Peter's Denial, Palm Sunday 2020 // Music with Meaning // Third Day - Can't Take the Pain

There are a number of songs that Third Day have written from the point of view of a Gospel character. I have found this to be deeply nourishing encounters with the Word of God. They seem to me to embrace the Jesuit spirit of entering into the scenarios and embracing the emotions of the character you are drawn to. This particular song is written from the point of view of Peter after denying Christ three times.

Matthew 26:31-35 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

Peter’s Denial Foretold

31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all become deserters because of me this night; for it is written,

‘I will strike the shepherd,
    and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

32 But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” 33 Peter said to him, “Though all become deserters because of you, I will never desert you.” 34 Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” 35 Peter said to him, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And so said all the disciples.

Matthew 26:69-75 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

Peter’s Denial of Jesus

69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant-girl came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” 70 But he denied it before all of them, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.” 71 When he went out to the porch, another servant-girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”[a] 72 Again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man.” 73 After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.” 74 Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment the cock crowed. 75 Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

Footnotes:

1. Matthew 26:71 Gk the Nazorean

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Struggler by Brother Isaiah

The music:


and the meaning:

SHADE // Brother Isaiah (updated 2 August 2020)

From the CFR facebook page:
"SHADE" is a new acoustic series featuring the music of Brother Isaiah, CFR. Brother Isaiah offers simple and uncut prayers from the heart hoping these "holy-hooks" might offer you an experience of the Lord's accompanying presence and refreshment in the midst of your day-to-day journey. The pilgrimage of life can be difficult at times and we can easily find ourselves pretty weary along the way, but the Lord wants to meet us along that road in little moments of quiet rest with renewal unlooked-for, like the simple refreshment one finds “beneath the shade of a tree.” As the psalmist sings, “The Lord is your guard and your shade; at your right side He stands” (Ps 121:5). We pray these little tunes might be a source of life and refreshment for the road the Lord has for you these days. Remember, we’re pilgrims on this earth… "poco a poco, vamos a llegar.”

Follow the Friars at:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/cfr_franciscans/
www.franciscanfriars.com

Videos by Martin Jernberg:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/martin.jernberg/



Playlist:

Introduction video:


Pre-intro video. The volume on this first one is a bit low, but the song needs to be heard. Pray, Hope, Don't Worry:

Music with Meaning - Third Day - Your Love is like a River

The music:

The meaning:

Music with Meaning - Third day - I need a miracle

The music:



The meaning:

Music with Meaning - I would die for You - MercyMe

I was reading the book "The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) everything" and was on the chapter concerning chastity. In that chapter there is a beautiful meditation by Pedro Arrupe, S.J. which I will share here:

Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything.

It also reminded me of a song I used to play on retreats a few years ago. It is by a band called MercyMe who wrote the song because of, and dedicated it to the memory of, a young boy who gave his lost his life after contracting a fatal disease whilst on a mission trip to South America.

I love the lyric "You never know why you're alive / until you find what you would die for" which come just after the words "My life has never been this clear / Now I know the reason why I'm here". I think many Christians who have discovered their faith anew can relate to this, and even more so people who have just discovered Jesus for the first time. When you fall in love with Him it is the greatest thing known in all creation, to be in love with the God who is love, and who teaches us what it means to love. Through suffering and joy, all for the greater glory of God. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Music with Meaning - No More No Less - MercyMe

I rediscovered one of my favourite Christian bands on Spotify and then again at WYD 2011 (they played some songs on the PA at the Love and Life conferences). This was the song that really touched me from the beginning. I love the second half so much, but the lyrics are superb. It reminds us that we can't be who we are not, we need to just go out there and let everyone know we are adopted sons of God, through Jesus Christ (Eph 1:5), and live in constant anticipation of going to our Heavenly home (my favourite part of the song is when they sing "Lord, I want to go home, nothing more and nothing less"). I remember reading a quote from Pope Benedict XVI talking about how Christians are in the World, but not of this world. We are all on a pilgrimage to our eternal home. Sing this song out loud and let everyone know who your Daddy is :-) Abba, Father, we adore you.

The lyrics are:

I'm not trying to hide anything

I wear it on my sleeve

I wear it on my sleeve

I'm not trying to be something I'm not

This is all I've got

This is all I've got

I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel

Just trying to be real

Trying to be real

I'm not trying to say follow me

I'm not the one who leads

I'm not the one who leads

Let me introduce myself to you

This is who I am

No more, no less

I am just a man who understands

Because of You I'm blessed

No more, no less
I'm not trying to prove anything

It's all about the change

It's all about the change
I hope you stare just long enough to see

The heart that's beating here inside of me

Beyond all the things you may think you know

I'm just a kid trying to make it home, that's it

No more, no less

Lord, I want to go home

Nothing more, nothing less

I would also like to share with you something beautiful that the Pope shared in the interview "Light of the World" about being human:

"{T}here does need to be a new realization that being human is something great, a great challenge, to which the banality of just drifting along doesn't do justice. Any more than the attitude that comfort is the best way to live, that feeling healthy is the sum and substance of happiness. There needs to be a new sense that being human is subject to a higher set of standards, indeed, that it is precisely these demands that make a greater happiness possible in the first place. There needs to be a sense that being human is like a mountain climbing expedition that includes some arduous slopes. But it is by them that we reach the summit and are able to experience for the first time how beautiful it is to be." 

Music with Meaning - Shinedown - 45

This isn't a Christian song and the meaning may be a bit obscure, but I can share with you my interpretation of the lyrics. I also love the conviction that it is sung with. I believe the song is the point of view of a father whose child has been aborted. First we'll look at the lyrics and then I'll give my commentary.
The lyrics are:

Send away for a priceless giftOne not subtle, one not on the listSend away for a perfect worldOne not simply, so absurdIn these times of doing what you're toldYou keep these feelings, no one knowsWhat ever happened to the young man's heartSwallowed by pain, as he slowly fell apart
And I'm staring down the barrel of a 45,Swimming through the ashes of another lifeNo real reason to accept the way things have changedStaring down the barrel of a 45
Send a message to the unborn childKeep your eyes open for a whileIn a box high up on the shelf, left for you, no one else There's a piece of a puzzle known as lifeWrapped in guilt, sealed up tight
What ever happened to the young man's heartSwallowed by pain, as he slowly fell apart
[CHORUS]
Everyone's pointing their fingersAlways condemning meAnd nobody knows what I believeI believe
[CHORUS]

Imagine the pain of a man who has not been allowed to protect his unborn child from a brutal death. Add to that the pain of then being judged to have supported that murder. The character in this song has been driven to contemplate taking his own life, literally staring down the barrel of a gun. Let us pray for all men affected by abortion that they may discover healing.

Music with Meaning - Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down - Robert Plant

This a beautiful old gospel song. Robert Plant has done an amazing job on this cover version from his latest album "Band of Joy." I am in love with this dirge, simple but powerful. As the pope says in "Light of the World" - "Simplicity is Truth - and Truth is simple."

The picture shown above is of St Michael the Archangel defeating Satan.
We can pray to St Michael:

St Michael, Archangel

Defend us in battle

Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil

May God rebuke him,

we humbly pray,

and do thou,

Oh prince of the heavenly host,

thrust into hell

Satan and all evil spirits who prowl through the world for the ruin of souls.

These days many people are confused about the idea of hell. "How can a forgiving God send anyone to eternal suffering?" they ask. But let us flip that around. Remember that it is not God who condemns to Hell, but people who themselves turn their back on God and deprive themselves of his presence. When we look back at the story of the first sin in the Garden of Eden we read: 

"And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden." 

(Genesis 3:8)

They knew they had been disobedient and felt ashamed, but God still wished to be with them. However, they hid. They had wanted to be "as gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen 3:5b). And in an attempt at making themselves into gods they gave up the innocent beauty that was entrusted to them.

We too, continue in our pride to try and decide what is good and what is evil. It is only when we turn back to God and trust His goodness, when we give up wanting to justify ourselves that we can let ourselves look upon him in trust and joy. We cannot love God and impose our ideas on Him.

Hell is our choice to turn our backs on God. To be close to Him in the next life, but not allow ourselves to receive his loving embrace. God always calls us into His embrace, it is we who hide.

Music with Meaning - Third Day - "Carry My Cross" and "Thief"

This is the song that got me hooked onto Third Day's music. It is from the album Wherever You Are, which is a supreme work of Christian rock music. Their new album Move is also a great return to form. The atmospheric build up and the emotion in the song say enough for themselves. Third Day have done a few songs  in this vein, where they are singing from the point of view of Biblical characters. This is the best one, but Thief (sung from the point of view of the repentant thief who was crucified with Jesus) is not far behind. These songs just help me to really get into the Gospels on a different level. The emotions that are put in the songs create an almost supernatural connection.

Light Gives Heat - Jars of Clay - Music with Meaning

This is a song from Jars of Clay, a really beautiful song with a profound message. The song begins with the angelic voices of the African Children's Choir singing in L'Ugandan. They sing the chorus refrain, which is: "You treat me like I'm blind, setting fires around houses on the hill but light gives heat."

What this song does is set the priorities in the correct way, beginning with those who are receiving the help. It then goes on to describe why so many international aid projects fail: "Heroes from the west; We don't know you, we know best." A type of arrogance that must be overcome.

But the beauty is that in the end those who have come ask the poor to show them how to really live: "Will you teach us how to love?; To see the things you see; Walk the road you walked; Feel the pain that you feel; At your feet I kneel; I want to see you shine; See your light not mine; 'Cause light gives heat; Your light gives heat." 

When we understand that the poor can teach us more than we can teach them, especially about Gospel values, then we begin to enter into the most fruitful relationships. That is when the interaction between the "developed" and "developing" worlds begin to discover anew what it means to be human.

This is the beauty of Christianity. The "developed" world is motivated by Love to reach out to help the material needs of their brothers, and in the interactions (rightly ordered) they receive the Truth of what Love really is. That is why you so often hear charity workers in materially poor countries say that they received much more than they could ever give.


Remember too that "Man is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life." (Gaudium et Spes, 63). When companies are making profits and still are retrenching individuals, then we have proof that this has been forgotten.

"Segregate my mind, burning crosses from your fear... but light gives heat". A fair warning in the song. Let us not mistake our cultural practices and ways of "Western" living for Christianity. Christianity is much deeper and transcends these things. We should not expect others to become Christian due to fear of hell, but out of Love for Truth, and each other.


To close I would like to quote from Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict's Encyclical:
"Openness to God makes us open towards our brothers and sisters and towards an understanding of life as a joyful task to be accomplished in the spirit of solidarity. On the other hand, ideological rejection of God and an atheism of indifference, oblivious to human values, constitute some of the chief obstacles to development today."