Where the Rubber Hits the Road

9 Priests and Religious. 7 Countries. 1 Mission: Evangelizing through Music - cecilia - Aleteia.org – Worldwide Catholic Network Sharing Faith Resources for those seeking Truth – Aleteia.org

What constitutes beauty in music? What gives it such force to influence our emotions? It has the capacity to move and put us in touch with a primal well of inner joy. We are 'connected' through music. It transcends the existential isolation of the human condition.  One such example: national anthems. The fact that these national 'hymns' unite citizens in a common experience of connectedness in which they, while even though 'separated' from from others, share a common experience of being 'moved' by the same event. The music becomes the medium by which we are united. To explore this, I turned to the one nation that does anthems better (and worse... remember Roseanne?) than anyone else, the USA. Here are two examples. Listen to them and look within yourself to become aware of what wells up within you. (The 3rd example is only for those who are into self-flagellation!)

Every now and then I find other bloggers republish earlier posts, so it is in that spirit that I once again offer this personal homage to a musician from Mattawa, Roy Payne (The Goofy Newfie). clay vessels: Drinking a Beer with Jesus I have been fortunate to come to know personally the writer and performer of this song. His name is Roy Payne. To say that Roy has has lived life "in extremus" would be kind. Any polish or veneer that once adorned his countenance has long since been burned off by the trials of life; some of his own making, others by the trials of fate. Yet having visited the joys of fame during the '70's on the country music scene, he has also lived that sad state of life memorialized in those ballad and songs of woe. I am also privileged to be able to talk with him about how it is that he continues to experience (if not always heed...) the gentle touch of God in places we would not always think to look: like "Drinking Beer with Jesus"....

On the heels of my post about Roy Payne, Canadian musician, I stumbled across an interesting article on the First Things blog about the music of Bob Dylan. What caught my eye was not any particular element of Joe Carter's excellent post, but rather the fact that his offering had engendered 34 comments on the first day that it was posted. What is it about the power of music that it will elicit such a reaction? Folks say that they can hear the voice of Christ in the words of Roy's song, yet they would be hard pressed to find His presence when they meet him in the flesh. Posts of any number of thought provoking ideas will perhaps inspire a few comments on the First Things site, but introduce the question of understanding a musicians muse and the comments come piling in. I guess it's just one of those little life mysteries for people of faith to ponder. The link to the First Things post can be found in the "reference articles" box on the left of the blog pa...