Learning to Pray Liturgically

Part II: Balancing Silence and Sound

Soon after the Second Vatican Council, when the liturgy was first translated into English, then began to change, a different expectation arose. Some people felt that if they were not making noise, they were not participating actively. Choirs were banished, because they stole the people's parts. The congregation did everything not done by the priest.

Though this extreme did not last too long, some still feel that they are participating only when they are saying or singing something. They are not praying when a choir or soloist sings. Certainly there are times at Mass when it is more appropriate for the people to sing or pray. There are also times which call for a solo or a choral prayer or for instrumental music. If we go to Mass with the idea that we are being robbed every time the choir sings, we will not be able to worship very well.

Active, full, and conscious participation of any kind must be internal as well as external. We must take care that, whether we make the sounds or whether others make them, they express a spirit within us. We need to learn how to keep praying when someone else is making the sounds.

We also need to learn how to "do silence" better at Mass. Those who plan liturgies have to resist the temptation to fill up every moment with motion or sound. The priest who presides has to develop a sense of when to seize a period of silence which happens at random, perhaps after the homily or before a prayer. We need to be alert, so as not to miss a silent moment.

Learning to pray liturgically, then, is partly a matter of learning what to expect. It is good to review our expectations, to see if they are realistic, to determine if they are helping us or getting in our way.