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Gregorian Chant in the Season of Lent

Lent is a time for a certain asceticism, an asceticism for a spiritual purpose; it should involve prayer and fasting and almsgiving. the Gregorian music of Lent might be characterized as analogous to prayer and fasting. With regard to fasting, the liturgy abstains from several aspects of the normal year’s music. With regard to prayer, there is even more elaborate music of a kind particular to the season. thus, the Lenten asceticism of Gregorian chant is an enrichment of the liturgy; which, while in a sense ascetical, is also beautifully conducive to an intensification of the life of prayer. Why address Gregorian chant now? it remains the normative music of the Roman Rite and is presently experiencing a quiet revival in our churches. as Pope St. Pius X says: