Do you want to know the one thing that will elevate or erode your quality of life faster than anything else? What you allow to occupy your mind. Our thoughts mold our lives.

Everything we put into our minds influences our thoughts: what we read, what we watch, who we talk to, the list goes on. One tremendously powerful influence on our minds is music. And just like anything else that we allow into our minds, music can have a strong positive or negative effect on us.

Saint Cecilia, one of the earliest and most famous martyrs in the Church, is the patron saint of music. Though she lived a difficult life, she harnessed the power of music to praise God and remain focused on his love.

Cecilia was a noblewoman in Rome. She loved God and made a vow of chastity to honor him. Her family didn’t respect this vow, forcing her to marry a pagan nobleman named Valerian. During their wedding, it is said that Cecilia “sang to God in her heart.” Influenced by Cecilia’s faith, Valerian ended up converting to Christinaity. But as the dangers of being Christian rose, both Cecilia and Valerian were captured and martyred. The executioner struck Cecilia on the neck three times with his sword and still could not decapitate her. She died three days later from the wounds. As she died, she sang to God.

Do you use music to help you get through the difficult moments of your life? 

Music has a tremendous effect on our lives. Music can lift the spirit and make the spirit within us dance. It can inspire and motivate us. Yet when it is not used to focus us on things that are good and true, the things with which we wish to fill our lives, music can embitter us and enslave us to misery. Music has a powerful ability to direct our thoughts. So often we will hear a song early in the morning and we find ourselves humming, singing, or whistling that song throughout the day. Music directs our thoughts, but toward what? 

Does the music we listen to help us to focus on the things that are good, true, and honorable? Or does the music we listen to lead us away from our fulfillment and toward emptiness?

Nothing influences your words and actions more than what you allow to occupy your mind. In the spirit of Saint Cecilia, fill your mind with the beauty and power of inspiring music today.



Feast Day: November 22

Feast Day Shared By: Saint Maurus, Saint Philemon, Saint Tigridia

Patron Saint of: Sacred Music, Organ Builders, Singers, Musicians, and Poets

Symbols: A Harp and Other Instruments