Detail from 'Dante in Exile' (Unknown artist, Wikimedia Commons).

Writing to make sure his monks were on their best behavior, St. Benedict formulated the Rule that bears his name. One of the chapters concerns singing in church services: “Therefore, let us consider in what manner it behoveth us to be in the sight of God and of the Angels, and so let us sing in choir, that mind and voice may accord together.” That last phrase, the Benedictine formula Mens nostra concordet voci nostrae, or “Our minds must be in accord with our voices,” offers powerful help to growing in the faith.

St. Paul talks in Romans 7 about the old man/new man dichotomy. “I do not understand my own actions,” he says, and you can feel the frustration as he continues: “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Every believer suffers the struggle. Every believer wants to do what is holy but finds himself doing otherwise.

The church offers help for this problem, and one of the aids surprisingly combines the Benedictine and Prosperity Gospel formulas: Say what’s holy so you become holy. If you want holiness, claim it. That’s why prayer is so important. We confess truths about God and ourselves that we need to be reminded of every day, every hour. By confessing the truth, we increase our belief of it and align ourselves closer to it.

Unlikely as it might seem, Dante’s Purgatorio speaks to this. As the poem portrays things, souls in purgatory are perched on ledges and prescribed particular hymns or passages of Scripture. Edward Moore notes in the second series of his Studies in Dante that each are taken from public liturgies so churchgoers would be familiar with them.

In the sixteenth canto, for instance, the wrathful sing the Agnus Dei, “Lamb of God.” Here are the lyrics:

Lamb of God, who takes away sins of world,
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, who takes away sins of world,
grant us peace.

Those who struggle with anger sing of peace. In the nineteenth canto, those suffering from avarice sing the twenty-fifth verse of Psalm 119, “My soul clings to the dust.” The second half of that verse is “give me life according to your word!” The greedy stop grasping and rely on God’s promises. In the twenty-third canto, the gluttonous sing “O Lord, open my lips,” a portion of Psalm 51 that speaks of using the mouth for praise, not eating. And in the twenty-fifth canto the lustful sing Summae Deus clementiae, “God of clemency supreme,” the opening lines of the Matins hymn for purity.

I really like how Peter Leithart says it in his study of Dante, Ascent to Love: “Learning to sing of Christian virtues is one way of learning to embody those virtues. When we have learned to sing, we will become the song.” If our minds and hearts must accord with our voices, shouldn’t we speak those things that God desires us to become?