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Julian of Norwich in her mystical experience speaks of Jesus “Oneing” with us. We do not use the medieval word “oneing” anymore, but it expresses perhaps our connection to God so very clearly and succinctly. St Paul asks in his letter to the Romans whether we are aware that we who have been baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Paul follows this by stating that since we were baptized into Christ’s death we will also rise with him in the Resurrection. In baptism we are “oned” with Jesus. Conversely by faith we state that Jesus oned himself to us in our human condition at the moment of his Incarnation. Being oned with Jesus is paramount as we enter this Palm/Passion Sunday beginning to Holy Week, and, culminates with us rising with Jesus a week later on Easter Sunday.

Over 20 years ago, the preeminent Catholic scripture scholar Fr. Raymond Brown had just completed two major studies on the life of Jesus. One was a massive one volume book entitled “The Birth of the Messiah.” The other was a massive two volume set entitled “The Death of the Messiah.” I was introduced to the work of Fr. Brown by none other than Michael Joncas (aka Rev Jon Michael Joncas) when he was assigned to the parish of The Presentation of Mary as a baby priest. Mike was my professor in an independent course on scripture. He asked me to purchase Fr. Brown’s two volume commentary on the Gospel of John, published in the Anchor Bible Series. Prior to reading Ray Brown’s commentary on John, I had never encountered scholarship on that high a level. His annotated footnotes had annotated footnotes. His knowledge of history, his knowledge of theology, his knowledge of ancient languages and off its nuances whas a remarkable discovery and experience for me.

At the biblical conference at which Fr. Brown unveiled his two massive studies on the life of Jesus, he spoke of the last words of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels and in the Gospel of John. In Mark and Matthew’s accounts of the Passion, Jesus utters his last words, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me.” In Luke’s account, Jesus utters, “Into your hands I commend my spirit.” And, in John’s account, Jesus utters, “It is accomplished (sometimes translated, It is finished,).”

Fr. Brown spoke first of Jesus’ last words in Mark’s and Matthew’s Passion. He told us that Jesus died in despair. In the garden, Jesus cries out to the Father in anguish and fear, and heard nothing, absolutely nothing in return from the Father. It was as if the Father purposely ignored the pleas of his beloved Son. Dying on the cross, betrayed and abandoned by his followers with the exception of his women disciples who were faithful to him to the very end (NOTE: that it is only in John’s account that Mary, the mother of Jesus was present. In the Synoptic Gospels, Mary, too, is absent.), Jesus ends his life crying out in despair.

Then, Fr. Brown talked about Luke’s account of the Passion. Jesus, sweating drops of blood, cries out to God the Father in the Garden. The Father, in a compassionate response, sends an angel to comfort his beloved Son. Again, Jesus dies betrayed and abandoned by all but his faithful women disciples, his mother again absent. But in this Passion, Jesus dies entrusting his soul to the Father who loves him so very much.

Then, Fr. Brown spoke about John’s account of the Passion. John paints a different picture of Jesus. Instead of Jesus losing control of the events in his life leading up and through his crucifixion, as in the Synoptic accounts, in John’s account Jesus is in total control all of the way. This Passion written much later than the Synoptics, shows Jesus almost choreographing his Passion and his Death. It is almost as if Jesus hops up on the cross himself. He is surrounded, again, by his faithful women disciples, and now, his mother, Mary, and the beloved disciple who is not identified, but that tradition tells us is John, the brother of James. His last words, “It is accomplished!” are words of victory. Jesus knows that in his death, he has actually won! Jesus knows that he has duped his enemies, Satan and all of Satan’s angels, into thinking that they won when he was crucified, but in actuality, in dying on the cross, Jesus has crushed them! This is why the Gospel of John is used on Good Friday. It is not a Passion of defeat. It is a Passion of victory.

After relaying all this information to us. One of the partcipants asked Fr. Brown, which of the last words were the right ones. Fr. Brown’s answer was one that I will never forget.

Fr. Brown related to us that in his many years as a priest, he has been at the death beds of many people. Some, he told us, died in despair. Some, he said ,died in resignation, entrusting their lives to God. And, some, he said, die victorious. It matters not whether Jesus died in despair, resignation, or victory. What is important to those who are dying is that Jesus was there before and was one with them in their death of either despair, resignation, or victory. Jesus in ONED with us.

Holy Week reminds us that because in baptism we are one with Jesus in his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, that he is united to us in our personal experiences of the Paschal Mystery. We are have our experiences of passion, death, and resurrection repeatedly in our lives. Our passions and deaths may be that of illnesses, broken relationships, the death of loved ones, the loss of jobs, the loss of homes. All of our losses are oned with the losses of Jesus in Holy Week.

Holy Week reminds us that we are never abandoned by Jesus as we experience our passions and deaths, but that he accompanies us in solidarity with us. He knows how we feel. He knows our suffering. He knows our pain. He knows our agony.

Holy Week also reminds us that the cross is not the end. Passion and Death are never the final answer, but is the journey we must make to reach the real end. That is the Resurrection. At the end of life is not darkness and an empty void. Rather, at the end of life is victory and life everlasting!

It is true that we are “oned” with Jesus in his passion and death. But most importantly, we are “oned” with Jesus in everlasting victory and glory. May our journey throughout this week be one in solidarity with Jesus, who went before us to show us the way. For as John relates to us in his Passion, Jesus’ last teaching to his disciples before they left to go to the Garden was this, “I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

 

Judah has gone into exile,
after oppression and harsh labor;
She dwells among the nations,
yet finds no rest:
All her pursuers overtake her
in the narrow straits. (Lamentations 1:3)

The music I composed below wells up from the plight of the world’s refugees which is as acute now as since 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 that have destroyed their lives. We hear of the “coffin ships” fleeing the poverty and starvation of the Potato Famine and British religious persecution in the mid-1800’s. These refugees are encountering the same in their attempts to find peace and a livelihood elsewhere in the world.

The response on the part of most European nations has been exemplary to the horror these refugees have faced. Under donald trump, my nation no longer can bear the inscription upon the Statue of Liberty proudly, its message virtually erased by trump and his administration’s cruel and immoral banning of refugees. He has brought such shame to the noble aspiration of the Founders of this nation. That sin and the ghosts of all the innocent refugees he has denied access will haunt him for ever.

The music below is my musical prayer for all refugees. May they find peace in God.

(c) 2017, by Deacon Bob Wagner. All rights reserved.)

For the music theorists out there. The form of this music for piano is 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 a “Berceuse” (lullaby) from Chopin 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 Dorian mode (one of the scales the ancient Greeks created). It is not the typical minor key with which we are familiar.

Often we think of ordinary as being mundane and boring. Quite to the contrary, ordinary can be extraordinary. Yes, it is true that the Seasons of Advent and Christmas are quite extraordinary times. Yet, all the glitter and glitz of Advent and Christmas does not extraordinary make. What makes the ordinary extraordinary is in how we think and approach it.

The liturgical year, like the calendar year is a cycle of months and seasons that chronologically flow from one to another. This cycle can be thought of as a bit of a rut, a “here we go again, the same old, same old.” Or, we can think of it as a new adventure upon which we embark.

Think of how we were last January. Over the past year our lives have not remained static. Our bodies have changed for better or for worse. Hopefully, during this time, our wisdom, our knowledge and our experience has grown. In one way or another, we are physically, mentally, and emotionally different today than we were one year ago. Have we grown spiritually during this past year?

Over the next few Sundays, we will hear the familiar stories of Jesus beginning his earthly mission of spreading the Good News of God’s love. We will hear him calling his disciples and all people to a deeper relationship with God, his Father. Throughout Ordinary Time we will hear familiar stories of healing miracles, the nature miracles, and extraordinary feats like the feeding of the 5000. These stories should speak to us in a different way this year, especially if our relationship with God has grown.

The calendar year and the liturgical year are not circular ruts through which we pass again and again. Rather, every new year is spherical, always changing, always new. Human relationships that are static and never change die. Can that be said of our relationship with God? This new year, as ordinary as it might seem, is filled with extraordinary surprises. God is always calling us into a deeper relationship. Our  relationship with God is always extraordinary, no matter the time or season of the year. We have a choice to make this new year.  Will our relationship with God remain static and dead, or will we choose to deepen and enliven our relationship with God? Will we make this Ordinary Time extraordinary or just ordinary?

Psalm Offering 2, Opus 7

Prayer Intention: the Victims of Clergy Sexual abuse

Scripture passages: (for the victims) Children and infants collapse in the streets of the town. They cry out to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” As they faint away like the wounded in the streets of the city, As their life is poured out in their mothers’ arms. Lamentations 2: 11b-12. 

(for the Church) 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.

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. Over the last two years, having been immersed in the tragic history of many children abused by priests in the decades of the 1940’s and 1950’s by both diocesan and religious order priests, and having read in detail the horror they experienced by these priests, as bishops, other clergy, and even the victim’s own family members looked the other way, has led me to compose this Psalm Offering for the victims.

THE MUSIC: I composed this music in the time honored musical form of the Prelude and Fugue. The Prelude is in the form of a through composed melody often used in church hymnody. The melody is stated simply and then repeated with some eighth note musical ornamentation in the left hand. At this point, the melody breaks into the Fugue with the first part of the hymn melody used as the subject of the fugue. The fugue subject weaves through the higher, middle and lower registers of the piano, subsiding and then quickly building to discordant chords in both hands. An abrupt return to the original setting of the hymn tune leads to the conclusion of the song.

The relentless key area of E minor and restating over and over again of the hymn melody is purposely done. My intent behind this relentless repetition is a musical metaphor that sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has never been isolated to the last 30 or 40 years, but has been pervasive throughout the history of the Church.

While the majority of those who have served as priests have been exemplary people, there is that underbelly of the Church in which priests who have sexually abused have been protected and shielded from exposure for their crimes. This was often done to save face for the Institutional Church. When the leadership of the Church acknowledges their own part in fostering an environment that provides abusing clergy the opportunity to abuse perhaps it will finally cease. This will call for Church leadership to reexamine its own theology on sexuality and work toward a more positive view of human sexuality. This will hopefully lead the Church to open the way once more to a married priesthood. It will also call Church leadership to end the view of the priest as a cultic icon that has led to a perverse sense of clericalism that has prevailed over the past 30 years, and return the priesthood to that of being  servants of Christ.

Psalm Offering 8, Opus 3

Psalm Offering 8 is a musical representation of the 12 year old Jesus in the Temple. The anxiousness of Mary and Joseph in seeking out their lost son is reflected in the quickness of the 3 over 2 motif in melody A. The calm, quiet of melody B is indicative of the adolescent Jesus asking questions from and also teaching the scribes in the Temple. Melody A returns as the Holy Family returns from the Temple to their home in Nazareth.

I composed this as a present for Blanche and Ivo Schutrop. Blanche and Ivo were longtime parishioners of St. Hubert. Blanche served as a volunteer sacristan, tutor for the school, and trained communion to the homebound volunteers and organized and matched those volunteers to those who were homebound. Blanche never got beyond an 8^th grade education, but was probably the finest pastoral care minister I have ever known. She was the heart of St. Hubert. She and Ivo were married many years. I often remember them on a hot summer night, sitting in the screened in front porch of their simple home across the drive from the old church listening to the Minnesota Twins game on the radio and drinking a couple bottles of beer.

Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced [in] wisdom and age and favor before God and man.

 

 

Psalm Offering 7, Opus 3

This Psalm Offering is a musical representation of the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt. When the Magi returned to their homes, each going their separate ways, King Herod was greatly angered. He, very much aware of the prophecy around the Messiah, was eager to kill the newborn Jesus. He ordered his soldiers to go to Bethlehem and slaughter all male children 3 years of age and younger. Melody A is Joseph, warned of Herod’s plans by an angel in a dream, quickly roused his young family to escape. Melody B is the Holy Family journeying through strange land to Egypt. Melody A returns as the Holy Family arrives in Egypt, safe from all harm.

I wrote this as a Christmas present for Sharon Olejnicak, a piano accompanist for St. Hubert. Sharon and her family were only parishioners of St. Hubert for a couple of years. By the time that Sharon was there, the number of “old St. Hubert families” began to dwindle and new families began to flood into the parish. Some put down roots and settled in the parish, others, like the Olejnicak family, would be only in the parish for a short period of time before job relocations would move them on to another place and another parish. I am very grateful for the time Sharon devoted to St. Hubert as a musician while she and her family were there.

Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Psalm Offering 6 Opus 3

This Psalm Offering, with its march like melody, is a musical representation of the Magi journeying from faraway places to see the Messiah. Melody A is the Star they are following to lead them to the birthplace of the Messiah. The middle section, Melody B, is when they seek information from the Scribes and King Herod. Melody A returns to conclude in a majestic manner the Magi finally finding the stable and adoring the Christ Child.

I wrote this Psalm Offering as a Christmas present to Gwen Pearson. Gwen was the organist who accompanied the choir at St. Hubert. She, though Lutheran, was very generous with her time and her musical skills. She was a lovely woman, and a good musician. She used to love Central Lutheran Church in downtown Minneapolis and the organ concerts they use to present there. She loved the pipe organ and truly believed it to be the King of all instruments. A most faithful Lutheran who played more Catholic Masses than Lutheran services, may she rest in the eternal peace of God.

Scripture passage: When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.” After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.

Psalm Offering 5, Opus 3

This Psalm Offering is a musical representation of the Mary and Joseph presenting their infant son, Jesus, in the Temple. As the Lucan account of the story tells us, while there, the family encounters Simeon, who gives praise to God for having lived to see the birth of the Messiah, as he expresses in his great Canticle “Nunc Dimittis”. The Holy Family also encounters the prophetess, Anna.

Melody A, introduces the Holy Family arriving at the Temple. Melody B is Simeon and Anna viewing Jesus and talking with Mary. Melody A returns to conclude the music, as the Holy Family leaves the Temple and ponders what was told to them by Simeon.

I composed this Psalm Offering as a Christmas present for my wife, Ruthie. Though there is some dissonance within its harmonies, I consider it one of my most beautiful compositions. I literally poured out my soul into this music as a love song to my beautiful Ruth. The mysterious qualities she possesses, the beauty of her soul as much as that of her physical features, I tried to express in these simple notes and rhythm. There is none that can compare to my Ruth. She embodies for me all that is good and is the living expression of God to me.

When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,” in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.

Psalm Offering 3 Opus 3

This Psalm Offering musically represents the choir of angels announcing the birth of Jesus to the shepherds watching over their flocks. There is a place in the closing measure of the music where the angelic proclamation is made. The angel motif is the opening three notes in the music and recurs throughout the Psalm Offering. Melody A announces that angel motif, which segues to the second melody B, representing the shepherds. There is a bridge consisting of the angel motif in varying key areas and time signatures finally restating all of melody A, with a dramatic flourish at the end.

This Psalm Offering was given to Helen Kerber, Elaine Roesser’s big sister. Helen was a good friend and confidant to me at St. Hubert. She had a wonderful, earthy sense to her and of the two sisters was the most active, musically, in the parish. She accompanied the Guitar Group, as it was known, throughout the time that I was the liturgical music director of the parish. She continued to play music for the parish until she was no longer able to do so for reasons of health. She passed away approximately one year ago. I returned to St. Hubert for her funeral and sang with the funeral choir. Her husband, Bernie, who died several year before Helen, was a carpenter. Bernie and his brother, Vernon, helped to install the windows in my dining room at home. Wonderful people the Kerbers. May they be forever blessed!

Scripture Passage: Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

PSALM OFFERING 3 OPUS 6

This was originally a song I wrote for our wedding. A good friend of mine from the College of St. Catherine, Diane Strafelda, a voice major, sang it at our wedding. The text was taken from the Song of Songs, a book in the Hebrew scriptures, used quite often at weddings (” Set me as a seal upon your heart,as a seal upon your arm”).

The music has long been lost, but over the years I have remembered the primary melody of the song. This past April, I took that melody I had composed for our wedding and composed an entire new setting of it piano. In short, this is not what was sung at our wedding, but something much more expansive, much more beautiful.

Ruthie has long been the inspiration for much in my life. The love, the joy, the care, the compassion, the intelligence, the beauty of life I have experienced with Ruth is present in every pitch. She is my life’s breath and without her I would wither and die.

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