11 AUDIO DIVINA

AUDIO DIVINA

This chapter explores music as another sacred text through which we can encounter the Holy. Augustine of Hippo famously wrote in his commentary on the psalms, “He who sings, prays twice.” The psalms themselves are filled with descriptions of singing to God, such as “I
will sing praise to your name” (9:2) and “Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!” (150:4). All of creation is commanded to sing out: “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing” (100:1–2). Music is primordial sound, a powerful art form that has the capacity to stir the emotions and charge our memory…

Taken from Lectio Divina the Sacred Art by Christine Valters Painter