Music in the Life of the Monk
The impulse to sing when praying is embedded in the psalms themselves: Cry out to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing for joy (Ps 100). St Benedict, reflecting on the importance of community prayer and the singing of the psalms, asks us to Sing wisely! and reminds us that we should sing the psalms in such a way that our minds are in harmony with our voices (Rule of St Benedict, 19).
Music and singing in this shared common prayer lift the entire person to God: mind and heart, body and spirit, psalm and singing, sound and silence combining, so that ancient words prayed before Christ, prayed by Christ, now prayed by those who follow Christ in the monastery, ring out the rhythm of the day given to God.
Let us stand to sing the psalms in such a way that our minds are in harmony with our voices RB 19.7