Sunday, November 05, 2006

Feast of Venerable Solanus Casey

Fr. Solanus Casey and I have a secret in common, when no one is the the church, we like to perform solo for Our Lord. I sing, he played violin. We play alone perhaps, because no one appreciates our talents except the One who gave them to us.

Fr. Benedict Groeschel has a memory of his early days as a Franciscan, getting up for adoration in the night hours, and catching Fr. Solanus Casey adoring Christ by playing his violin. Forbidden from playing his violin in the daytime, as it hurt his brothers' musical sensiblities, Fr. Solanus played for Our Saviour alone, and his favorite song to play was,
"Oh, Sweet Mystery of Life".
Fr. Groeschel says it was written by Irving Berlin, a Jew, for his Catholic wife, and is all about the Eucharist.
Look at the lyrics:

Ah Sweet Mystery of Life, at last I've found thee,
Ah! I know at last the secret of it all,
All the longing, seeking, striving, waiting, yearning,
The burning hopes, the joy and idle tears that fall,

For, 'tis Love and Love alone the world is seeking,
And, 'tis Love and Love alone that can repay!
"Tis the answer, 'tis the end and all of living,
For it is Love alone that rules for aye!"

1 comment:

Alice Gunther said...

I love Solanus Casey! My uncle actually lived with him for a while (he was a Capuchin several decades ago).