By: Armel R.

Collantes, SMM
 I. What is Worship and Liturgy?
 II. The Eucharist
 III. The Choir and its Role in the Liturgy
 IV . Music Ministry
 V. The YAF
 VI. Discovering Your Call to Music Ministry
 VII. The New YAF Choir: YAF Music Ministry (A
Proposal)
 "Worship is the rendering to God what
is owed God by intelligent beings" (Virgil
Michel, OSB).
 Human beings are made for love and
communion with God. "God, infinitely
perfect and blessed in himself, in a
plan of sheer goodness freely created
man to make him share in his own
blessed life.
 For this reason, at every time and in every
place, God draws close to man. He calls man
to seek him, to know him, to love him with all
his strength" (CCC 1). Because we know that the
greatest act of love is a sacrifice – to lay down
one's life (John 15:13) – in worship we offer a
sacrifice of praise and give everything we
have to God. Worship can be both public
(liturgy) and private (devotional, both
individual and communal). Both are integral
to a healthy and vibrant spiritual life.
 Liturgy is public worship – the work of Christ and
that of the Church, the Body of Christ. By virtue
of our participation in Christ's work as members
of the Body, we also participate in the divine life
of the Trinity, an eternal exchange of love
between the Father and Son that is the Holy
Spirit. This action – liturgical participation – is
our right and duty by baptism (SC 14). As with
any sacrament, the action or "doing" is all God's,
but as a good parent, he invites us to join in it,
both as the worship for which we are made and
for the sanctification of the world. Liturgy is an
"action" of the whole Christ" (CCC 1136).
 The Eucharist in the Catholic Church is a
sacrament celebrated as "the source and
summit" of the Christian life.
 The Eucharist is celebrated daily during the
celebration of Mass, the eucharistic liturgy
(except on Good Friday, when consecration
takes place on Holy Thursday, but is
distributed during the Mass of the
Presanctified, and Holy Saturday, when Mass
may not be celebrated and the Eucharist may
only be distributed as Viaticum).
 The term Eucharist is also used for the bread
and wine when transubstantiated (their
substance having been changed), according
to Catholic teaching, into the body and blood
of Jesus Christ.
 "At the Last Supper, on the night he was
betrayed, our Saviour instituted the
Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood.”
 Blessed Sacrament is a devotional term used in the
Roman Catholic Church to refer to the Eucharistic
species (the Body and Blood of Christ).
 Consecrated hosts are kept in a tabernacle after
Mass, so that the Blessed Sacrament can be brought
to the sick and dying outside the time of Mass. This
makes possible also the practice of eucharistic
adoration.
 Because Christ himself is present in the sacrament of
the altar, he is to be honored with the worship of
adoration.
 "To visit the Blessed Sacrament is ... a proof of
gratitude, an expression of love,... and a duty of
adoration toward Christ our Lord.
THE ROLE OF THE CHOIR IN THE
CELEBRATION OF THE MASS: STILL
NEGLECTED AND MISUNDERSTOOD!
 50 (Fifty) years after the closing of the Vatican Council (1962-
65), which gave the Church a new, renovated, enriched, joyful
(potentially!) Liturgy, we must admit that the ROLE OF THE CHOIR
- which is vital and essential in our Sunday liturgies - is still
badly misunderstood; I would even say "ignored," by the
members themselves of the choir and especially by those who
are responsible for the preparation and celebration of the Mass.

 In my long life experience as a priest (over 50 years), I have not

come across yet a community where the Mass is celebrated and
conducted - as far as music and singing are concerned -
according to the good, wise and inspired guidelines of the
Church. It is a great pity!

 The Mass could be so beautiful, so attractive, so spiritually

edifying, if it were celebrated according to the mind and teaching
of the Church!