Hello all, Orin here. I realized as I sat down to craft this week’s Jesus-Justice-Joy post that Shannon and I have been remiss in letting you know a bit of exciting news. In addition to the book that will be coming out this July sometime, we’ve also both been writing new music, and incorporating some into our appearances. But, perhaps even more exciting than that is that some of our pieces have been accepted for publication at WLP, including two pieces that Shannon and I have written together! The full list of recent and soon-to-come pieces includes:
“God of the Covenants” (late last year), “Psalm 113” (this month sometime), “Psalm 22,” “Concertato on Immaculate Mary,” “Psalm 116,” “Psalm 92,” and the two pieces we have co-written, “Fill Us, O God” and “Our Savior Has Come.”
We were just recently told about these last two. “Fill Us, O God” is a Lenten piece included on our “Mercy at Work” CD; “Our Savior has Come” is a Christmas piece for children’s choirs. We’ve talked about them previously here on the blog and via social media and what-not. This is particularly exciting for Shannon, as these are the first acceptances for him in some time. Hooray Shannon!
Anyway. The reason I mention this good news is hopefully not so much to toot our own horns, or to encourage our readership to buy the pieces when they come out. Rather, I want to revisit this JJJ post from a few weeks ago. In that post, I began pondering the tension between self-promotion of works created for the Church when the Church desires a focus on Jesus and an avoidance of sins like pride and envy. At that time, I didn’t really have any answers, and I’ll come right out and say straight-away that I still don’t. However, I am still considering this question, from that previous post,
…is what I’m doing, whether writing a piece of music, using it at liturgy, or trying to allow or even persuade others to do so to – is any and all of that pointing solely to Jesus? If not, more prayer and pondering may be needed.
When I ponder this more and more, I wonder if for humans it’s even possible. That is, if we as creative types in the Church are pointing to Jesus for ourselves and pointing the way for others, it may be a bit natural, or at least a part of present day society, to need to point to ourselves. The Marianists, who I have a relationship with through some part-time work at Chaminade College Prep, have a doxology, a prayer they use frequently: May the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit be glorified in all places through the Immaculate Virgin Mary.
Perhaps the right way to look at bringing music and prayer to life in the Church is to look at Mary as a role model: she points to Jesus in much of her imagery, pointing at him, presenting him to all, and leading the faithful to him. She allows attention, that is, devotion, to herself so that she can bring people to salvation through her son.
That’s where my mind is today… Would be curious for any reactions or further thoughts you’d want to share (in the comments, social media, email, etc.). Thanks! Orin