Out of hospital now and doing well. Still going through a heavy Night though. Hopefully it will improve. Praying to Saint John Vianney.
Feel a bit abandoned by God, Padraig. Perhaps that is part of the Night. It was a tough time in hospital but got through it.
I am afraid you cannot go round it or under it or over it, you just have to plough on through it. But it is not an illness , it is growth, it is healthy like child birth. Simply growing pains and is to be celebrated. Maybe not to do a jig, but still it is a sign of health.
May I offer this link? I’ve sung this in our choir before. It’s a more modern liturgical piece based on the Song of Songs, composed by Ola Gjello (he was also mentioned earlier by HH), and it is entitled Northern Lights. This particular piece is so moving that I was on the verge of tears while singing it during Mass after Holy Communion. God had ministered to me through this particular arrangement during a particularly difficult time in my own spiritual life. It’s like moving through hidden corridors, trying to find the Beloved, being on the very edge of that, but then realizing that there’s still more mystery and the time is not yet, but approaching. (Sorry if this is a bit ethereal. No other way to express it.) Here’s the link:
Lovely. I came across a mass reading the other day which actually commands us to sing in Church. “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25). I am sorry to say I have never seen the Northern Lights. They say that they can very occasionally be seen on the North Coast of Antrim. Did you ever see the Light that is called, 'The Hem of His Garment ?'
Not etheral at all. I understand what you are trying to communicate; there is a mystery in the Christian journey, the hunger to connect with the Divine yet the Divine is always hidden just beyond within touching grasp. I love that music by the way -- it made the hairs stand on my neck - beautiful. On my bucket list - I want to see the Tallis Scholars Live (less chance now with covid) --I love this kind of choral music.
What a way to start my day—thank you , Garabandal! Victoria’s works are all so sublime as to reach right into one’s heart and marrow. His music transports. Jeremiah’s Lamentations set to music exults Sacred Scripture. I’ve sung one of his Mass settings before. While not professional, I have been singing with some over the years because of our former choir director of many year’s connections. He would hire them to enhance our choir. Studying the works at home diligently is how I’ve learned any of them. And since my pastor of 20(!) years has involvement in Sacred Music at a higher level, I’ve learned an even deeper appreciation for the fact and that these pieces were meant to be sung in the Mass and that that is where they obtain their greatest end. But to listen to the Tallis Scholars perform live would be quite a gift. I hope someday to hear them live!
This is quite beautiful. How privileged you are to be singing it at Mass after Holy Communion. You are very blessed in your music, with your pastor. Are you a soprano or an alto? Thank you for sharing. Thank you Padraig for the beautiful photos.
Soprano. But I sang Alto for the Northern Lights piece. I always endeavor to sing well, because “he who sings well prays twice”! But, I must say, our new director has an amazing operatic voice (she’s sung at Carnegie Hall and could have easily made her career in music), but her humility brings such JOY to our choir! She’s expecting her fifth little one.
Bishop Schenieder said that one time in Kazachstan he was approached by a young Muslim man who was very interested in becoming a Catholic because of the Gospel of Love which he did not find in the Qu'ran. The Qu'ran being more about Laws and do's and don't's. He decided not to join the Church because he found the Church in the West has lost belief in itself and become weak. That's one thing about the Dark Night and that's when we regard it, we regard the Cross and the meaning of suffering. We regard the hard Edge , the utter strength of the Way of the Cross. It is the total opposite of being nice or being weak. It is all about being a Spiritual Warrior. Of walking with Christ on the Road to Calvary.
