It seems to me that if we prayed more, we would have more opportunity to use different types of music in their more apropriate settings, and so no one would need to feel robbed of their favourite type of music, and of course musical tastes can change and mature.
I believe that an adult who finds fulfillment and /or "beauty" in pop music needs to re examine his music education and education in general.
I thank God on my knees the Jesuits and Dominicans who evangelized latin america did not think this way. They were able to truly understand the manifestations of God's creation away from emotional empirical observations.
"pop" and "banal" are not synonymous
A chant by an atheist, in itself a sophistry, is not farther away from God than a mediocre display of emotionalism by a Christian.
If you don't believe there is a god, you can't raise your heart and mind to him.
Their hearts are most certainly in the right place, but their musical choices should be reevaluated so that the prayers are sung in a manner that is not at odds with the mind of the church.
Not really the point of this thread, but I disagree with this statement.
All the stir of living is a cry for life. All the struggle of business is an appeal of man to live. All industry, all enterprise, all thought, echoes with the dread of death, the prayer of life. And God hears it, and gives the world, and gives to you and me, day by day, the life we ask.
-Phillips Brooks, in "The Sacredness of Life"
Human beings have an innate restlessness for God, but this restlessness is a participation in God’s own restlessness for us. - Benedict XVI, Homily on Epiphany
Whither shall I go from thy spirit?
or whither shall I flee from thy face?
If I ascend into heaven, thou art there:
if I descend into hell, thou art present.
If I take my wings early in the morning,
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea:
Even there also shall thy hand lead me:
and thy right hand shall hold me.
And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me:
and night shall be my light in my pleasures.
But darkness shall not be dark to thee, and night shall be light as day:
the darkness thereof, and the light thereof are alike to thee.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him
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