Episode 17
Liturgical Chant with Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P.: We Need to Be Attuned to God’s Reality
Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P., a Dominican priest and assistant professor of theology at Notre Dame, joins the Rhythms of Faith podcast to discuss the intersection of liturgy, music, and daily spiritual life. He traces his fascination with liturgy back to childhood confusion at Mass, which deepened into a lifelong passion through his encounter with Gregorian chant at a Benedictine monastery. He explains Gregorian chant as a form of \"musical exegesis\"—psalms set to music that illuminate the meaning of sacred texts—and describes the rich variety of chant types used throughout the Mass and liturgical year. He also explores the role of rhythmic repetition in the liturgy, drawing a striking parallel between the liturgical cycle and Jesus's call to forgive \"seventy-seven times,\" arguing that we return to the same mysteries not because God's work is incomplete but because we need to be continually re-attuned to it. He offers pastoral wisdom on prayer, including Mother Teresa's counterintuitive advice to pray for two hours when too busy for one, and the story of a man who simply sat in church and said, \"I look at Him, and He looks at me.\" He concludes by sharing his research on how St. Thomas Aquinas was shaped by the liturgy he prayed, his personal love of Irish flute and British literature, and a playful reflection on why—despite the Dominican obligation to say \"dog\"—he'd rather be a monkey.