Dear brothers and sisters of Epiphany-

A small but faithful group have been meeting for our online Adult Learning program on grief and loss, and processing those events with the Psalms. We’ve talked of the difficulties of going from a sense that the world is stable and we know where we are in it (Orientation) to a sense that the world has turned upside down and nothing is as it was (Disorientation) to – in due course – a sense that we have found the new normal (Reorientation). 

I found myself thinking of that journey while watching a video of a young woman who appeared on “America’s Got Talent.” Her real name is Jane Marczewski, but she performs the songs that she writes as NightBirde. 
I’m not a fan of such talent competitions. They sometimes seem cruel and arbitrary. But a friend sent the YouTube and I watched. The song she sang was lovely, but it was the backstory that really got to me. Here’s the video and you’ll see what I mean.

We wrestle when bad things happen, and we are angry, and we weep, and we deny…and yet we all face difficult times that feel overwhelming because they are, in fact, overwhelming. NightBirde sings of the helplessness and the futility of trying to control one’s life when bad things happen, but that there is still something good that might occur in the midst of it all. Even when it’s not okay, there is a glimpse of “okay” in the midst of the darkness.
I’m not the only one who was touched by what I heard. So, too, the writer Mary Alice Mangano of America Magazine, a voice of progressive Catholic thought in our nation. She was struck by the theology at play in Nightbirde’s song, and in her life. Mangano wrote on it here, and I encourage you, as the collect says, to “read, mark and inwardly digest” it.

Perhaps the prayer (attributed to St Augustine) that Mangano uses in this article may be one that speaks to you if you are deep in the shadows right now, or if you know someone who is. Consider this: you may feel less alone, you may sense God’s presence, if you listen to these words.

God of our life, there are days when the burdens we carry chafe our shoulders and weigh us down; when the road seems dreary and endless, the skies gray and threatening; when our lives have no music in them, and our hearts are lonely, and our souls have lost their courage. Flood the path with light, run our eyes to where the skies are full of promise; tune our hearts to brave music; give us the sense of comradeship with heroes and saints of every age; and so quicken our spirits that we may be able to encourage the souls of all who journey with us on the road of life, to your honor and glory. – A prayer commonly attributed to St. Augustine

Be sure to join us tonight on ZOOM at 7 PM for Part 2 of our Adult Learning series titled A Season of Lament: Processing Grief and Loss through the Psalms. You can jump right in from wherever you are, even if you did not attend Part 1. All are welcome!

Be blessed and be a blessing,

Mary+