MUSIC THAT SPEAKS TO THE SOUL

The HumanLifeMatters profile above says I write about "Christian perspectives on suffering, end of life issues, disability and other issues important to Christian living." So why do I often present issues pertaining to the arts -- and music in particular? It is simply because music has been a companion and friend throughout more than three decades of suffering associated with my chronic illness and disability. Music can come close to giving expression to the deepest human grief, fears and uncertainties. Certain music is felt more than heard. It is spiritual.

For example, the movie The Mission was released in 1986, two years after I was diagnosed with aggressive multiple sclerosis. It was at a terrible time when the full weight and horror of serious neurological disease was been realized. My world seemed to be falling apart! Ennio Morricone's Gabriel's Oboe broke my heart because it lent a voice to my emotional and spiritual pain. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QeDOT2Fqb0

The inexpressible loneliness and heartache I experienced during weeks, months and even years convalescing found expression in Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcflwUYYoXk

As I began to accept my new reality of disability, I found solace in Bach's Air on a G String and realized God's sovereignty in my life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzlw6fUux4o  

Beethoven's 9th Symphony (written at the height of his creative prowess yet in a state of near-total deafness) called me to look above my circumstances and realize that I still had something to contribute to the world despite my disability -- perhaps even because of it. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SgGxww_LVc 

Music is intensely spiritual to me and has been since early childhood. God often speaks to me through music. -- Mark

[Click image below or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXjn6srhAlY for "Ave Verum Corpus" (Mozart), Choir of King's College, Cambridge, U.K.]