Journeying Into Mystery

A prayer for victims of religious persecution – Psalm Offering 8, Opus 7

(Please reflect on the scripture passages and read the commentary before listening to the music.)

PSALM OFFERING 8, OPUS 7
A prayer for victims of religious persecution.

Your prophets provided you visions of whitewashed illusion; They did not lay bare your guilt, in order to restore your fortunes; They saw for you only oracles of empty deceit. (Lamentations 2:14)

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors. You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell? (Matthew 28: 27-33)

“If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me. But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them. (John 15: 18-21; 16: 1-4)

Back in 1965, Tom Lehrer wrote the song “National Brotherhood Week.” One stanza of the song was, “Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics, and the Catholics hate the Protestants, and the Hindus hate the Muslims, and everybody hates the Jews.” © 1965, by Tom Lehrer. This simple lyric of Tom Lehrer’s sums up the persecution that world religions have inflicted upon one another in the name of God. It matters not whether it be the Jewish people persecuting the early Christians, the Roman persecuting the early Christians, ALL Christians persecuting the Jewish people, the Muslims persecuting any religious group, Catholics persecuting Protestants and vice versa, Muslims persecuting Muslims, or Hindus and Muslims at war with one another, we all go at one another with an unholy vengeance when it comes to religious persecution. We all like to think that God is on our side. As President Abraham Lincoln pointed out, it’s not a question of whether God is on our side. The real question is whether we are on God’s side. Religious persecution is an abomination to God.

ABOUT THE MUSIC: This is composed in the key of B Locrian mode. It is written in Sonata Allegro form. The meter of the A melody is in ¾ time. A very agitated rhythmic ostinato pattern of two 8th note triplets and 1 beat of 8th notes is established. The Locrian mode is perhaps the oddest sounding mode of all the Greek modes. It is almost a diminished scale. The melody of the A section sounds forbidding and barren. When the melody is repeated in chordal form, the chords are mostly minor, minor sevenths, and diminished chords. The B section introduces a change into 4/4 meter, and like the primary melody of the prelude in the 2nd Psalm Offering, is rendered in a 4 part choral arrangement. There is a plaintive sound to the B melody, almost that resembling a sigh. The A melody returns again in ¾ meter and a long development of the melody occurs, the rhythmic ostinato pattern reemphasized all the more until it return in full form. There follows a recapitulation of the B melody leading to an extended Coda. The music ends similarly to that of the First Psalm Offering, in which the A melody returns in a ghostly manner.

Scriptural Text by Coogan, Michael D.; Brettler, Marc Z.; Perkins, Pheme; Newsom, Carol A.. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version. © 2010 by Oxford University Press Inc. All rights reserved.

A prayer for all those denied healthcare – Psalm Offering 7, Opus 7

(Please reflect on the scripture passages and read the commentary before listening to the music.)

PSALM OFFERING 7 OPUS 7
A prayer for all those denied health care.

He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones; he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; he has made me sit in darkness like the dead of long ago. my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “Gone is my glory, and all that I had hoped for from the Lord.” The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. (Lamentations 3: 4-6, 17-20)

And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live. (Numbers 28: 8-9)

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. (Luke 10: 30-34)

They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?” And the man looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. (Mark 8: 22-25)

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (James 2: 14-17)

In nations, other than Western Europe and Canada, they are many people who go without basic healthcare. Were it not for organizations like Doctors Without Borders, countless upon countless people would die from the commonest of ailments. Up to the time of the Affordable Care Act, there were millions of people in our nation who were denied basic healthcare. Many people suffering from chronic illness, cancer, heart disease, diabetes and stroke were either denied health insurance or cut from health insurance providers. Whether these insurance companies were for profit or were non-profit, their financial bottom line was far more important than the delivering health care to those who were the greatest in need. I witnessed my own sister, who bore for 25 years a chronic illness that eventually killed her, having to fight with her health insurance provider for the medical care she desperately needed. And now, justice having been finally served to the medically uninsured, we find a Congress and a president wanting to tear healthcare away from those who need it the most.

Pope Francis I has declared healthcare a basic human right. This Psalm Offering is a prayer for all the chronically ill of our world, for all the poor who desperately need basic healthcare who have been denied this basic human right by the powerful and the greedy.

ABOUT THE MUSIC: This Psalm Offering is composed in 7/4 time. This music uses some of the characteristics of music from the Impressionistic period. Parallel V7 chords and a whole tone scale gives this music a certain uneasy feel. Unlike melodies in duple or triple meter, 7/4 time lends a sense of musical imbalance to the uneasiness. The use of parallel V7 chords and the A melody based on those V7 chords tends to obscure a “home” or primary key area to the listener’s ear. The B melody, totally based on the whole tone scale gives a “dreamlike” quality to the music. The A melody returns and moves to the Coda, ending the music without a tonal center. Perhaps, the unsettledness and lack of a tonal center best describes the plight of the medically uninsured.

A prayer for victims of racial violence – Psalm Offering 6, Opus 7

(Please reflect on the scripture passages and read the commentary before listening to the music.)

PSALM OFFERING 6 OPUS 7
For the victims of racial violence.

Those who were my enemies without cause have hunted me like a bird; they flung me alive into a pit and hurled stones on me; water closed over my head; I said, “I am lost.” I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea, “Do not close your ear to my cry for help, but give me relief!” You came near when I called on you; you said, “Do not fear!” You have taken up my cause, O Lord, you have redeemed my life. You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; judge my cause. You have seen all their malice, all their plots against me. You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me. The whispers and murmurs of my assailants are against me all day long. Whether they sit or rise—see, I am the object of their taunt-songs. Pay them back for their deeds, O Lord, according to the work of their hands! Give them anguish of heart; your curse be on them! Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the Lord’s heavens. (Lamentations 3: 52-66)

Whoever does not love abides in death. All who hate brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. (1 John 3: 14b-16)

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3: 28)

Racial violence is prevalent throughout the world. People have been enslaving and killing those from other cultures, languages, and skin color from the time of recorded history.

Our nation bears the sin of the enslavement of African immigrants and native Americans. Systemic genocide of the native Americans by plague, displacement, or violence is also a part of the history of our nation. There was the notorious Tuskegee Study by the U.S. Public Health Service, in which from 1932 to 1972, Alabaman African American men were unknowingly subjected to medical experimentation to study the effects of untreated syphilis. There was the forced incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans in American concentration camps during World War II.

Of course, America is not alone. The killing of Australian Aborigines was greatly encouraged by the Australian government, as was the Apartheid of South Africa, the genocide of the Rwandans, and the infamous genocide of the Nazis, to name just a few, has been a scourge and a curse upon humanity.

With the enactment of the Civil Rights laws in the 1960’s, I, among many Americans, thought that the racial hatred of white people in our nation toward our own citizens of color had finally been eradicated. It has become increasingly clear from the gun laws enacted in some States, and throughout the presidential campaign of 2016 that racial hatred and violence was not eradicated but has been simmering beneath our nation like a volcano preparing to erupt. Violence perpetrated upon American citizens of color in our nation has only increased. An insidious series of laws in many States impede and prevent American citizens of color from exercising their constitutional right to vote. White supremacists are rising up attacking and killing American citizens of color. New forms of Jim Crow law has been unleashed within our nation. With the acquittal of Officer Yanez of the death of Philando Castille, it is very apparent that racial prejudice tragically remains a vivid part of present American culture.

This Psalm Offering is a prayer for all victims of racial violence in our world.

ABOUT THE MUSIC: This Psalm Offering is written in G mixolydian mode. Rather than use conventional meter forms such as, 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4 time, it is written in 5/4. 5/4 meter feels like an unsteady waltz to the ear. There is a sense of imbalance, something akin to the sin of racism. The mixolydian mode sounds like a major scale but it isn’t, lending more a sense of imbalance to the music. While it sounds “sort of right” it just isn’t. The song is in 3 part, ABA form, with the A melody repeated initially in the beginning. It moves rigorously to the B melody, in E phrygian mode, a rhythmic ostinato of four beats of 8th note triplets followed by one beat of 16th notes. After some development of the B melody, the A melody returns in G mixolydian mode. The B melody returns briefly with a quasi Coda, at which the A melody returns in a grand way to the final Coda.

A prayer for victims of world hunger – Psalm Offering 5, Opus 7

(Please reflect on the scripture passages and read the commentary before listening to the music.)

PSALM OFFERING 5 OPUS 7
A prayer for the victims of world hunger.

My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out on the ground because of the destruction of my people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city. They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers’ bosom. The tongue of the infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives them anything. Happier were those pierced by the sword than those pierced by hunger, whose life drains away, deprived of the produce of the field. The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food in the destruction of my people. (Lamentations 2: 11-12, 4: 4, 9-10)

Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.” The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day. (Amos 8: 4-7, 9-10)

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel. (Luke 1: 46-53)

Everyday our television is filled with images of those who are starving. The faces of the hungry are a part of our news, special reports, and advertisements. Somewhere in the world there is famine and drought. Nations use hunger and starvation as a weapon against those they hate. Legislators plot to rob the food from the mouths of children by cutting food stamps. Those who once contributed to food shelters are now the clients of those same food shelves trying to stave off starvation. As the quote from Lamentations expresses above, death by the sword is far more humane than a slow, torturous death by starvation. Our farmers work very hard to grow the necessary food we need to feed a hungry world, yet, that food does not reach those who are in need of it most. Corporations withhold food from those in need in order to make more profit.

Psalm Offering 5 is a musical prayer for the hungry and starving peoples of our world.

ABOUT THE MUSIC: Psalm Offering 5 is written in F Lydian mode. It is in the form of a variation on a theme. It begins with the themes stated very simply in 2/4 time, and is treated as a sung chorale. It modulates to the key of A major and shifts the meter to 3/4 time. The next two variations are in 6/8 time, the first in E major, the second in G major. The following variation changes the meter to 4/4 time and is in the key of C minor, with the final variation remaining in 4/4 time but shifting the key to C Lydian mode to the final Coda.

A prayer for victims of corporate greed – Psalm Offering 4, Opus 7

(Please reflect on the scripture passages and read the commentary before listening to the music.)

Psalm Offering 4, Opus 7
A prayer for the victims of corporate Greed.

We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows. We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought. With a yoke on our necks we are hard driven; we are weary, we are given no rest. Young men are compelled to grind, and boys stagger under loads of wood. The old men have left the city gate, the young men their music. The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning. (Lamentations 5: 3-5, 13-15)

In you, they take bribes to shed blood; you take both advance interest and accrued interest, and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; and you have forgotten me, says the Lord God. (Ezechial 22:12)

Do not be afraid when some become rich, when the wealth of their houses increases. For when they die they will carry nothing away; their wealth will not go down after them. Though in their lifetime they count themselves happy —for you are praised when you do well for yourself— they will go to the company of their ancestors, who will never again see the light. (Psalm 49: 16-19)
“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Matthew 6: 24)

Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you. (James 5: 1-6)

In the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 16, Jesus tells the story of the Rich Man and the poor beggar, Lazarus. The Rich Man, who has grown wealthy on the backs of the poor, lives life lavishly, feasting on the delights of wealth while Lazarus lives in destitution outside the Rich Man’s door. Jesus tells us that the Rich Man dies and goes to eternal damnation, while Lazarus ascends into everlasting happiness and life.

This pattern of the rich growing richer and the poor growing poorer remains true to the present day. The wealthy continue to prey on the vulnerable taking whatever they can to increase their wealth. Our forests are denuded, our water and food poisoned, our air unbreathable, and our land despoiled all to increase the wealth of the very few. Even basic healthcare is taken away from the poor who are in need of it the most so that the rich will not have to pay higher taxes. Jesus issues a stern warning to those who rely on their wealth for happiness (see Matthew 6:24 above).

ABOUT THE MUSIC
The overall form of the music is in three part ABA form. The A melody begins with a loud fanfare of open chords and glissandos, followed by ascending and descending triplets in both hands. The A melody is in the key area of E based on the Greek mixolydian mode. The B melody continues in the E Greek mixolydian mode at a much slower tempo, modulates briefly to a D dorian mode, then back to the E mixolydian mode. The A melody is recapitulated only to be in the key area of B Greek locrian mode, returning at the Coda to E mixolydian mode.

A prayer for the refugees and immigrants of our world – Psalm Offering 3, Opus 7

(Please reflect on the scripture passages and read the commentary before listening to the music.)

Psalm Offering 3, Opus 7
A prayer for the refugees and immigrants of our world.

“Judah has gone into exile with suffering and hard servitude; she lives now among the nations, and finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.” (Lamentations 1:3)

“Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’” (Matthew 2:12-15)

This music wells up from the plight of our world’s refugees, which is as acute now as it was in the 30’s and 40’s of the 20th century. Refugees from the war torn Middle East, Southern Sudan, Latin America face untold dangers fleeing the horrors in their homelands. In the mid 19th century were the “coffin ships” of Ireland teeming with families fleeing the poverty and starvation of the Irish Potato Famine and British religious persecution. As have all refugees fleeing famine, oppression and war, the refugees of today wish only to find peace, security, and a livelihood.

The response on the part of most European nations to the plight of refugees has been exemplary. These nations have taken to heart Jesus’ exhortation to welcome the stranger. However, the words my Grandpa Wojnar and Grandpa Jernstrom saw inscribed on the Statue of Liberty as they immigrated to our nation,“Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” have been scratched out by the present administration and replaced with the words, “Go away! Get out!” The honor which once was steadfast in our nation has been replaced by shame; despoiling the noble aspirations of our Founding Fathers. The sin of the present administration and the ghosts of all the innocent refugees that have denied access to our nation will haunt us for ever.
The music is a prayer for all refugees and immigrants displaced in our world. May they find peace.

ABOUT THE MUSIC: The form of this music for piano is three part form. A B bridge (development of A and B) recapitulation of A to Coda. There are two prominent motifs, one melodic and the other rhythmic. The opening two measure melodic motif is repeated throughout the music as is the rhythmic decoration (the 32nd note triplet followed by the dotted eighth note). The recurring accompaniment pattern in the left hand is reminiscent of the “Berceuse” (lullaby) composed by Chopin, which I once performed as a music major over 40 years ago. As is characteristic with much of the music in Opus 7, the melody is simple but possesses a haunting melancholy yearning that is never quite resolved. The melody is written in the D Dorian mode (one of the scales the ancient Greeks created).

A prayer for all victims of sexual violence – Psalm Offering 2, Opus 7

(Please reflect on the scriptures passages and read the commentary before listening to the music.)

Psalm Offering 2, Opus 7
For the victims of sexual violence.

All who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans, and turns her face away. “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me. For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me, one to revive my courage; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed. Behold my suffering; my young women and young men have gone into captivity. My eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the young women in my city. Women are raped in Zion, virgins in the towns of Judah.” (Lamentations 1: 8b,c, 12a,b, 16, 18b; 3:51; 5:11)

Susanna cried out with a loud voice, and said, “O eternal God, you know what is secret and are aware of all things before they come to be; you know that these men have given false evidence against me. And now I am to die, though I have done none of the wicked things that they have charged against me!” The Lord heard her cry. He (Daniel) said to him, “You off spring of Canaan and not of Judah, beauty has beguiled you and lust has perverted your heart. This is how you have been treating the daughters of Israel, and they were intimate with you through fear; but a daughter of Judah would not tolerate your wickedness. This lie has cost you also your head, for the angel of God is waiting with his sword to split you in two, so as to destroy you both.” (Daniel 13: 42-44, 56b-57. 59)

Sexual violence. World history has been filled with sexual violence. The Bible is filled with stories of men, women, and children sexually violated. In our present age rape and incest still inflict untold horrors on the lives of victims. The murder of men and women from the GLBTQ community fills our news. For the past three years, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has been reeling from a long history of clergy sexual abuse, most going back 50 to 60 years ago or more. Incidents of sexual violence has escalated seemingly since November of 2016 domestically and abroad. It matters not whether the violence is institutionalized by political motive, or religiously motivated. Sexual violence is always an affront against God and humanity, all of whom have been made in the image and the likeness of God. This Psalm Offering is a prayer for all victims of sexual violence. May God heal the brokenness they have mercilessly suffered at the hands of others.

I began this composition in August of 2016 and completed it on January 1, 2017. For the past 26 years I have been involved in assisting families who have suffered from domestic violence. As ugly and criminal as domestic violence is in the family, exacting horrible tolls on its victims, nothing ever prepared me for the having to deal with the same damnable offence in the Catholic Church. Many children and adolescents suffered unspeakable horror from the very people in whom they bestowed their love and trust. It is out of all this that has led me to compose this Psalm Offering as a prayer for all victims of sexual violence.

THE MUSIC: This music is composed in the form of a Prelude and Fugue. It is written in the key of E minor (the Aeolian mode). The prelude is in the form of a through composed melody often used in church hymnody. The subject of the fugue is borrowed from the opening measures of the hymn. The music concludes with a recapitulation of the hymn.

A prayer for the victims of human violence – Psalm Offering 1, Opus 7

(Please reflect on the scripture passages and read the commentary before listening to the music.)

PSALM OFFERING 1 OPUS 7
A prayer for all victims of human violence.

See, O Lord, how distressed I am; my stomach churns, my heart is wrung within me, because I have been very rebellious. In the street the sword bereaves; in the house it is like death. Those who were my enemies without cause have hunted me like a bird; they flung me alive into a pit and hurled stones on me; water closed over my head; I said, “I am lost.” (Lamentations 1:20, 4:52-54)

Their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. (Psalm 37:15)

On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile was killed in St. Paul by a police officer following a routine traffic stop. On July 7^th, Micah Johnson, shot dead 5 police officers, 2 civilians, and 9 police officers in a sniper attack in Dallas. The composing of Psalm Offering 1 was my response to this horrific violence upon humanity. This music, written in long stretches from Friday, July 8 to Sunday night July 10, is in memory of ALL victims of violence. Whether it be from gunfire, bomb, blade, suffocation, blows by fist or blunt weapon, any violence perpetuated upon another human being is violence against God. It is my supplication to God to change within the violent their hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. I pray for the conversion of all who profit by the manufacture of weapons of any sort to cease making money off the destruction of human beings.

This is my anguished prayer to God for all mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children and friends whose hearts have been crushed by the cruel acts of violence against their loved ones. In Isaiah, chapter two, we hear the prophet speak of turning spears into pruning hooks, and swords into plowshares. The time has come for all weapons to be destroyed. May all the materials that create a weapon be melted into a molten mass never to be used for any other purpose than to be buried into the earth.

ABOUT THE MUSIC: The sharp, atonally dissonant chords, heavily accented begin the music. The sound assail the ears like gunshot, the rapid staccato passages like automatic gun fire, the sostenuto pedal blurring all these sounds into an almost indiscernible noise.

The second melody, B, is the lament of those who have been crushed by the death of their loved ones by violence. The Italian word Lacrimosa literally means to sob. It is derived from the Feast of Our Lady Of Sorrows, the mother of Jesus, as she watched him die on the cross. The minor key expresses the sorrow, the descending passages of melody are the tears that flow. The scripture passage that ran through my mind as I composed this is the quote we hear from Matthew’s Gospel on the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Matthew quotes a passage from Jeremiah:

“A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.” (Matthew 3:18)

As the lamentation of melody B ends, the violent chords of A return, the two sections battling back and forth in change of meter, change of tempo, as more are killed and more lament until the lament drowns out the deafening sound of the gun fire and predominates to the end of the piece, slowly reducing in sound as sobs gradually slowly soften. The music ends ominously as the final two chords of violence very quietly reenter at the end.

The Lamentation Psalm Offerings, Opus 7 forward

PSALM
OFFERINGS
OPUS 7

“The Lamentations Psalm Offerings”

By Deacon Bob Wagner OFS

Introduction

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25: 31-46, NRSV)

The composing of these Psalm Offerings commenced with the police shooting of Philando Castille in early July of 2016. I began to reflect on this scriptural passage from Matthew’s Gospel and how miserably humanity, especially those who identify themselves as Christian, have failed to love God by ignoring the presence of God in the most vulnerable of our society. The tremendous misery perpetrated upon innocent human beings by other human beings is overwhelming. Statistics cannot begin to adequately express the ongoing tragedy of these crimes against humanity. I went to the beautiful poem entitled “On A Theme From Julian’s Chapter XX” in which the poet, Denise Levertov meditates on the death of Jesus on the cross.

“One only is ‘King of Grief’.
The onening, she saw, the onening
with the Godhead opened Him utterly
to the pain of all minds, all bodies
– sands of the sea, of the desert –
from first beginning
to last day. The great wonder is
that the human cells of His flesh and bone
didn’t explode
when utmost Imagination rose
in that flood of knowledge. Unique
in agony, infinite strength, Incarnate,
empowered Him to endure
inside of history,
through those hours when He took Himself
the sum total of anguish and drank
even the lees of that cup:”

I began to envision the compositions in this Opus as a contemporary musical expression of Lamentation. One might say these musical compositions are my therapy, my way of coping with the increasing disregard for the plight of vulnerable people that seemingly has escalated since the elections of November, 2016. Each Psalm Offering a dedicated prayer to the victims of modern day sin.

Lest one say that this is too political, quite simply the Gospel of Jesus Christ is very political. The Gospel is not political in the sense of supporting one ideology over another, or one political party over another. However, all ideologies and all political parties must always be evaluated in the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To fail to address the failings or the sins of an ideology or a political party is to render the Gospel mute. The failure of the Christian Church to challenge Hitler and the Nazi Party is a black mark against the Church. Only a few chose to stand up to Hitler and the Nazis, Fr. Maximilian Kolbe OFM and Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer the most notable of these chosen few, and they suffered martyrdom for the Gospel as a result. In the recent past, Archbishop Oscar Romero, Dorothy Day, Caesar Chavev, Fr. Daniel Berrigan, and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr have also challenged politically unjust systems and have suffered imprisonment, and in the case of Romero and King, martyrdom.

ABOUT THE SCRIPTURE:

The Book of Lamentations in the Hebrew Testament is attributed to the prophet Jeremiah. In this setting of five poems, the author laments the utter destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, reducing the Jewish people to destitution and sending the remainder off into slavery to Babylon. The author recognizes that it is God who destroyed unfaithful Judah, the Babylonians being the means by which God wreaked destruction upon Judah. One might draw a parallel between the fate of Judah in Lamentations and the spiral downward path that the United States is now taking.

Admittedly, I have used the Lamentation passages that introduce the musical Lamentation out of its scriptural context. However, the raw emotion of the passage describes in a visceral way the plight of the victims for whom this collection of Psalm Offerings is offered as a musical prayer.

ABOUT THE MUSIC:

The majority of the music to which we listen is composed in either a major or a minor scale. These two primary scales that form the melodies of our music have a system of whole steps and half steps that determine whether the melody is major (think happy) or minor (sad).

I have chosen to write the majority of the melodies for these musical compositions not in these primary scales of music, but in the more obscure scales of the Greeks, in which the whole steps and half steps are out of their normal sequence. These scales are called “modes.” In some of the music, particularly Psalm Offering 1, there is atonality, that is a melody or harmony without any reference to a scale. The dissonance of its atonality is brutally harsh, reflective of the violence perpetuated on humanity by weapons of any sort. In Psalm Offering 7, I make primary use of a whole tone scale for the melody in which there are no half steps.

The use of the Greek modes lends an esoteric quality to the melodies that seem to our modern ear “out of place.” It is this quality I wished the music to express as a lament for the victims to whom the Psalm Offering is offered as prayer.

The music is similar to the composition of the music in Opus 3. Unlike the harmonies and melodies of the other Opuses, the music of this Opus has a sharper edge to it. There is an ambiguity of harmony, and melodies not as clearly defined as in other music, reflective of the malaise that has descended upon our humanity. I mourn this time of human violence, greed, and malicious intent against the vulnerable of our world, the music is a call for lamentation and a prayer for conversion.

The Holy Trinity – An opportunity to become one with Mystery

The Old Testament Trinity. Russian icon by Andrej Rublev.

In the movie, The Princess Bride, there is a scene in which Inigo Montoya, a Spanish swordsman, is having a sword fight with a mysterious man, dressed in black and whose identity is concealed by a black mask. Throughout their duel, each compliments the other about their skill with a sword. Inigo Montoya finally asks the man in black, “Who are you?” The man in black replies, “No one of great consequence.” Monotya responds, “I must know!” To which the man in black says, “Get use to disappointment!”

Mystery is no stranger in our lives. As human beings, we struggle with mystery. We often say about those things we don’t understand as “It’s a mystery.” We hate this kind of mystery. We are always disappointed with this kind of mystery because we want to know. We have to know. The only way we have control over someone or something is to know and understand that person or thing. We like the events and people in our lives to be predictable and controllable. When mystery wrests control from us we feel vulnerable and helpless. This is why we find mystery so frustrating and disappointing.

God is the greatest mystery of all, and, so today we encounter the mystery of the Holy Trinity. For centuries upon centuries, prophets and theologians have asked God the same question. “Who are you?” Moses encountered the Burning Bush, and when Moses asked the bush who it was, God answered in a riddle. God is an enigma, a mystery we cannot comprehend. The closest we have come to knowing who God is, is in the person of Jesus Christ, who is, in essence, the human translation of who God is. However, just because the Holy Trinity is a mystery, does not mean our feelings are limited to frustration and disappointment.

In my marriage preparation with couples I will tell them, there are two mysteries I will never fully comprehend. The first mystery is the Holy Trinity. The second mystery is my beloved Ruth, to whom I have been married for close to 42 ½ years. I will readily admit that I will never fully uncover the mystery that is my bride. She is always revealing something new and splendid to me. She is not predictable, nor while I would never try to exert control over her, she would never allow it. Because she will always remain a mystery to me, I find that the time I look forward to the most is in being with her. For she continues to fill me with feelings of joy and wonder.

And so it is with God. The Holy Trinity will remain an utter mystery to all of us. We will never fully comprehend who God is and that is just fine. In the first letter of John, John writes very simply, “God is love.” God is love. The love that exists between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is so perfect and so complete that we will never fully understand it. Nor need we ever have to understand it.

To know God’s love requires us to spend time with God. The more time we spend with God, the deeper we will experience God’s love. And, the deeper we experience God’s love, the more God will draw us into that love that is expressed between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The more we are drawn into the love that is expressed between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the more we will be drawn into the mystery, splendor and beauty that is God. And, the more we will be filled with joy and wonder.

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PSALM OFFERINGS OPUS 7

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PSALM
OFFERINGS
OPUS 7