I am a radio channel surfer. Honestly, its the only way I come across good music. I was driving my brother Robert (the Bruce) to soccer practice the other day, and this song came on:
(You need to play it for any of this to make sense.)
Beautiful. Maybe you have heard it. The song called "The A Team" by Ed Sheeran. I immediately started listening to the lyrics, a habit I only revert to when the song strikes my fancy. It hit me by the second verse. "Whoa. This song is about a prostitute who sells herself to pay for illegal drugs." Could I really like this song as much as I did? I felt a bit guilty singing along. I decided to pray about it...
As I pondered the lyrics, I realized that I heard them before in an unlikely place: the Holy Mass. More specifically, during the Proclamation of the Gospel. Follow along:
"Cause we're just under the upper hand..."
(Matthew Collecting Taxes for the Romans)
"...go mad for a couple grams..."
(The Gerasene Demoniac)
"...and she don't wanna go outside tonight..."
(The Samaritan Woman at the Well)
"...and in a pipe she flies to the motherland or sells love to another man..."
(Mary Magdalene Anoints Jesus' Feet)
"...its too cold outside for angels to fly."
(The Woman Caught in Adultery)
Mr. Sheeran masterfully sings about how the "worst things in life come free to us." Ladies and gentlemen, sin is attractive, pleasurable, and all-too-easy to commit. But it is not without consequences. Like the young woman in the song, sin completely wears us down, leaving us desolate and miserable. Worst of all, it is addictive.
Sin affects all of us. Failure is one of the few things each unique woman and man has in common. Yet, we are so prone to judge others for it. Too often, we define are neighbors by their imperfections: "greedy," "alcoholic," "homeless," "fat," "slut" (to name a few). I'm guilty of this hundreds of times over. Our brother's and sister's misfortunes are easy to joke about. Take the "top ranked" comment on YouTube for this video: "Hello and welcome to Ed Sheeran presents: Crack Whore - The Musical!" Here's where the commentator is wrong: Ed never once called the subject of his song a "crack whore." I seem to remember him describing her as an angel. Ed's philanthropy reaches out to prostitutes and addicts. The song reflects on an encounter he had with a woman he met in a shelter.
This is a true love song. It is the same song Christ sang to Matthew, Peter, Zacchaeus, Mary Magdalene, you and me. Ed, like Jesus, takes tragedy caused from sin and weaves it into a beautiful melody. Suddenly, by looking through Christ's eyes, we see the dignity of this "angel." You see, we cannot love our neighbor while equating them with their sin. Imagine the song playing in our Lord's mind as He hung between Heaven and Earth for the very men who mocked, spat on, and struck Him.
What love songs are you writing for the suffering you encounter? Marquette friends, what is the melody you compose for the poor you see on your way to class? ACE DC friends, what are the lyrics you write for the students who drive you absolutely crazy before they return to a broken home? Brother seminarians, what is the tune in our hearts when we encounter those who ridicule the Church? I pray that we can sing as wonderfully as our Lord and Ed Sheeran.
No comments:
Post a Comment