![]() |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Franciscan Friars of the Renewal |
Summer 2008 Published biannually |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A Seeing Culture |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
by Fr. John Anthony Boughton, CFR |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
So what is so great about Catholic Underground, or as we call it in Central America, Rítmo Católico? If you have not gone to one, I highly recommend it (see our website for details). This event was inspired by John Paul II’s call to transform the world through cultural evangelization. In it we invite artists of various disciplines to perform. But as preparation we offer an hour of Eucharistic adoration, with music to enter into the worship and non stop confessions. Then we move the whole group of people to an informal venue to be entertained and have fellowship. It has become quite popular wherever we have done this. I was recently reminded of the powerful effect of these events when we had several hundred people of various ages dancing and praising and having a great time at our latest Rítmo Católico, here in Honduras. The featured artists were a wonderful band of 10 young people from Tegucigalpa called “Eccos Andinos.” They performed traditional indigenous music from Central and South America which touched a deep cultural tap root in the locals who participated, and drew admiration and joy from us foreigners. But I don’t think one can account for the popularity of the event because there was just good music. There are other venues that offer technically good music. So why do we monthly have standing room only at the Catholic Underground in New York and a buzz about Comayagua asking us when the next Rítmo Católico will be? I would say it is a matter of inspiration and vision. The Greeks spoke of the muses that inspire “or breath into” an artist to help him create. How true this is. When looked at from a Christian perspective, we know that the only “muse” worth having is the ultimate muse, the Holy Spirit, whom God breathed over the waters to create the universe. John Paul II constantly called artists to evangelize the culture through their art form. Art inspired by the Holy Spirit allows the soul to see a facet of the truth, beauty, and goodness found in God, and it draws the soul inward and upward toward Him. Art that is not inspired by Him leaves one interiorly earth bound, or worse. It may be fun for a bit but it leaves an almost immediate void. Some years ago I was able to see the contrast between such inspirations plainly at a wedding reception in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It was your usual wedding reception, however with a live band instead of a DJ. People were eating and trying to talk over the music, and at the same time politely watching the band. A few people were dancing. The musicians were quite talented, playing light rock tunes. But something happened that opened my eyes. You see, some “fiddlers” got up to play. These are folk from the area that play Irish and Scottish music made for the fiddle. The spirit in the room shifted radically when they began to play. All of a sudden everyone, from little kids to the grandparents, was pushing the tables back to dance. It seemed interiorly that heaviness and darkness had lifted and gone from the room. The feel was light and whirring about and moving upward, and the “square dance” that followed moved with this music. It was a powerful visual, and more than visual, impression on the difference between music that comes from a culture of life and light versus one that is not. I am not speaking merely of the difference between two types of music, however. For instance, I experienced the same palpable shift of spirit in a room when the musicians at a Blue Grass concert moved from the usual themes of being in jail, drunk, broke, or cheated on, and turned to Gospel Blue Grass. Literally, the cat calls and rowdy behavior stopped instantly and people were singing along from the heart. Two songs later the crowd moved back to the banal following the lyrics, and an earthbound spirit entered the room again. Culture and the inspiration of it is a matter of vision. When the soul is led by the artist to see Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, then the whole of the person is moved in the very direction to which we are called, and from whence these qualities emanate, God. The forget-ability of pop culture demonstrates its superficiality and where the inspiration for it comes from. The musician that is all the rage today, will be quickly forgotten tomorrow, or worse, distained and ridiculed tomorrow. The devil always breaks the toys he plays with. Having a concert like Rítmo Católico, especially with a group like “Eccos Andinos,” resonates in the soul here in Honduras. The culture here is inundated with the dregs of American culture, and with imitations of it in the music and in the materialism. John Paul II often spoke of the need of every nation to seek out the roots of their culture to find the facets of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, which are uniquely exemplified in their people. It is incredible to experience the energy driven by the Holy Spirit to uplift a crowd. The contrast of a cultral event with such full interior vision, is even more powerful with this particular band. These highly talented young musicians are each physically blind. They study and live at the Franciscan Institute for the Blind in Tegucigalpa. However, they see more clearly than most, the light and truth that will build a culture of life, like the blind man in the Gospel who saw Jesus more clearly than all the rest. We look forward to having them back soon to enlighten us with their inspiration and talent. Pray for more such visionaries to be raised up in these beautiful people of Honduras!
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||