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December 21, 2020“How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” Psalm 137:4 became my lamentation mantra when my Sisters and I realized our evacuation to rural Kentucky had changed to our new home in 2005. Gradually the hospitality of the St. Catharine, KY Dominicans evoked songs of gratitude as I realized, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage” (Ps 18:6). Nevertheless, imagine my delight when I was called back to New Orleans 12 years later to begin a ministry of spiritual direction! Furthermore, the church nearest my home was Blessed Sacrament-St. Joan of Arc. Never before had gospel music filled my soul with “Grateful” and the awareness that, “His eye is on the sparrow, I know He’s watching me,” not only during Sunday Eucharist but all week. My You-Tube Music playlist now contains gospel and other genres to begin and end prayer times, alone and with others.
The prophet Zephaniah imagines God exulting over us “with loud singing as on a day of festival.” Elizabeth’s recognition of her cousin’s faith in God’s powerful word evokes Mary’s “Magnificat,” followed by the silenced tongue of John the Baptist’s father proclaiming his own canticle of praise. The heavenly host will “soon and very soon,” broadcast in the skies over Bethlehem, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
What’s on your playlist during this last week of Advent, the ending of a season and year when our Katrina laments are scarcely recalled?
