Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
The Sweetest Song I Know

The Sweetest Song I Know

Last updated on: June 16, 2016 at 12:21 pm by Mary Pezzulo

The Sweetest Song I Know 2016-06-16T12:21:24-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

keyboard-instrument-436488_640

Several years ago now, I got to be a fly on the wall for a nice stuffy ad-orientem-only priest schooling a bunch of Charismatic youth. Lord knows I’ve suffered at the hands of Charismatics, so I enjoyed the show a bit too much.

“I am gonna blow your mind,” the stuffy priest was saying. “There’s no such thing as a Charismatic rite of the Catholic Church. There’s no such thing as a Charismatic Mass.”

He went on in that theme until he was interrupted by a youth in a red baseball cap.

“Some hearts aren’t ready for that kind of Mass,” said the youth. “And we need a little praise and worship.”

“That sounds like individualism,” said the stuffy priest.

“It is,” said the youth.

“Is there room for individualism in a Catholic Mass?” asked the stuffy priest.

“Well, no,” said the youth.

It just went on and on like that.

I have witnessed many a hideous liturgical acid trip put on by people who apparently thought the Church had a Charismatic rite, so I was rooting for the stuffy priest right up until the priest mentioned the song “Amazing Grace.” He’s apparently one of those people who believe the lyrics to Amazing Grace are heretical. He said that if you sing “Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me,” you’re professing the total depravity of your soul. And if you sing “how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed,” you’re professing that sanctifying grace comes through belief instead of through baptism.

I began to be more sympathetic toward the youth in the red baseball cap.

First of all, “Amazing Grace” can’t be heretical because “Amazing Grace” isn’t Catholic. It’s a Protestant hymn. That might make it inappropriate to be sung at a Catholic Mass– some Protestant hymns are and some aren’t– but it’s not heretical. The only way a song can be heretical is if the song writer was intending to pass it off as a Catholic hymn while putting blatant heterodoxy in it. But “Amazing Grace” wasn’t written by or for a Catholic.

And anyway, does the song really contain blatant heterodoxy?

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” I’ve been praying a lot of Byzantine Catholic and Orthodox prayers lately. There’s a point in an examination of conscience I like, where we say we’ve sinned “not even as a man, but worse than a beast,” all chanted out in a baritone monotone. I like that line. It’s expressive. And it’s in no way heretical. When you sin, you’re not only voluntarily making yourself a bad person, you’re making yourself worse than the usual domesticated animal. Good beasts aren’t spiteful to the master who lovingly feeds and cares for them. When you sin, you’re making yourself like Pinky the Cat here and even worse than Pinky the Cat:

That is, if Pinky the Cat’s handlers were as good with Pinky as God is with you.

That’s pretty wretched, if you ask me. I don’t believe the human soul is totally depraved, but we’re all wretched most of the time.

And then there’s the other line. “How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed!” The word “appear” has two meanings. It can mean “to show up on the scene,” like Superman appearing to save Lois Lane. And yes, if you believe that sanctifying grace only shows up to save you when you believe in it, you’re not believing like a Catholic. But “appear” also means “seem.” Obviously, sanctifying grace doesn’t appear precious until you yourself believe in it. It appears to be nonsense. And all that assumes that we’re only talking about sanctifying grace. There are all kinds of graces. Saint Therese is the one who first spoke my tagline, “everything is grace,” and she spoke it on her deathbed while expiring of tuberculosis. For her, tuberculosis was grace because it allowed her to suffer with Christ. Whatever you’re going through, whatever there is in your life, fair or foul, if God inhabits it with you, that thing becomes a grace for you. This is true, but we rarely feel that it’s true. Sometimes, though, you and I and Saint Therese catch glimpses of how things really are. We notice how our situation has become a grace. And then– how precious does that grace appear! There’s nothing non-Catholic in that part of the song either.

And anyway, outside of the liturgy, who said Catholics only have to listen to Catholic music? Who said we’re not allowed to derive inspiration from other songs, songs with Protestant or even non-Christian lyrics? How horrible would it be if I was only allowed to enjoy Catholic songs?

This is one of my favorite hymns. I’d never sing it in Mass. It’s solid American Protestant and the people who wrote it probably think I’m the Whore of Babylon. But listen to how pretty it is:

How could you not be inspired by that? I sing it when I wash the dishes.

And listen to this one:

I certainly wouldn’t sing it at Mass. It would be completely inappropriate. But listen to those harmonies! And besides, what sincere lyrics! Of course I’ll pray with all my power while you preach, Brother. And of course the Holy Manna will be scattered all around. Lovely.

And then there are the songs that aren’t even Christian, which are just beautiful and draw the mind to Christ by their beauty. My longtime readers know by now that I’m a big fan of Sweet Honey in the Rock. Listen to this:

“Those who have died have never ever left… they are in the rushing winds, they are in the moaning rocks… ’tis the ancestors’ word, when the fire’s voice is heard. ‘Tis the ancestors’ word, in the voice of the water!” I can baptize those lyrics. The souls of the dead are in Christ, and Christ is ever present to us in His creation. It works. But more importantly, it’s beautiful. Music is supposed to be beautiful.

The world certainly needs its share of stuffy priests who know how to dress down obnoxious Charismatic youth. The world needs people to take the Mass seriously and to make sure the aesthetics are appropriate for the liturgy. The world needs people who overthink everything, or I’d be out of a job. But the world also needs music and all our fumbling, imperfect attempts to sing about the mercies we’ve received. The world needs poetry that might sound like heresy if anyone was silly enough to take it literally. The world needs as many imperfect testimonies to the grace of God as there are human beings. The world needs Amazing Grace.

(Image via pixabay)

Previous Post

June 14, 2016

Only On the Testimony of Two or Three Witnesses: A Review of Rodney Stark's Bearing False Witness

Next Post

June 17, 2016 The Value of Straw

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did Jesus say was the greatest commandment?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Pray always Attend temple Love God Follow rules