Newsletter #124
“Music can both establish and destroy morality. For no path is more open to the soul for the formation thereof than through the ears. Therefore, when the rhythms and modes have penetrated even to the soul through these organs, it cannot be doubted that they affect the soul with their own character and conform it to themselves.” (6th Century Christian philosopher Anicius Boethius)
Boethius attested to the awareness that ancient peoples had about the influence of music. So great was the regard for music among them, that they looked on it as having a definite power over the soul. A teacher was once exiled from a Greek city state because he had added another string to one of their traditional instruments. The decree, stating the charges against him, read that the people “were angry with Timothy the Milesian because by rendering the music complex he brought it about that the souls of the youth, who had been entrusted to him to educate, were hindered from the moderation that characterizes virtue. Moreover, he had altered the harmony, which he had received as modest, into a type which is more effeminate.”
More recently, Thoreau wrote: “Music can be intoxicating. Such apparently slight causes destroyed Greece and Rome, and will destroy England and America.” Cyril Scott, an eminent 20th Century composer wrote: “the prevalent notion holds that styles of music are merely the outcome and expression of civilizations and national feelings-that is to say that the civilization comes first, and its characteristic species of music afterwards. But an examination of history proves the truth to be exactly the reverse: an innovation in musical style has invariably been followed by an innovation in politics and morals. And what is more . . . the decline of music in [Egypt and Greece] was followed by the complete decline of the Egyptian and Grecian civilizations themselves.”
As Fr. Basil Nortz explains, several renowned men of the past have expressed a sense of the gravity of this topic. It concerns not only our own personal human growth and progress towards holiness but also the very survival of our civilization. Inasmuch as the civilized public order of men depends upon a culture which seeks to perfect the private order of individuals, there is scarcely any more effective means for disrupting civilization than through a degenerate music, which inordinately stimulates the passions giving them free dominion, a veritable tyranny of avarice and sensuality. The thinkers in the past and ancient civilizations in general have held that good music disposes man to virtue whereas bad music disposes man to vice. The music generally accepted by a civilization will profoundly determine its moral health, and ultimately its growth or demise.
It is important to note that philosophers do not say that music ‘produces’ virtue or vice, but rather ‘disposes’ one for the acquisition of one or the other. As one writer puts it: “Music can only suggest, encourage with its delights, not force anyone to act contrary to their best convictions, yet, many suggestions can undermine felt and reasoned convictions over a prolonged period of time.” Moreover, the free choice to expose oneself to one form of music or another, especially repeatedly and over a prolonged period of time, is a moral choice itself, that is, this very choice is either virtuous or vicious.
ART IMITATES NATURE
But the question is: why does music have such a strong influence in disposing man to virtue or vice? To put it briefly, music as an art form is unique with regard to the object that it imitates. The philosophical axiom states: art imitates nature. Every form of human art must take from the created order elements that it imitates and arranges so as to articulate a feeling or conviction which the artist wishes to express to his fellow man. As such they have an effect on man.
EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
The early Fathers of the Church, as Fr. Basil Cole explains, became exceedingly critical of their contemporary musical situation for reasons of morals and religion. Many spoke against the music of their times because it was essentially either idolatrous or licentious. Music of the theater was but an extension of the pagan cults and so to attack music was indirectly to uphold the fledgling faith of Christ in a people still filled with the dregs of their old ways, i.e., sexually stimulating marriage parties, singing to their gods in homes or, on the occasion of pagan festivals, celebrating with their non-Christian neighbors.
On the other side, we find the Church Fathers waxing eloquent about the many effects of their “new song” (the chant of the liturgy) inculcating the Christian virtues of patience, kindness, peace, joy and charity, bringing the assembly together in ardent and humble worship. That they likewise teach that music is subordinated to the words of the psalms is due partly to the influence of Plato’s philosophy of music, and partly because some of them had composed or commissioned musicians to write hymns which contain the hard sayings of faith and morals made delightful in sound.
MODERN MUSIC
Today’s contemporary musical scene is quite mixed (some would say mad). Certainly, throughout the world, American rock music holds in its grip the cultural sensibilities of the majority of radio listeners, at least. Is rock music bad for one’s spiritual life? It is because of the lyrics that suggest an anti-gospel message (and many do) – also, the melody, harmony and rhythm share in that negative influence. (More explanation will be given later in this script).
SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS CONCERNING BEAUTY AND MUSIC
The analysis of beauty by St. Thomas Aquinas helps us appreciate the value of the musician because for this Angelic Doctor of the Church, the beautiful stimulates not only the pleasure of the ear but the delight of the mind. The three characteristics or properties of beauty-clarity, order and proportion, splendor of form-cannot be simply reduced to any laws of music or the supposed laws of the other arts. These properties transcend any laws, which is the key to appreciating the openness of Aquinas’s thought to artistic evolution within any of the arts, notwithstanding the misunderstanding of the critics. Given his hints about the possibility of a virtue regulating the pleasure of the arts, there is a virtue of music appreciation which regulates one’s choice and attitudes about the music one listens to. As music lovers grow in the ability to distinguish beautiful music, they are able to turn the aesthetic experience of music into a preparation for contemplation of other things that may answer certain important questions regarding the meaning of life. Likewise, the virtue of music appreciation will lead them to know when to get refreshment from music and when someone feels he is becoming too attached to this pleasure and so must moderate its use in the overall life of virtue.
Saint Thomas Aquinas used the notion of beauty to help understand that the creation of the world is shot through with beauty. Looking at his commentary on Pseudo-Dionysius we discover that the reason for God’s creative act is reduced to his beauty. God wanted to make things like to Himself Who is ‘Beauty per se’. Hence the beauty of creation is spoken of in the following manner: “The beauty of the creature is nothing else than the likeness of the divine beauty participated in things”. . . whence it is evident that from the divine beauty is derived the existence of all things.” So, it follows that each thing is beautiful in its own way. Aquinas also says that this divine beauty gives unity, mutual adaptations, agreements in ideas and friendship.
CHRISTIAN VIRTUES HELPED BY GOOD MUSIC
From another point of view, beauty of spirit consists in conversations and actions which are well formed and suffused with intelligence. Therefore, from the point of view of morals and spirituality, the beauty of an entire life is founded upon the virtuous life which consists in the co-ordination of many human acts and emotions according to reason. Because the instincts and emotions are brought under the order of reason, this inner activity of the human person, like a musician’s, harmonizes, and sets in proportion the human life of the person. On the other hand, immoderate pleasure sought for its own sake” . . . dulls the light of reason, from which comes all clarity and beauty of virtue.”
GOOD MUSIC ASSISTS CONTEMPLATION
But the life of virtue is not only suggested by good music, it also helps one for contemplation. What is contemplation? For St. Thomas Aquinas, it means many things from the point of view of thinking about and loving God. But looked at entirely from a natural perspective, it is “a simple gaze upon the truth.” In the same citation, he relies on Richard of St. Victor’s notion that “contemplation is the soul’s penetrating and easy gaze on things perceived.” This definition is easily transferable from philosophy to all the arts of the beautiful including music. To listen to music is to contemplate something beautiful which is a structured truth of a made thing itself and may also (if allied with poetry) contain extra-musical truth either from faith or reason.
For St. Thomas, happiness itself consists in part (he does not exclude the delight of the moral virtues) through the contemplative act, most of all when it is infused by the Holy Ghost. But happiness ensues when contemplation is done by one’s own efforts as well, so long as this activity does not interfere with one’s responsibilities for then it will be pure escape. To the extent that music brings one to the taste and joys of contemplative activity and life, it leads one to the purpose of the virtuous life. For the moral virtues themselves anticipate and dispose everyone and look toward the meaning of contemplative life, both naturally and supernaturally.
Thus, listening to beautiful music may dispose one to the contemplation of faith, since it mirrors the infinite beauty of God Himself. Could it not be the case that the strife and struggle to fasten onto ideas “by reason of the weakness of the intellect” is eased somewhat by a love and appreciation of all the fine arts, which in turn strengthen the natural power of concentration on spiritual things? Might listening to the inner relationships of a work by Mozart, for example, exercise and strengthen the intellect to more easily contemplate divine things? Likewise, might not the beautiful as contemplated dispose one to realize that there is more to life than simply or exclusively the material goods of the senses? These questions flow from the whole idea of contemplation as seen by Aquinas.
From the Trinitarian and purely supernatural perspective, Jesus Christ merits the title of beauty since He is the perfect image or art-work of the Father, a metaphor and real analogy borrowed from epistemology and originally used in the fine art of painting. Also, in passing, St. Thomas says grace is something beautiful.
Like the moral good, the beautiful in this life does not fully satisfy. There are intrinsic defects to some degree in all music or all of art, as well as human beings themselves. These deficiencies are changeableness and limitedness or finiteness.
IS IT PROPER TO ENJOY THE PLEASURE OF SACRED MUSIC?
From another perspective, however, St. Thomas rejoins himself with St. Augustine’s famous problem of whether or not it is good to enjoy the pleasure of sacred music. Saint Thomas Aquinas understands the perplexity better:
“The soul is distracted from the meaning of a song when it is sung merely to arouse pleasure. But when one sings out of devotion, he pays more attention to the content and the meaning, both because he lingers more on the words, and because, as Augustine says, each affection of our spirit, according to its variety, has its own appropriate measure in the voice and singing, by some hidden correspondence wherewith it is stirred. The same is true of the hearers, for even if they do not understand what is sung, they understand why it is sung, namely for God’s honor, and this is enough to arouse their devotion” (S. T., II-II, 91, 2 ad 3).
Clearly, St. Thomas has no problem with meaning and emotion, but merely taking pleasure in sacred music is not enough to justify listening to it in the context of the liturgy. This more clearly solves St. Augustine’s dilemma. Also, these two very short paragraphs contain an entire spirituality for the sacred musician.
Taking many hints from St. Thomas, listening to music is more than simply sense pleasure and it needs to be integrated as part of life. Its potential connection for good or bad with so many parts of life becomes clearer when seen in light of the contemporary experience of too much music linked with a major philosophy of life that is antithetical to the life of virtue.
MUSIC AND EMOTIONS
What does music imitate? As Nortz explains, it is capable of imitating various things in our experience such as the sound of a blustery storm, the rushing of troops into battle, or the hectic bedlam of rush hour traffic. But the motion of musical sounds, expressed in various types of melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre and tonal texture, most importantly are capable of imitating man’s own inner passions or emotions. There are certain natural bodily motions which commonly accompany man’s feelings of joy, anger, hope, sorrow, fear, despair, love, hate and courage. Music is capable of imitating these same movements, and so evoke these feelings in the soul. In this way, music is a natural and universal language which is not learned, but immediately and connaturally felt. It is true that we can learn to associate certain memories and feelings with certain kinds of music due to repeated experiences. Nevertheless, for the most part, music, by its very melody, harmony, rhythm, etc., expresses specific emotions. There is no need to teach a child “this is happy music,” or “this is sad music.” As soon as happy music is played the child begins to rejoice. Whereas, when sad music is played a different reaction occurs.
OTHER ARTS ALSO INFLUENCE EMOTIONS
It is true that the other arts also work upon man’s emotions. Take for example a statue, such as Michaelangelo’s Pietá, which imitates the scene of Mary holding her dead Son Jesus. This statute arouses pity, compassion, and sadness because it depicts the Blessed Mother in the state of these emotions. Hence, those devoted to the Blessed Mother are easily moved whereas the impious may remain untouched.
MUSIC HAS A DIFFERENT INFLUENCE
Music is different, because it does not portray others experiencing the emotion, but rather it directly imitates and so stimulates the emotions themselves. That is why music can be categorized according to the passion it imitates and arouses. There is joyful music, sad music, suspenseful music, romantic music, rebellious music, etc. A person would not usually confuse romantic music with a marching song, nor would they mistake music to celebrate victory with a funeral dirge. This is because even without there being lyrics to identify the feeling the composer wishes to arouse, the feeling is aroused. This point is of the utmost importance. Music consists neither essentially nor primarily in the lyrics. Whether a piece of music has words or not is accidental to the music itself insofar as it imitates and affects the passions. You do not need to understand German to know that the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is an Ode to Joy. The joy is felt, not intellectualized.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC AND MORALS
But what does all this have to do with disposing man to virtue or vice? The connection between music and the formation of virtue becomes clear when we realize that the two cardinal virtues of fortitude and temperance and the many other related virtues are primarily concerned with the ordering of our passions or emotions according to right reason. These virtues perfect our emotions so that we take delight in what is truly good and avoid what is truly evil. They increase our capacity to love truly and well, and unify our strength to oppose and overcome evil; they are the strongholds of man’s character. We are talking about virtues like chastity, sobriety, meekness, patience, clemency, courage, humility and many others.
On the opposite side there are the vices of drunkenness, lust, infidelity, harshness, cruelty, racism, jealousy and many other ugly beasts. The passions of our soul, which are love and hate, desire and aversion, joy and sadness, hope and fear, audacity and anger and despair will all be formed, either by virtue, in accord with right reason or by brute passion in vice. In order to acquire these moral virtues which beautify the soul by ordering the passions, man must habituate his emotions to act in accord with right reason. This is what the ancients meant when they said that good music fosters virtue, while bad music fosters vice.
IT MOVES MAN TO EITHER VIRTUE OR VICE
Music, as an art form, moves man to delight in the emotions and passions which the music evokes. The repeated listening to a certain kind of music becomes “habitual” in the strictest sense of the word: the emotions clothe themselves with a habit, either a virtue or a vice, according to the quality of the music one habitually listens to. In this regard Aristotle wrote: “. . . emotions of any kind are produced by melody and rhythm; therefore by music a man becomes accustomed to feeling the right emotions; music has thus the power to form character, and various kinds of music based on the various modes, may be distinguished by their effects on character one, for example, working in the direction of melancholy, another of effeminacy, one encouraging abandonment, another self-control, another enthusiasm, and so on through the series.”
SOME EFFECTS
Music can imitate a reasonable, ordered, honorable, virtuous emotion, in which case music helps dispose man to the virtuous and honorable ordering of his life. However, music can also imitate an unreasonable, disordered, dishonorable, vicious emotion. The old saying that music calms the savage beast may be true of old music, but it would hardly hold true for many forms of modern music, whose purpose often is to release the beast. In the Old Testament, when King Saul was troubled by an evil spirit he was calmed and delivered by David’s harp playing. Should David have played upon the war drums or had he sounded the battle horns for attack, one could hardly expect Saul to have been calmed and brought back to his senses by such music. Is there any serious doubt in the mind concerning the category into which the modern electrified instruments would fall?
MUSIC AND ITS LYRICS
Many people think that the goodness or badness of music can be judged simply by its lyrics. It cannot be doubted that the lyrics themselves may be good or bad. Bad lyrics certainly magnify the depravity of bad music, and also vitiate otherwise good music. For example, if a composer writes a very solemn, beautiful hymn, and puts blasphemous words to it, great would be the perversion.
Likewise, if a composer wrote a piece of music which inspired great fortitude, and accompanied it with a lyric which called for the annihilation of a particular race or class of people, this obviously would be an evil song. For this reason, if the words are bad, then the music is especially to be avoided regardless of whether a person listens or pays active attention to the words, because the human mind is influenced nevertheless.
THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE
Nevertheless, the point of our present argument is, as Marshall McCluhan observed: “The medium is the message.” That is to say, the music: its melody, harmony and rhythm, all by itself disposes man to virtue or vice by moving the emotions. Therefore, the way in which they move the passions should serve as a principal basis for judgment on whether any given piece of music is good or bad.
MORAL FORMATION IS MORE THAN TEACHING CATECHISM
It is an unfortunate mistake to think that moral formation consists simply in teaching children the Ten Commandments. Such instruction provides good and important “intellectual “formation, but it is not “moral “formation. Moral formation is the formation of the will and the emotions, accustoming them to delight in their proper objects. How can we teach our passions to rejoice in accord with right reason? Music is one of the most powerful means. This is what Plato meant when he wrote in the “Republic”, “Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul.”
JUDGE MUSIC BY GENERAL NORMS
There exists a large assortment of good music. No particular style or period of music has a monopoly on that claim.
Nevertheless, the principles of judgment concerning good and bad music cannot possibly be reduced to a mere matter of personal taste and preference any more than the moral virtues are a matter of personal taste.
The degree to which each individual is affected by music will certainly vary due to temperament and character. Nevertheless, just as we can indicate general norms of virtuous behavior based upon the proper ordering of the passions to right reason, so too we can indicate general norms for good music based upon whether the passions imitated are according to right reason or not.
GOOD VS. BAD MUSIC
In a word, good music will stimulate the emotions in such a way that these faculties of the soul, under the guidance of reason, are made to more effectively pursue the good of the individual and his neighbor. Bad music tends to absolutize the passions, making their pleasure or hate a good in itself, such that right reason more and more loses dominion with the result that the individual falls victim to the passions. Hence, it is not perchance that disordered music naturally advocates libertinism, rebellion and chaos.
BRIEF ANALYSIS OF ROCK MUSIC
To give a quick application of these principles, let us take the prevalent genre of music enjoyed by many of today’s youth: rock music. One music historian who has covered the rock scene for national publications since 1967 described rock music in a very honest way. From its very inception, he writes, it has been “all about disorder, aggression, and sex: a fantasy of human nature, running wild to a savage beat.” What Alan Freed originally named “Rock and Roll” in 1955 has since spawned a large progeny such as: Heavy Metal, Rap, Punk, Alternative, Grunge, etc. The common element in most, if not all, is the throbbing heavy pulsating beat, and syncopated rhythm which are amplified through the electrification of instruments, especially the guitar. The lyrics which accompany much of this secular music are similarly often immoral. But the fact of the matter is such lyrics fit the music perfectly. Very often the music itself is obscene even without the lyrics. The emotions evoked by such music can hardly be considered virtuous much less Christian. The passions of sensuality, rebellion, pride, power, and irreverence are commonly evoked by the rhythms characteristic of these types of music.
ADDICTIVE FACTOR
Apart from the emotional effects that the progeny of rock music has on man, there are also verifiable physiological effects, such as the increase of adrenaline in the blood stream which makes the music physically addictive. Also, it causes the out-pouring of sexual hormones when the volume of the music is high which is practically the norm, especially in concerts and places for dancing. These physical repercussions also serve as indicators of the effect this music can have on the moral life. Since the moral virtues of temperance and fortitude do not reside in man’s purely spiritual faculties of intellect and will, but in the passions of his soul they are more easily disturbed by such bodily changes.
CHANT MUSIC
By contrast, let us now consider the musical antithesis of rock music: plain chant (such as Gregorian chant music). Here we note that the emotions are being stimulated in a very different way, not in a riot of passion, but peacefully in a way that serves reason and respects the integrity of the individual. Plain chant has been preferred for sacred worship in the Church, and even before Christ in the Jewish praying of the psalms. Such is the case not simply because it so perfectly serves to convey the meaning of the text; but because plain chant itself conveys a sense of peace, reverence, purity, and humility.
The point is not that plain chant is the only good music, nor that all good music is like chant, except in that all good music stimulates the emotions in a way consonant with reason. The Baroque period as well as the Classical or Romantic Period offer many fine pieces of such music, although to many they seem too complex and inaccessible. Beyond these there is also a wealth of traditional folk songs from America, Germany, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, etc. which have entertained and delighted Christian peoples for centuries.
MUSIC EITHER ELEVATES OR CORRUPTS THE SOUL
Good music touches the soul delightfully and elevates it nobly; whereas bad music corrupts the soul as profoundly as error corrupts the mind, because just as the mind should not be enslaved by untruth, so too the soul should not be enslaved by tyrannous passion. It is so very important to realize that it is not simply the lyrics that will affect man, but the music itself enters into the deepest recesses of the soul to influence man even more profoundly. Words must first be understood by the mind, but music is immediately grasped by the emotions.
OVERVIEW OF IMMORAL AMERICAN MUSIC
There is no doubt, as Dr. Horvat explains, that the current music in American society represents a downward spiral toward the vulgar and even the openly Satanic. Some clarification is needed, however, about those who think that people “back in the days” listened to less vulgar music.
If one means “back in the days” to refer to a long time ago – Middle Ages, for example – and the folk music of the European and American peoples that continued in that spirit, reflecting their personalities, charm and innocence, even up until the 20th century, then indeed, that statement would be true.
If one means classical music performed by ensembles, choirs or individual instruments (flute, harp, etc.), then there exists only partial to this statement: Although much of classical music still maintains certain counter-revolutionary rules of aesthetics, hierarchy, calm and beauty that are important to uphold in our revolutionary times when egalitarianism, ugliness and turmoil reign, it is good to remember that certain composers and genres TEND TO BE PROBLEMATIC since they have been infected with the Revolution, which started in the Renaissance.
WHY THIS SORT OF CLASSICAL MUSIC IS BAD
This can be either because of problematic story content (e.g. operas with scandalous storylines), an overabundance of sweetness yet no militancy or violent outbursts of passion and romance. It should also be noted waltzes, ballets and polkas have been condemned by the Church, despite their often being considered more “elegant”. Furthermore, the modern classical music is often cacophonous and discordant which makes it NOT INCLUDED in this genre as refined or acceptable. It is important to use counter-revolutionary criteria to help discern which classical music is acceptable or not, and for which occasions.
“POPULAR” MUSIC IS BAD
But if one means the “popular” music of the 1920s forward, up to and including the period of soft rock, the answer is NO. For this music was already corrupted by sensual lyrics, harmonies & rhythms, and it is only in “degrees” that it differs in its vulgarity and immorality: e.g. a little less bad or vulgar, a little less immoral, etc. Ultimately, once you enter the track of jazz or rock, you – or your children or grandchildren – have entered the vulgar and sensual grooves of a music that ultimately ends in degradation because it was created and designed by the Devil from the outset for this purpose.
To confirm this, one need only point to the series on rock music by Fr. Jean-Paul Régimbal. He notes that during an exorcism performed by a Californian priest on a youth addicted to rock music, the evil spirit revealed who he was in these words: “I am a Prince and I have arrived. I am coming to possess a whole race, the youth of America.”
GRADUAL MOVEMENT TO THE DEMONIC
“The Principle of Gradualism, the Devious Law for Evil to Progress” by Prof. Plinio explains how the long and victorious march toward the corruption of customs, dress, music and clothing DID NOT PROCEED by leaps and bounds, BUT RATHER BY SEVERAL STEPS!
Let us examine only briefly this topic by pointing to a few of the general trends to explain the principle.
BRIEF ORIGIN OF ROCK MUSIC
Rock originated from African-American music such as gospel, jump blues, jazz, boogie woogie and blues that rose and flourished in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s.
JAZZ
Jazz “artists” like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Count Basie, big band or swing singers like Glen Miller and the Dorsey Brothers, crooners like Bing Crosby and Dean Martin, blues singers like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, and Broadway film composers like George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin all adopted the new jazz and blues beat. What emerged was a genre: new, electric, stimulating, romantic and sensual.
Unfortunately, the songs from this period would be considered almost “classical” by many persons today. They are NOT. They are REVOLUTIONARY and should be rejected because they were introduced to acclimate fans to the rock music that would soon emerge.
ROCK ‘N ROLL
The rock ‘n roll that appeared in the late 1950s did in fact shock the older generations; they were scandalized by the provocative and obscene movements of Little Richard and Elvis Presley, and then, horror of horrors, the long-haired of Liverpool rebels, the Beatles, who turned young daughters into hysterical screaming maniacs.
Once again, let us note, these first rock bands, so radical in their day, are considered conservative and even “good” and “harmless” by many supposed conservative and traditional Catholic parents of the 21st century.
REJECT ALL JAZZ AND ROCK
After understanding the immoral influence of this type of music, the true Catholic has to REJECT jazz and rock music of EVERY KIND. The vigilant Catholic who understands the principle of graduality will realize the incipient danger in becoming accustomed to a music designed to disorder the spirit and unleash the passions.
The conservative youth of the 1960s and 1970s could WRONGLY choose the milder country-style or melancholy music like that of Glen Campbell, the Carpenters, John Denver, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Roberta Flack, Olivia Newton John, Simon & Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills & Nash, etc.
The more revolutionary and “with it” youth moved on to the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, the Grateful Dead, KISS, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and so many others.
But the rock beat undulated in all of it – soft or hard – and while the milder funk groups basically celebrated findin’ and makin’ love, the heavier rock was already speaking of the road to Satan, drugs and despair.
We know how rock ‘n roll ‘evolved’ to hard and acid rock, heavy metal with all its sub genres like death metal, black metal, thrash metal, etc,. Rappers, hip hoppers, the list goes on and on. Always louder, bolder, faster and increasingly disordered and Satanic.
Many parents today condemn the hard rock of their children’s generation, but excuse and even praise the rock music they listened to when they were young such as the ’50s music – e.g. “Rock, Rock, Rock around the Clock” – praising the music and dance of the “good old days.” They are GRAVELY in ERROR!
The “very bad” rock music they condemn found its root in the rock music from those “good old days” they celebrate. What needs to be clear is that ALL the vulgarity, obscenity and Satanic spirit found in today’s music WAS PRESENT in the first movement of jazz, blues and rock (which had a long preparation in certain revolutionary currents of classical music). That first music, which sounds so mild and sanitary today, CONDITIONED all the rest of the process that ended in the EXPLOSION of hard rock, death metal, etc.
The Church, as the wisest of mothers, always used to counsel her children to avoid the first fall in the passions because she understands that every small infidelity can begin a process that ends in a billowing wave. In that first infidelity is the germ for the greatest release of passion and hatred of order and, ultimately, of God Himself.
For this reason, we should REJECT ALL rock music – from the least bad to the worst – so we do not enter that quickly descending path to vulgarity, obscenity and Satanism.
CHRISTIAN ROCK MUSIC
And so we come to what is called “Christian rock,” rock bands or singers who affirm their religious beliefs in the lyrics of their rock music.
This genre started with a kind of soft rock, but it has followed the same inevitable evolutionary process, with the appearance of Christian metal, Christian industrial and Christian punk. It is all still rock music, be it soft or hard, decorated with “Christian” religious imagery and sentiments or not.
Just as there are no good witches and bad witches, no good magic and bad magic, there is no good rock and bad rock. It is all bad and should be avoided and rejected.
According to some, this rock genre is one of the most insidious and dangerous types of rock. Listening to so-called “Christian rock” is not innocent, as so many parents think. It is to enter that revolutionary downward spiral of music, opening the door to the Devil in the name of Jesus Christ or His Blessed Mother.
N.B. A good recommendation is to check the melody of your current cell phone ring. If it has the ‘rock’ beat or immoral tone, then change it.
AVE MARIA!
Father Joseph Poisson
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Consecration of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to Immaculate Heart of Mary
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Featured Sermon
Given By His Excellency Bishop Pfeiffer