there is no “clinical test” for the impact of music on spiritual development in children, I assure you it is powerful.
Seeing my children reverently pray songs of our Catholic faith even before they understand the words has been a revelation. The prayer goes beyond the words. The music fosters a state of being. As director of the Making Music Praying Twice program, I am privileged to witness the power of music and prayer impacting young children and their families.
My favorite example of this is Gweneth. She was three years old and would be joining our pilot class at our home parish. I gave her mother the CD ahead of time to play for her children, so they would be familiar with the music.
“You’ll never believe what happened!” her mother told me. “Gweneth heard the Magnificat, stopped what she was doing, went over to the CD player, knelt down, and folded her hands.”
“Wow.” I answered. “That’s great. Did you show her that it was a prayer before?” I knew this child had a strong Catholic family and had been taught to pray. I assumed this was a great example of a child recognizing and discerning melody.
“You don’t understand. She had never heard the CD before. She had never heard the song before.”
The words to this song are in Latin. How could she know it was a prayer? I thought she must have characterized it as sacred music because she recognized the style of the Gregorian Chant. So, I investigated, “Do you play a lot of Chant for her?”
“No.” This woman seems almost in awe. What is she telling me? “She has NEVER heard a Gregorian Chant in her life!”
“But how could she know it was a prayer?” I asked, “Its in Latin!”
“I know!” she said with eyes both excited by what she was sharing and relieved that I was finally getting it.
Goosebumps ran up my arm. Gweneth instantly knew what to do when she heard Mary’s song of praise, even though her brain couldn’t understand the words. The Gregorian chant blessed with apostolic power by Pope Gregory, himself, spoke to her soul and she responded with the posture of prayer.
Shinichi Suzuki who trained countless young children in his violin method once said, “If children hear fine music from the day of their birth and learn to play it, they develop sensitivity, discipline and endurance. They get a beautiful heart.” When we give our children music, we are lovingly shaping them with intelligence and virtues for this world. When we give them music and prayer and make that a part of our family’s life, we are battling for their souls. We are making them more beautiful for Heaven.
