“Our once great western Christian civilization is dying. If this matters to followers of Jesus Christ, then we must set aside our denominational differences and work together to strengthen the things that remain and reclaim what has been lost. Evangelicals and Catholics must stand together to re-establish that former Christian culture and moral consensus. We have the numbers and the organization but the question is this: Do we have the will to win this present spiritual battle for Jesus Christ against secularism? Will we prayerfully and cooperatively work toward a new Christian spiritual revival ― or will we choose to hunker down in our churches and denominationalisms and watch everything sink into the spiritual and moral abyss of a New Dark Age?” - Mark Davis Pickup

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

A CHILD, A SONG, AND THE WEIGHT OF GLORY

In 2012, twelve year old singer Jackie Evancho delivered an
exquisite rendition of Nella Fantasia. It is the vocal version of Ennio Morricone's Gabriel's Oboe. Gabriel's Oboe is from the soundtrack for the 1986 film The Mission: A favourite film, and composition, of mine and I've written about it in an earlier blog post.

 Sweet child, I believe that what you were singing about was a primordial human longing, a desire in the hearts of humanity, that has stretched across the centuries. It is what Solomon was referring to when he wrote that God "has put eternity in their hearts." (Ecclesiates 3.11). It is a desire for the perfect love of God. God is love.[1] He made us for heaven. C.S. Lewis wrote "Now, if we are made for heaven, the desire for our proper place will be already in us, but not yet attached to the true object"[2] 

 Whether you knew it or not, Jackie, I believe you sang of the weight of glory that God has placed within you and me and every other human being throughout the ages. It is embedded deep within your soul and is intertwined with the image of God you bear. It's roots began with the first spark of your life (that we commonly call conception).

 As beautiful as the music and words are that you sang, they are merely symbolic of  a larger, grander glory that eludes expression and falls short of the real object of perfect love. When the last note fades away, we are still left with that yearning for something and somewhere else. I believe it is heaven. 

 Fulton Sheen wrote this: "... the human heart heart is isolated and in agony: it has more love to give than  any earth-bound object can receive -- it clamors to be loved more lastingly and comprehendingly than any human lover. But both the longings -- to love perfectly, to be loved perfectly -- are merely vacuums in man."[3] Ah, the longing for perfect divine love! It can only be found in Jesus Christ and will reach its full potential and reality in heaven.

Unless I am mistaken, sweet child, that is the dream you sang about so beautifully that evening. It is made complete in Jesus Christ. God bless you and keep you in all you do. -- MDP

 [Click on image below or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQF-l9NBtX8 for Jackie Evancho singing Nella Fortuna (2012) -- with English subtitles.]


___________________________
[1] 1John 4.8.
[2]C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.
[3]  Fulton J. Sheen, LIFT UP YOUR HEART.
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