St. Cecilia reminds us that we are part of the harmony of the universe and that our life can be offered to God as a symphonic hymn.
What's interesting about St. Cecilia is that while she is the patron saint of music, she is not recorded as ever having played a musical instrument.
One reason she is connected to music is a medieval interpretation of her life, as explained by the Catholic Encyclopedia.
Medieval pictures of the saint are very frequent; since the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries she is given the organ as an attribute, or is represented as playing on the organ, evidently to express what was often attributed to her in panegyrics and poems based on the Acts, viz., that while the musicians played at her [wedding] she sang in her heart to God only ("cantantibus organis illa in corde suo soi domino decantabat"); possibly the cantantibus organis was erroneously interpreted of Cecilia herself as the organist. In this way the saint was brought into closer relation with music.
It could be said that St. Cecilia was more proficient at making her life a hymn to God than at having a musical talent that all the world could hear.
Singing to God with our life
Pope Benedict XVI reflected on this spiritual symbolism of her life in an address he gave in 2010 after having attended a concert in his honor. He explained how we are the most beautiful of God's creations:
Then the most beautiful work of art, the masterpiece of the human being, is his every act of authentic love, from the smallest in daily martyrdom to the extreme sacrifice.
With this in mind, Pope Benedict XVI expanded on this concept and stated how our life can become a hymn:
Here life itself becomes a hymn: an anticipation of the symphony we shall sing together in Heaven.
Sometimes we can think that our lives have no meaning and that we cannot produce anything beautiful. Yet, even if we are terrible musicians, we can sing to God with our virtuous life.
When we reach those pearly gates of Heaven, we will receive a unique view of our life and discover how our life was part of a great symphony. Each instrument is vitally important for a piece of music to be successful and so each of our lives is necessary to produce the greatest music the world has ever know.
