Lifting and Latin -- that seems to be today's theme.
As I worked out, I listened to Philippians (in Latin), to some great Gabrieli music (again, all in Latin), then I finished my workout with this amazing work about the incarnation by Morten Lauridsen called "O Magnum Mysterium" (O Great Mystery).
If he had not written anything else, this alone would have made Mr. Lauridsen immortal. I am well aware of the work's many challenges, but I can say with confidence that this is far and away the finest performance I have ever heard of this lovely piece. I always get choked up upon hearing it no matter how hard I try not to. This creation is what I need in my ears when I skip from the visceral back to the spirit. The music defies all written words. Please note what happens at 3:45 when the piece progresses into a minor key. Listen for the word virgo ("virgin"). Lauridsen's shift to a minor key symbolizes the virgin Mary's prophesied grief when Jesus would be crucified (Luke 2:35).
This piece is a pure gift to me. There is always an ominous dimension to love and marriage. Our increased capacity for love only makes us feel greater sorrow when suffering strikes. The testimony of the virgin inspires me to keep serving a world that languishes under such misery. Becky lives in a reality I long to enter in God's good time. On that day, Jesus himself will welcome me into the eternal peace of the kingdom and wipe away the tears from my eyes and heal my brokenness. That scene from the book of Revelation reminds me that Jesus, that "Great Mystery" as the God-man, restores all those who suffer. Heaven, after all, is our only real home.