Morning Gregorian Serenade

As Maynor and I were praying in the sacristy / Blessed Sacrament chapel in the ruins of the parish church after Mass this morning, we heard some beautiful chanting outside. I recognized the lead voice of a very devout older woman who comes to Mass daily. She had been a religious sister, but - as happened in countless cases during the war - somehow got separated from her community. The other voices were those of small children. The melody was haunting, but I was unable to recognize in which language they were singing.

I saw the woman as we were walking back to the house and asked whether she was the one teaching the song, what it was about and in what language they were singing. As it turns out, it was the responsory from Night Prayer/Compline ("Into Your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit. You have redeemed us Lord God of truth; I commend my spirit. Glory to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Into Your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit."). She had learned it in Latin as a Gregorian chant, but translated it into Lotuko, the local tribal language. When I asked her why she was teaching it to the children (I thought perhaps they were learning it to sing on a special occasion), she told me that she wanted to teach them something they could sing as a prayer before going to bed each night, because that was a very important thing to do.

This was something she did spontaneously, on her own initiative, for the spiritual welfare of the local children. That is how evangelization and the passing on of the faith happens.

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