Can music become prayer?

I thought this article was interesting, well spoken by the Pope.  Not that the Pope is any final authority on the subject, but I find it comforting that music in general, not just Sunday morning praise music, can become a means of prayer.  Many have believed that to be true, and while worship music is a beautiful way to praise God, it is not the only way.  Worship music is not a style of music, it’s the heart of the people, right?

Regarding a pianist concert, Pope Benedict says,  “This concert has, once again, given us the chance to appreciate the beauty of music, a spiritual and therefore universal language, and hence the appropriate vehicle for understanding and union between individuals and peoples. Music forms part of all cultures and, we could say, accompanies all human experiences, from suffering to pleasure, from hatred to love, from sadness to joy, from death to life.”

The Pope also addressed the wide range of history covered by the performance, saying, “over the centuries and the millennia music has always been used to give form to what cannot be expressed with words, because it arouses emotions otherwise difficult to communicate. It is, then, no coincidence that all civilizations have given importance and value to music in its various forms and expressions.

“Music, great music,” he observed, “distends the spirit, arouses profound emotions and almost naturally invites us to raise our minds and hearts to God in all situations of human existence, the joyful and the sad.”

Thus, he explained, “Music can become prayer.”