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Ahead of the 2025 Year of Jubilee, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has released a resource for music ministers. Titled “Pilgrims on the Way of Hope: A Resource for the Jubilee of Musical Bands” – the main title is the theme of Jubilee 2025 – the packet contains advice for planning a musical pilgrimage, theological musings on the place of music in the Church, and general resources for holding musical events throughout the year.
Spiritual reflection
In the first several pages, the bishops reflect on the spiritual nature of music and its ability to accompany and unify the faithful. Quoting Pope Francis at his 2018 audience with international choirs, they noted music as “the true instrument of evangelization,” which can make “one sense the beauty of paradise” by touching their hearts.
The bishops consider music to be a craft of creation and those who practice the craft do so in emulation of God the creator. Humanity was committed to the “craftsman’s task” when called into existence and through the practice of “artistic creativity,” humans appear more than ever “in the image of God.”
They note, however, that the creative spark that initiates the human artist was first conceived of and lovingly passed down from the Divine Artist.
Relationship to beauty
Next posing music as a symbol of beauty, the bishops write:
“It is in living and acting that man establishes his relationship with being, with the truth and with the good. The artist has a special relationship to beauty. In a very true sense it can be said that beauty is the vocation bestowed on him by the Creator in the gift of ‘artistic talent.’ And, certainly, this too is a talent which ought to be made to bear fruit, in keeping with the sense of the Gospel parable of the talents.”
They go on to note that all those who follow the artistic vocation – be they musicians, writers, or visual artists – have an obligation to develop their talents to put them at the service of the community. In this idea of art as service, the bishops implore artists to produce art for its own sake, rather than as a means of gaining fame or fortune.
Just as architecture designs places for worship, music designs atmospheres in which the vast mysteries of faith may be contemplated. The beauty of sacred music – and all sacred art for that matter – can elevate the soul, inspire the faithful, bridge cultures, and nourish the faith of others:
“Every genuine inspiration, however, contains some tremor of that ‘breath’ with which the Creator Spirit suffused the work of creation from the very beginning. He touches [human genius] with a kind of inner illumination which brings together the sense of the good and the beautiful, and he awakens energies of mind and heart which enable it to conceive an idea and give it form in a work of art.”
Pilgrimage advice
The USCCB encourages all music ministers to plan a pilgrimage during Jubilee 2025, be it in your home diocese or to Rome. Part of this pilgrimage should include scheduling a concert at a church. While performances of sacred music are welcome throughout the year, it is most appropriate on May 10 and 11, the celebration of the Jubilee of Marching Bands. It should be noted that the term “Marching Bands,” refers to all sacred music groups.
Music ministers may benefit from the list of resources in the latter half of the document, which include suggested writings from the Catholic Church on music, notable musical saints and blesseds, and a spiritual reading to inspire their musicians.
And today we celebrate...