Steeped in the Catholic spiritual tradition, The Sacramentality of Music argues that musical experience, in its appeal to the entirety of the human person, can serve as a locus of encounter with the divine and an occasion of God’s self-revelation in love, with spiritually nurturing, ultimately transformative, ends. Christina Labriolacontends that this dynamic might most aptly be understood as sacramental, an all-encompassing perspective of the cosmos permeated by the divine creative, salvific, sustaining presence. Through its participation in the mysteries of beauty and creativity, its bodily and affective engagement, and impact on the inner life, music operates sacramentally: manifesting divine realities through the tangible stuff of human experience. In a thematic theological exploration that interweaves pastoral theology, theological aesthetics, and mysticism, the reader is invited to contemplate music’s sacramental potentiality and to engage the sacramentally charged music of Beethoven, Bartok, MacMillan, Messiaen, Mozart, Ešenvalds, Bach, Pärt, and Hildegard. In attending to musical ways of relating to God, this book invites readers into a deepening awareness of the sacramental nature of reality itself as that in which the spiritual resonance of music is grounded and reveals afresh, taking musical beauty seriously in the spiritual order with repercussions for Christian living.

A Study Guide and a Teacher’s Manual Gospel Principles was written both as a personal study guide and as a teacher’s manual. As you study it, seeking the Spirit of the Lord, you can grow in your understanding and testimony of God the Father, Jesus Christand His Atonement, and the Restoration of the gospel. You can find answers to life’s questions, gain an assurance of your purpose and self-worth, and face personal and family challenges with faith.

Meeting House Essays in a series of papers reflecting on the mystery, beauty and practicalities of the place of worship. This popular series was begun in 1991, and each resource focuses on a particular aspect of space, design or materials and how they relate to the liturgy.

As musicians, we routinely witness — and personally experience — the powerful influence music has over our bodies, emotions, and minds. As parish musicians, our task is to wield this power in service of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus on the altar. Indeed, your music, by speaking to humanity in a language deeper than words, can save our world by drawing souls to Christ where He most longs to encounter them — in the Eucharist. Nothing can spark and fan the flames of desire — of longing, love, awe, and reverence — quite like music can when it is skillfully directed to the task. That’s why I’ve written Music and Meaning in the Mass — to guide you carefully through the principles that help draw congregants into active participation in the Mass. Rather than advocating any particular musical style in the liturgy,

The reform of the liturgy has dramatically changed the way Roman Catholics and all Christians understand their worship. The arena of the encounter has shifted from a passive experience of observation of the great Mysteries to one that invites active participation on many levels. Yet, the imagination of many who preach, preside, and gather to worship continues to be shaped by a passive model as well as by the notion of sacramental activity as a product to be received or given. In The Holy Preaching, Janowiak deepens the discussion of Christ's presence in the Word by offering reflection on the disparity between the theology and the practice of preaching and some explanation as to why that disparity exists.

Music remains something of a mystery to many people—ephemeral sounds floating invisibly through the air—here, and then gone. This book begins with the basic question of what music actually is, scientifically, employing simple, clear explanations of wave theory and the acoustics of sound as part of God's natural creation. It presents accessible and fascinating explanations of some theories of the psychology of perception of music, how music speaks to the mind, emotions, and spirit. Some of these concepts have rarely been addressed outside the ivory tower and even more rarely been seen through the lens of Catholic theology. Moving from music and the individual to music in the culture and the Church, the author addresses numerous issues in the context of Catholic thought, including: immanence and transcendence in music the Real Presence and music Moral Theology, Natural Law and music ordered and disordered understandings of music as it relates to the emotions understanding the authentic meanings of "beauty" and "creativity" the real function of music in Catholic liturgy the role of music in evangelization This is a kind of "layman's handbook," a comprehensive theology of all things music, which anyone can understand, written by an internationally respected classical composer and music professor at a top secular university who is also a faithful Catholic. It sheds light on the mysteries of music and furthers the spiritual formation regarding music for Catholics of many ages and walks of life. It is groundbreaking in its comprehensive and holistic treatment of music from a Catholic perspective, and particularly timely in advocating for the renewal of the norms for music in liturgy found in the documents of Vatican II. It also presents one of the most penetrating critical examinations to be found of contemporary classical music, from an insider.

Theology, Music and Time aims to show how music can enrich and advance theology, extending our wisdom about God and God's ways with the world. Instead of asking: what can theology do for music?, it asks: what can music do for theology? Jeremy Begbie argues that music's engagement with time gives the theologian invaluable resources for understanding how it is that God enables us to live 'peaceably' with time as a dimension of the created world. Without assuming any specialist knowledge of music, he explores a wide range of musical phenomena - rhythm, metre, resolution, repetition, improvisation - and through them opens up some of the central themes of the Christian faith - creation, salvation, eschatology, time and eternity, Eucharist, election and ecclesiology. He shows that music can not only refresh theology with new models, but also release it from damaging habits of thought which have hampered its work in the past.