J. Michael McMahon is Executive Director of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada and an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He served as a parish Director of Music Ministries for more than 35 years, and from 2001 to 2013 as President of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. Contact him at jmichael.mcmahon@gmail.com

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Sing Sunday, even in the summer

Daily Easter Reflections: After the great 90 days of Lent and Easter and the two great feasts that American Catholics celebrate on the two Sundays after Pentecost, June sees the return of the "green Sundays." 

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Singing the Holy Spirit

Daily Easter Reflections: When the risen Jesus appeared for the first time to the disciples huddled behind locked doors, he spoke to them reassuringly, "breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit' " (John 20:22). 

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The Lord himself has taught us how to pray

Daily Easter Reflections: Perhaps there is no prayer uttered more often by Christians than the Our Father. And there is good reason for this frequency, because Jesus himself taught it to his disciples when they asked him how they were to pray.

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Using antiphons in the liturgy

Daily Easter Reflections: The psalms have long been a mainstay of Christian liturgical singing. While these songs of the Hebrew Bible first expressed the relationship of Israel to the God of salvation, Christians have heard in them words of Christ and words about Christ.