Devotions for Kids: The Saint of Song

Devotions for Kids is a series meant for sharing so that everyone - family and community - can spend time in God's Word together with the children in their lives and grow in faith.

I will sing praise to your name, Most High.

Psalm 9:2

When you hear hymns and prayers being sung in Church, do you love to sing along?  Do you tap your feet along with the music as the community gives thanks to God?  Today we're going to talk about a very special saint, someone who sang to God with so much love that the Church calls her the saint of music.  Her name is St. Cecilia and today we celebrate her memorial.

St. Cecilia lived in Rome, a big city in Italy.  She was a member of a very rich family.  Even though she had lots of money and everything she could have wanted, her heart belonged only to Jesus.  When she was a little girl, she decided that she would live her whole life for God, promising Jesus that she would keep her heart pure for Him forever.

When St. Cecilia grew up, her parents wanted her to marry a man in their community.  He was brave and very important.  On their wedding day, while the music played loudly around her, St. Cecilia sang a silent song in her heart.  This song was her prayer to God, and she asked Him to help her keep her promise of a pure heart for Jesus.

When she told her new husband about the promise she had made, he was very surprised, but since St. Cecilia had spoken to him with so much faith and love, her husband was able to see the pure light of her heart.  He decided that he would become a Catholic too!  From that moment on, St. Cecilia used everything she had to serve Jesus.  She knew that any kind of music, from the kind we sing or play on an instrument to the kind we pray silently in our hearts, is a beautiful way to praise and honor God for all the goodness and blessings He gives to us.

The next time you hear music, remember St. Cecilia and how she lived her life for Jesus.  The next time you sing along at Mass, dedicate your song to Jesus, quietly letting Him know in your heart that you are singing just for Him!

Let's pray:  God, thank You for the blessing of music and for the life of St. Cecilia.  Help me to be like her by singing to You quietly in my heart and letting the love I have for You shine through me and into the hearts of people around me!  Amen.