INFLUENCED BY PARENTS AND THE ARTS

When we speak of art, often it is only the visual arts, and we forget that music is one of our greatest arts.  I wanted to find out a bit more about the Norwegian composer OLA GJEILO (pron. Yay-lo), whose work Ubi Caritas is sung by King's Return-  see previous Blog.  He is one of several who are writing good sacred music in our day. It’s refreshing to find that real art still exists.   

On his embrace of choral music, Ola says, “I can’t quite explain why, but I’ve always gravitated toward choral music. One of the things that I love about the choral world is it’s very warm. There’s a lot of heart.”

He was born in Skui, Norway on May 5, 1978, to parents who loved music, everything from classical to jazz, pop and folk music. They certainly encouraged his talents from an early age.  He began playing piano and composing when he was five years old and learned to read music when he was seven years old. He studied classical composition with Wolfgang Plagge, another well known Norwegian composer. 

In his undergraduate career, Ola studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music (1999–2001), transferring to the Juilliard School (2001) in New York. He also studied film music at the University of S. California, inspired by the improvisational art of film composer, Thomas Newman (The Player, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Finding Nemo, WALL-E, the James Bond films Skyfall, Spectre, and the war film 1917.)

This followed  studies at the Royal College of Music, London (2002–2004) where he received a bachelor's degree in composition. He continued his education at Juilliard (2004–06) where he received his master's degree in 2006, also in composition. From 2009–10, Ola was composer-in-residence for Phoenix Chorale.

He lives in Manhattan, working as a freelance composer. He is currently composer-in-residence with DCINY and Albany Pro Musica.

He is one of the most frequently performed composers in the choral world. An accomplished pianist, improvisations over his own published choral pieces have become a trademark of his collaborations. It is perhaps Ola’s adopted country of America that has influenced  his distinctive soundworld the most, evolving a style that is often described as cinematic and evocative, with a lush, harmonious sound. In an interview he mentioned being influenced by Brahm's  Requiem and that his favorite composer is Rachmaninoff (who is also mine) being blown away when he first heard the 2nd Piano Concerto.

“I always wanted my music to be uplifting in some sense, even if the music is sad or dramatic. The goal for me is always that the listeners come out of it feeling more inspired and uplifted than before; that when there’s a lot of conflict, even anguish in the music, there’s still a resolution at the end of it – something that transcends the conflict. I think that’s what we generally want in all areas of life; in war, relationships, everything. If there’s conflict, we want resolution. We want there to be peace, and that’s how I feel about music too. I want it to inspire harmony.”

An example of how the arts can be interwoven, Ola says glass artist Dale Chihuly  (of Seattle) and architect Frank Gehry had a great influence on his work. I advise you to go to Youtube and listen to his work. His music inspires- prayer indeed in these times of need! 

His LUMINOUS NIGHT OF THE SOUL is a masterpiece: " The Central Washington University Chamber Choir (Gary Weidenaar, director) joined by Ola Gjeilo on the piano and the Kairos String Quartet (comprised of CWU string faculty).

Long before music was sung by a choir,
Long before silver was shaped in the fire,
Long before poets inspired the heart,
You were the Spirit of all that is art.

You give the potter the feel of the clay;
You give the actor the right part to play;
You give the author a story to tell;
You are the prayer in the sound of a bell.

Praise to all lovers who feel your desire!
Praise to all music which soars to inspire!
Praise to the wonders of Thy artistry
Our Divine Spirit, all glory to Thee.
            (Charles Anthony Silvestri)

O guiding night!
O night more lovely than the dawn!
O night that has united
the Lover with his beloved,
transforming the beloved in her Lover.
                        (St. John of the Cross)

WHERE CHARITY AND LOVE ARE!

I recently came across KINGS  RETURN, an a cappella (sung without instrumental accompaniment) vocal group rooted in Gospel, jazz, R&B and classical music, singing  the classical Latin piece Ubi Caritas. Sung from the heart of an ordinary stairwell, the choral acoustic perfection has wowed many on Youtube.

This group describe themselves as “a vocal band of brothers formed in 2016 from pre-existing friendships.” They further explain that their band’s name “reminds us to be our brother’s keeper and to pay homage to our King, Jesus, who has Himself promised to return.” 

The 8th-century antiphon, sung on Holy Thursday during the washing of feet, was arranged by the modern Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo, who currently resides in Manhattan, working as a freelance composer.

Translated, the piece sends a powerful message, one apt for our  country's present racial unrest: Where charity and love are, God is there. Christ’s love has gathered us into one. Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him. Let us fear, and let us love the living God. And may we love each other with a sincere heart.

If only we all could “sing” this from the depth of our American hearts!

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCQOXY-FWTk&list=RDoCQOXY-FWTk&index=1

ART IN TIME OF A PANDEMIC

I

Kathe Kollwitz

"In our present day, it can be easy to conclude from the various crises taking place around the world, all the injustice and political unrest, the rampant poverty and environmental threats, persecution and killings, diseases and displacements, that art and beauty are mere luxury. It could even make some feel that to focus on art and beauty is insensitive or shortsighted. However, I want to suggest that it’s precisely because of these desperate situations that the artist is called upon to beautify the world with art and engage these issues from a vantage point of hope.

The desperate situation in our world calls for the artist to emerge as a prophetic voice for change and to offer heaven’s alternatives. I’m reminded of the example of Iraqi cellist Karim Wasfi, who countered the tragedy of war by playing music at the sites of car-bomb explosions, with smoldering buildings in the background of his concertos. Wasfi said, “The other side chose to turn every element, every aspect of life in Iraq into a battle and into a war zone. I chose to turn every corner of Iraq into a spot for civility, beauty, and compassion.”

This is the call of the artist in collaboration with God: we are called to be the architects of hope and to counter the destruction of life with the opposite spirit in beauty and creativity."

                                                Stephen Roach , founder of The Breath & the Clay, a creative arts community                                                                        exploring the intersections of art, faith & culture.

Let’s face it, the coronavirus pandemic, with the continuing rise in cases and deaths, has shaken us to the core. My friends call, people I do not know email or write for prayers, just to reach out or be comforted.

Chinmaya Br- India

In these times of uncertainty, art can be a steadying force. When a work of beauty, be it a poem, a painting, a piece of music, or a great novel , we are reminded of the ability to create in the midst of crises and suffering. It is said that Shakespeare wrote King Lear during the plague.

The creative arts sustain our spirit as we make sense of what’s happened and try to find our footing again in these troubled times, as we are moved inward, to the space of our thoughts and imagination, a place we have perhaps neglected. Of all the necessities we now feel so keenly aware of, the arts and their contribution to our well-being is evident and, in some ways, central to those of us locked in at home.

 Why art in these times? Aren’t there more important things to consider and reflect upon? Art allows us to examine what it means to be human for it is eternal.  It allows us to give expression to our thoughts and feelings, be it from suffering or from joy.  Art helps us process trauma, express difficult feelings, and work through experiences. Through art, we feel deep emotions together and are able to process experiences, find connections, and create an impact on the culture and society.

Louis Betts- USA- 19th C.

Art educates and inspires, and prompts our imagination to assess things and circumstances in a new and alternative light. Art can destroy barriers that divide people and can identify serious issues that we must address, both individually and collectively. It empowers us to see beyond that which may erode our growth and creative core. I think of all the graffiti which springs up in all our cities, especially in times of unrest.

Clement Tsang- Hong Kong

Art of any kind be it visual arts or the written word, or music, reminds us that we are not alone and that we share a universal human experience. During this dread virus we have had examples of opera singers sharing their gift to their neighbors from their balconies, or groups getting together across the world via zoom (or whatever).  

Art has been  proven to reduce stress. There are countless studies showing the physical and mental benefits of making art and studying art be it writing, composing or painting.  So get busy and write that opus which will change the world!

FEAR AND FAITH AND THE EUCHARIST

James Thomas

It has never been easy to live a Eucharistic life. When Jesus first proclaimed this mystery to his disciples, some were scandalized: “As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him” (John 6:66). The time we live in poses special challenges to faith. We live in a culture that has largely forgotten God. Faith is often presented as a dusty relic of a bygone day, and the Church as just one more flawed human institution.     Archbishop Paul Etienne- Seattle

Our Archbishop's document on the Eucharist was written well before the civil unrest and outright damning racism in our area as well as across America. So much of this comes out of fear and ignorance and a lack of faith. I always say where there is no faith there is fear!.

On the feast of Corpus Christi this year, the Holy father wrote:

“He comes as Bread broken in order to break open the shells of our selfishness. He gives of Himself in order to teach us that only by opening our hearts can we be set free from our interior barriers, from the paralysis of the heart.”

“God knows how difficult it is, He knows how weak our memory is … He did not just leave us words, for it is easy to forget what we hear. He did not just leave us the Scriptures, for it is easy to forget what we read. He did not just leave us signs, for we can forget even what we see. He gave us Food, for it is not easy to forget something we have actually tasted. He left us Bread in which He is truly present, alive and true, with all the flavor of his love.”

If only we truly believed, our fears would abate, and we would be left with love for all. For the “ strength of the Eucharist,  transforms us into bringers of God, bringers of joy, not negativity,”   God grant us faith!

MARTYRS of the EUCHARIST - 20th & 21st CENTURIES

One of the more shocking stories of 2019, was a survey from the Pew Research Center showing that only 28% of American Catholics know and believe the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist, that Christ is truly present. 

But there are some who knew with such certainty that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament that they faced danger to be with Him, and there are those who died rather than let the Blessed Sacrament fall into the wrong hands.  As we consider the Eucharist through the summer of lock-down in many areas of our world, I am reminded of some modern day martyrs who had great devotion to the Eucharist.

Our first is a priest who could have been asked, “Are you happiest at Mass?” FATHER JACQUES HAMEL certainly was. And that is where he died. 

On July 26, 2016, two men armed with knives burst into Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray parish in Rouen, France. There, Father Jacques Hamel, 86, who had been a priest for 58 years, was celebrating Mass, which he called “the essential element” of his every day. His sister said her brother “was transformed at the moment of consecration … the more he aged, the more it was the passion of Christ that he lived.” Terrorists burst into Mass one Thursday morning promising to “do away with” all Christians. They drove the old priest to his knees and slit his throat at the altar, shouting “Allahu Akbar!”

Amazingly enough, Father Hamel had worked to better relations with the Muslim Community. With local imam, Mohammed Karabila, the president of Normandy's regional council of Muslims, Father Hamel worked since early 2015 on an interfaith committee. After the priest's death, Karabila described him as his friend with whom he had discussed religion and as also someone who gave his life for others.

Calls to make him a saint started soon after his death. The canonization cause was officially opened at diocesan level in April 2017, after Pope Francis had waived the otherwise mandatory five-year waiting period for the opening of such causes. The beatification of a martyr does not require a miracle because martyrdom is already testifying to a special help received from God.

When a fellow priest told  the octogenarian to retire, he replied, “I will work until my last breath…there are not enough priests.”

In a letter to parishioners just weeks before he died, Father Hamel wrote, “May we hear … God’s invitation to take care of this world to make it, where we live , warmer, more human, more fraternal.”  Very fitting for our own country today with all the bitter fighting.

IN MEMORIAM

Mother Miriam in back, with Mother Prisca & Mother Prioress Therese

Mother Miriam Benedict, one of the  foundresses of Our Lady of the Rock died Friday in Italy.  She had been the postulant mistress (newcomers into a monastery) at our Abbey in Connecticut. She had a fun-loving spirit yet was known for her love of the Office.

She came to Shaw in 1977 for the new foundation with Mother Therese and Mother Prisca.  Mother’s great loves were her sheep and cooking, as well as meeting the many guests who came. After 30 years she is still remembered to old timers on Shaw.  As Mother left,  I came west to take over the sheep and cooking and guests. 

Monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno

In the late 80s, our Abbey was asked by the Vatican to make a foundation in Italy. The Abbey of Monte Cassino gave us one of their unused monasteries, some miles from their lands. Mother Miriam and Mother Agnes spent a year in Perugia  learning the language. Mother Philip later joined them.  The foundation attracted many guests, especially musicians and archeologists who came for the newly discovered frescoes- the oldest in that part of Europe. After  30 years, and no vocations and the death of both Mothers Agnes and Philip, Mother Miriam, now blind and in frail health, left for the Benedictine monastery, of St. Scholastica which has gently and lovingly cared or her.  She asked to be buried at Monte Cassino.

This morning at Mass, our Subprioress,  Mother Noella, offered this prayer:

For the repose of the soul of Mother Miriam Benedict for whom this Mass is offered. As her journey throughout monastic life began at Regina Laudis when she was 17, led her to the Northwest as co-foundress of Our Lady of the Rock, to San Vincenzo al Volturno in Italy and finally to the Abbey of Santa Scholastica in Montecassino - that from her new place in the Communion of Saints she may intercede for Mother Prioress Therese and Our Lady of the Rock for the future of monastic life here, and in the words of Saint John Paul II whom she so loved: “Let us remember the past with gratitude, live the present with enthusiasm, and look forward to the future with confidence.”    Let us pray to the Lord

St. Agatha's Chapel at Monte Cassino where Mother is laid to rest

A HOLY FRIEND IN HAWAII

When I lived in Hawaii (Oahu)  fifty years ago, my pastor in Manoa Valley, was MSGR. CHARLES KEKUMANO. Not only was he my pastor, but we soon became friends, especially when he knew I had a religious vocation.  He was born in 1919 in Kona on the  Big Island of Hawai‘i. Educated at Saint Louis High School in Honolulu, he studied for the priesthood and was ordained for the Diocese of Honolulu. He earned a doctorate in Canon law from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and was appointed chancellor of the Honolulu diocese, secretary to Bishop James Joseph Sweeney, and later rector of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace.

In 1961 he was named an honorary chaplain of the Papal household, with the title of Monsignor, by (St.) John XXIII, the first native Hawaiian to hold such an honor.

Shortly after Father Joseph Anthony Ferrario became bishop, Msgr. Kekumano left the diocese of Honolulu, to work in the diocese of Juneau. He retired in 1984 and returned to Honolulu. He was involved in many civic organizations, including the American Red Cross, the Duke Kahanamoku Foundation, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, and the Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu. He also served on the University of Hawaii Board of Regents, the Honolulu Police Commission, the Maui Charter Commission, and the Hawaii Commission on Children and Youth.

He was proud of his Hawaiian heritage and left a lasting impression in the islands.

In 1997 he was co-author of the essay "Broken Trust" which criticized Kamehameha Schools, the largest private landowner in Hawaii, resulting in their reorganization. He died of cancer on January 18, 1998 in St. Francis Hospice in Honolulu, at the age of 78.

The former president of Punahou School in Oahu, said: "He was a man of such marvelous integrity and willingness to step forward on the issues of the day, including, of course, the recent Bishop Estate controversy.

With Hubert Humphrey

Walter Dods Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of First Hawaiian Bank and one of three trustees of the Queen Liliuokalani Trust wrote, "His strong sense of the value of family and community, his courage, his down-to-earth and accessible nature and his ever-present humor will be forever a part of the legacy of the Queen Liliuokalani Trust.  Monsignor's deep and abiding understanding of his Hawaiian heritage sets an outstanding example for all of us and especially the beneficiaries and the staff of the trust."

"Broken Trust" co-author Randy Roth said  when  Msgr. Kekumano's cancer was announced that everyone should have a hero and Kekumano was one of his. "He's someone I admire greatly, and I hope someday I'll have one-tenth the wisdom and graciousness he has." 

Even today there are scholarships in his honor, namely The Kekumano Award & Scholarship which celebrates and perpetuates the spirit of service to others and giving back to the community. It was established in memory of Monsignor Charles A. Kekumano’s selfless contributions to the islands.

In his own words:  I was born in Kona, actually on the shores of Kealakekua Bay, and the old family home was directly across from the Captain Cook monument. I should not have been born there because the family had moved to Honolulu, but my grandfather had this notion that his grandchild should be born at the old place and those were the days of the interisland ships, the little things that went from island to island--obviously very rough in the channels. Anyway, my mother and I were carted over there so that I could be born at the old place. The only one living in the old house at the time was my great-grandmother, who was then almost ninety, and I was born there with those two ladies. My mother had been very sickly and, at that time, became much more sickly. Consequently, the word came back to Honolulu that she was not doing well, so my grandmother came over and brought me back to Honolulu. I was then two weeks old. …

The interesting aspect is that my grandfather, of course, was full-blooded Hawaiian with a tremendous respect for everything that was Hawaiian. I remember, for example, when I was five years old, my cousins and I, all of his grandchildren, were taken to Kona to visit my great-grandmother and we were schooled before we left Honolulu by him as to how to address her in Hawaiian. So we learned these expressions in Hawaiian, to speak to her very politely and how you said it to your grandmother and how you said it with respect. 

Very early in my life I picked up a deep respect for not only the Hawaiian words, but the way you used them and the differences of your speaking to someone who's of the family, someone your own age, someone who has earned or deserves respect and so forth. My grandmother, step-grandmother, was part-Hawaiian. She also had German and Spanish in her. She raised me from then on. My mother never completely recovered and I saw her only a few times. I always saw her in bed. I was only allowed to come in and I was held up in mid-air over the bed and, "Say hello' to your mother.”

With Bishop Scanlan

As I knew him, he was a gentle priest driven by his love for the Hawaiian people and had the ability to work out differences that were seemingly unsolvable. He had a love for the Church and did all he could to further the love of Christ among his people. At the time, there was talk that he could be the first Hawaiian born bishop, but he  was too controversial in his politics- something like Jesus Himself!