What is “Active Participation”?

“In the celebration of Mass the faithful form a holy people, a people whom God has made his own, a royal priesthood, so that they may give thanks to God and offer the spotless Victim not only through the hands of the priest but also together with him, and so that they may learn to offer themselves.”  This is the basis for the “full conscious and active participation” of the faithful demanded by the very nature of the Liturgy.  Because the gathered liturgical assembly forms one body, each of its members must shun “any appearance of individualism or division, keeping before their eyes that they have only one Father in heaven and accordingly are all brothers and sisters to each other.”  Singing is one of the primary ways that the assembly of the faithful participates actively in the Liturgy. The people are encouraged to take part by means of acclamations, responses, psalms, antiphons [and] hymns. . . . The musical formation of the assembly must be a continuing concern in order to foster full, conscious, and active participation.  Sing to the Lord Music in Divine Worship, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 24, 25, 26.