If you’ve spent any time in our still-new Paniccia Prayer Garden (and I hope you have!) you’ve probably heard some of the music and prayers that come from the sound system there! It is our hope that the sounds you hear will blend with the beautiful surroundings to enable you to have an even more profound spiritual experience.
The Buildings and Grounds committee planned for music in the Prayer Garden from the start, and an MP3 player was donated by a wonderful parish family for that purpose. Five different playlists are now on the player, one for each season of the liturgical year: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and Ordinary Time. This last, of course, is the one you hear daily at the present time.
Each playlist has music especially suited to that season, spanning the two millennia of the Church from Gregorian Chant to songs from last year. While some of the music is instrumental, there is much that is sung as well (both solo and choral), and languages from Latin to French to Spanish (even Russian!) are included in addition to English. I have personally chosen and approved each selection, from the great chant Masses, to the choral music of Poulenc & Duruflé, to the contemporary songs of Danielle Rose and Matt Maher
Prayer is an especially important part of the garden playlists — as it should be! From midnight to 6:00 p.m., the garden is silent, but just after the first soft sounds at 6:00 each morning, brief daily prayers are offered, including the Memorare, the St. Michael prayer, the Guardian Angel prayer, and the Morning Offering. Every day at noon, the Rosary is prayed, and at 3:00 p.m., the Divin
e Mercy Chaplet — first spoken and then sung. Anything that moves people to prayer is a good thing, and perhaps there are some people out there who would pray the Rosary or the Chaplet, etc., more often if they had someone —even a recording — with whom to pray. Those who are unfamiliar with these beautiful devotions, but perhaps are unsure how to ask for guidance, can also be “walked” through the prayers in this way.
If you listen for familiar voices leading the prayers, you’ll be disappointed — for now. In the future, we plan on recording all these prayers, and more, with our wonderful priests, as well as staff members and parishioners too. In fact, a whole series of albums highlighting music and prayer from St. John the Evangelist is in the works.
That’s not to say you won’t hear familiar voices, however. Fr. John’s music can be heard several times throughout the day, especially his setting of the “Irish Blessing”. A few recordings also feature my own music, and if you are particularly perceptive you might notice a couple 1940s-era recordings. These are my late grandfather, Donald Tiedemann, singing the Ave Maria and the Lord’s Prayer, among others, in his tremendous baritone.
Silence is as much a part of prayer — and music! — as sound, and so to facilitate this, there is not “non-stop” music in the garden. During Ordinary Time there is a moderate amount of silence; during the celebratory seasons of Christmas and Easter, there is less, and during the more penitential seasons of Advent and Lent, there is more. It is Fr. John’s hope that those who prefer complete silence would find the Adoration Chapel of particular use for that purpose.
It is the hope of all of us — from the clergy and staff to all the tremendously generous donors, especially Deacon Frank and Sandy Paniccia, that the Prayer Garden be a place for spiritual reflection and prayer. After all, revelation history both began, and culminated, in a garden (cf. Gn 2:8 and Jn 19:41). A garden is a gift from God our Father and Creator, of course, who created all things; but its ordered beauty also requires the participation of man in its formation — an ideal metaphor for our spiritual lives.
-Tom Oram, Pastoral Musician and Liturgist