Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Amore Infinito: A tribute to Pope John Paul II

When I was in the seminary, one of our professors told us that the way the Faith was transmitted throughout history was not only in the preaching and correct teaching of priests and bishops, but also in bringing the teachings of the Faith to the "common person"; in other words, through song and ritual. He then said that in this time, the teaching of Pope John Paul II should be put into song, into a popular venue, in order that the core of his teaching about life, love, God, the dignity of the human person, etc. could be made "incarnate" in the lives of "everyman".

This, I believe, has been done in the new release of "Amore Infinito", a collection of the Pope's poetry set to beautiful music and performed by the great Placido Domingo, along with Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, Vanessa Williams and Katherine Jenkins. Raymond Arroyo interviewed Placido on "The World Over" last Friday night. He spoke of the inspiration and depth of the Pope's poetry which is now put to music. And it is truly beautiful.

Today, the superior of our Institute of Saint Joseph, Fr. William Felix, gave us a copy of the CD and we listened to it while doing a mailing. Spectacular! There are songs in English and in Italian. And even if you cannot understand Italian, the beauty of the language, in and of itself, will move you. I love Italian. It is so expressive of the human soul. You can read the words in translation but just listening to the music and the words is breathtaking.

Now I am not advocating this for use at Mass. Oh, no. We use Gregorian chant exclusively in our monastic liturgies and some hymns with chant in the English Mass.
But for reflective listening, this is just perfect.

I recommend this CD highly.

It is making the truths of the Faith present in the words of the Servant of God, Pope John II, in a way that will be very positive for everyone, especially those who are searching.

5 comments:

Adoro said...

Father, do you have a formal website for your public association? Maybe you posted it earlier on and I missed it but I don't see it linked on your side bar. Apologies if it's right in front of my nose...

Fr. John Mary, ISJ said...

Adoro: Thank you for the suggestion.
I will post it on the side...but for now it is http://isjoseph.com.
Thanks for your interest!

Gabriella said...

Thanks for letting me know about the CD - will look for it immediately :)
I have Pope JPII's first CD 'Abba Pater' and that too is lovely and I often put it on but the one you mention seems even better!

I agree with you - nothing better than Gregorian for Holy Mass ;)

Fr. John Mary, ISJ said...

Gabriella: I would love to know what you think of this, since you are Italian and speak the language [as well as living in Italy...I'm jealous!:<)]

Mary Ellen said...

I'll have to make a trip to the Catholic bookstore this week to find that CD. I also think it will be a great gift for my mom for Christmas. Thanks!