"Gregorian chant, but with it all the rhythm of medieval music, reflects a cyclical (and therefore liturgical) conception of time, which undulates and oscillates without rigid formal parameters of duration because it always returns to itself. Implicit in its thematic structure is the certainty of the answer to any question. Every ritual, in fact, like every prayer, never asks real questions, never reaches doubt, because the interlocutor to whom it is addressed is God. Gregorian chant, therefore, can afford to “range” over indefinite durations because it is supported by the “certainty” of the divine response. Time is given."