Christ the Conductor. February 6, 2013

Last night I went to a phenomenal concert held in the Paul VI Auditorium. The music was provided by the symphony from Florence, one hour of Verdi and Beethoven. Classical music has never been one of my interests but thus evening captured my heart.

There we were, 10,000 people with the President of Italy and the Pope, all listening to the same pieces of music taking it all in. Language was no barrier; we were united in the beautiful harmonies and musical movements.

But what struck me the most was gazing at the sculpture above the symphony of the Risen Christ emerging from the tomb of death into Resurrection. The way is arms and fingers were positioned it made it appear as though he were hovering above the performance compelling strand of his grace to fill the musicians and audience. It was a remarkable , almost cosmic , sight. He doesn't hover over like a puppet master with strings attached to us, for inch us to move as he wishes. No, there is space between his fingers and us, the grace freely flowing out. It is totally up to us to receive his grace and move as the grace desires.

The more we receive his grace, we come together in a unity of gospel vision that transforms us from individuals into a magnificent symphony of Divine Presence. Often the many movements of this human symphony come from suffering, the violence that erupts when Christ's Love is lived in such a way that threatens established ways of life. The countless martyrs not only water the meadows with their blood, but move the human symphony to new crescendos. As a human family we are groaning as we emerge from our exiled tombs, the grace of Christ luring us into a new existence. We each are like a note in this symphony, without which the melody will be off. But each of us must discern just what our note is and how it is to be played. Grace will lead us if only we surrender to the movement within this symphony. Buen camino. Padre