One of my dearest of friends,
who lives in PEI now with her husband,
sent me the above song during the time that my Husband and I
were looking for a place to buy, as we had 2 months as per our landlord
who was selling the condo of his that we rented.
***
It's funny, how much this song,
and the grittiness I feel in it, and the heroism
and the knowledge of fire, of that which is tragic,
it all seems to be here where I live.
Three (was it only 3!?) Lents ago, the first day of Lent,
Clean Monday, we were still laying in bed when we heard it...
three shots....
a woman died; the man later died also.
Today, we heard of a hit and run, the woman in hospital.
How can one hit a person grievously and run away?
Sadness, tragedy.
But yet, at the same moment, there are deep friendships here;
Husband and Wife of Many Years, waiting to hear about cancer;
another dear couple of ours joyously welcomed an adopted daughter in this City;
we have seen beautiful baptisms of babies;
I was at a panakhyda with a small small casket of a baby lost before full term;
it's all here and somehow this song seems to cover it all;
I worry about many who live here;
many are poor; many are being priced out I think;
there is much struggle.
***
"if the darkness returns, my brothers will die"
as this song goes.
***
The only way I know to fight darkness returning is by the Church.
By bringing our weary selves to Christ, the Liturgy, to Confession, again and again and again.
The second thing is just to maintain our homes,
to have places of healing, of rest, of peace, of beauty
for those weary from the battle can come home to.
I remember hearing this song during Holy Week last year,
after my Aunt Karen died...
Here it is again, in another place:
Here's a link about the priest-Monk who sings in it.
We are in a battle but there is everything here,
the mercy to fight, the mercy of peace, the joy of a wedding, the joy
of rebirth, the tragedy of this world, and above all
CHRIST the HOPE of this world.
Prayers again for many dear friends who are in such
trials and sufferings.
May God have mercy on us.
6 comments:
"...bringing our weary selves to Christ, again and again and again." And all of us weak and heavy laden, find our rest in Him. Glory be to His name. Thank you for these wonderful words.
A great song. I believe it was written for the movie Lord of the Rings. It can apply to so many other things, though. It's shocking how much tragedy happens so close to us, but as you point out, there is good, Christ gives us all hope!
Beautiful thoughts expressed here today, Elizabeth! So much sadness, heartache, so many acts of violence that it boggles the mind and heart... such broken times we live in. But Jesus makes us whole! The Church heals us. I love your sentiments on keeping our homes as places of rest, love and beauty as we come in from the crazy of the outside world. I've often thought if we work harder to keep loving home, surely we bring that love out into the world and others will feel that love... I like to think so, hope so, pray so. Instruments of His love we are... Thank you for sharing this song and thoughts today! Hope you are feeling better soon! ((HUGS))
Thank you for this post.
We live in Pittsburgh, which perhaps you've heard was hit with tragedy last weekend. Although we are all safe my husband and children were in the neighborhood it happened in and saw the SWAT team go by the library ... our city is shaken and wounded right now. We had just moved back into the city proper before this happened to be close to our community, our friends ... it is all very raw and yet there is still always beauty to be found in suffering.
Beautiful, thoughtful post, Elizabeth. And all the comments here are, too.
Yes, so much sadness and darkness in the world. His Light and love and mercy is all that keeps us going. Never let go of Him!
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