Da Augustin sa dette – den som synger, ber dobbelt – tenkte han ikke på hvilken som helst type (verdslig) musikk, men på Kirkens egen musikk. Dette skriver liturgiprofessor P. Paul Gunter, OSB, i en artikkel hos zenit.org. han skriver bl.a.:
… The conviction of the fact that prayer is doubled if sung instead of being recited was not based so much on the merits of human effort, but rather on the need to describe the numinous dimension within sacred music, its emotive and artistic aspects, inasmuch as it is an exchange between God, the Giver of every gift, and the response of love of the human being to the Lord’s omnipotent love.
A greater love will seek a higher quality and not just more abundant quantity, and this happens when the perseverance of an individual or a group has made progress in the musical realm and has experienced the beauty of its spiritual consolations. «Sacrosanctum Concilium» affirms that «the sacred liturgy does not exhaust the entire activity of the Church» (No. 9) and adds very pointedly that «before men can come to the liturgy they must be called to faith and to conversion.» Moreover, No. 10 clarifies that «the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed.» Hence the liturgy is precisely the source of the necessary strength for every apostolic work. Wherever the liturgy of the Church is left to chance, the lack of coherence in its fruits becomes evident. …
Les gjerne hele artikkelen (lenke over), men jeg tar gjerne også med et Ratzinger-sitat fra 1996:
«Cult» songs, doctrinally insipid, often take the place of liturgical treasures with catechetical value, with the effect that the culture of ecclesial music in many parishes has been «led down a blind alley in which one can say always less about its quo vadis» — this is the way in which J. Ratzinger describes the separation of modern culture from its religious matrix (A New Song for the Lord. Faith in Christ and Liturgy Today, Crossroads, New York, 1996, p. 120).