By Josh Thom, Director of Music Ministries

Psalm 100 begins, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing." This has always been a favorite verse of mine and among other factors steered my vocation to serve God and His followers in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. However, this also is a verse I hope will touch your heart, mind and soul while celebrating the Holy Eucharist. I would like to share a story about a member of the last congregation I served in Wickenburg whose name is Jerry. Jerry sang so boldly from the bellows of his lungs and full voiced that he was clearly the loudest member of the congregation. He wasn't ever classically trained or an opera performer although he wouldn't let that stand between him and lifting his voice to the Lord profoundly with all his heart! As a result, the rest of the congregation all felt more encouraged to sing out full voice as well and that spirit and song from Jerry became contagious resulting in our beautiful building of worship being transformed and adorned by the symphony of souls singing their praises for the Glory of God!
   I have heard many great voices downstairs in our congregations at St. Joseph's, Holy Ghost in Valley, and St. Mary's and am so uplifted by the acoustic and intrinsic beauty. I want to encourage everyone to find their own "inner Jerry" and sing full voiced praises unto the Lord with gladness! The results will bring more personal fulfillment of the entirety of the sacrament of the Mass as the more effort, engagement and sincerity one brings into one's devotion the more you are likely to get out of it. Additionally, like Jerry proved it provides encouragement for all those around you to enjoy that freedom without reservations and thus that spirit will become contagious. Furthermore, it has been scientifically studied, documented and proven that, according to a BBC article, "singing can release oxytocin, a hormone that can increase feelings of connectedness and inclusion. Studies have shown that singing in a group can lead to higher oxytocin levels than singing alone." It brings us together as a community uplifted and unified in praise, voice and song!
    Briefly, I would like to touch on some of the things I've been able to accomplish thus far in our parishes. Most the work I do is the stuff "behind the scenes" to ensure that every service that should have music is delivered seamlessly for the congregation. Whether it is the regular Saturday and Sunday weekly services, funerals, other Holy Days of obligation, I personally make sure to pool the talented resources to provide each service with music despite challenges to everyone's varied schedules and availability. I also reorganized the music books and streamlined with efficiency the process of bringing copies of all the music to all the musicians each week. I cleaned up the balcony upstairs, rearranged the placement of singers and musicians and cleared the upstairs pews of old music books in hopes that by creating the space it will be filled once again with a choir. Last Sunday, I am pleased to say that at the 10 am St. Mary's service we had four singers and two musicians upstairs which is the most we have had since I started! If you were there, I hope you enjoyed the music as much as we enjoyed celebrating the liturgy and Holy Eucharist with you through music! 
    I'm also happy to announce the Saturday 4 pm mass at St. Mary's has a new Cantor! Please welcome Lisa Marone-Schmidt who comes to us with 25+ years of experience working with various churches as a Mezzo Soprano. I have a request for more people to join the talented musicians we are blessed with upstairs. If you are a soprano, alto, tenor, bass or play an instrument and would like to share your talents and explore your own vocation to the service of the Lord in such a capacity; please contact me as you have an open invitation for any service. Some may remember years ago they had a great choir at St. Mary's and I have aspirations to bring that back. However, without volunteers to fill the balcony those can only remain aspirations. In closing, my message to all upstairs or downstairs is "Serve the Lord with GLADNESS: come before His presence with SINGING!"