“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing,” Jesus says at the beginning of his public ministry. The work of the divine is made present to those listeners in God’s Word Made Flesh. Still today, this sort of encounter with Christ must be paramount in all activities of the church: liturgy, evangelization, catechesis, and conversion. By bringing music into dialogue with preaching and living the Word in our daily lives, we learn how we can better recognize Christ around us and help make his presence, his truth, and his love more tangible to all those who hear our voice and observe our acts of loving kindness.
Orin E. Johnson has held professional music and liturgy positions for twenty-five years, currently at St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church in St. Louis, Missouri. He holds degrees in music and theology from Harvard University, Radford University, and Aquinas Institute of Theology. His liturgical music is published with OCP and GIA, and he is a contributor to Living Liturgy,™. He is active nationally as a speaker, performer, catechist, and retreat and workshop leader.