Tonight, I attended a senior violin recital for a young lady who participated in the communal three mysteries Rosary. The excellent performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music soothed the soul, pleasant sounds and cultured ambiance. I marveled that so much beautiful music flowed from the meek frail young lady with the whispery voice I was blessed to sit next to. The innocent invitation she offered after prayers was in truth an offer to a sensory celebration of creation. True beauty. Marvelous. The performance reminded me of St Augustine’s insistence that we must protect the senses. What we hear, see, taste, touch and smell effects the state of our soul. Tonight, my soul was tuned through hearing by the distinguished accumulation of cultured practice and education, a student properly graduating with accolades.

I want to conclude the Brother Sun Sister Moon video series with a third and final (also noting many respected religious despise the movie–pardon me, with all its failings, I adored it). The two part scene represents to me an important theme I focus upon. It embraces my posting of the Gospels detailing the bleeding woman. Within a crowd it is essential that as individuals we touch the hem of Christ’s garment. Within the hierarchy, vastness, dogma, bad and good characters including priests, the multitude of people, mistakes, politics, plenitude of saints, the immensity and fullness of the Catholic Church, it is our individual responsibility to touch the hem of Christ’s garment. Similar to the bleeding woman, we must, through faith reach out for Christ. In this video, St Francis and his mendicant brothers face the enormity of the Church, pleading their case of individuality. I say within obedience to the complexity of the Church, we must find our individual way.