MARKS OF WHAT WAS GONE

MARKS OF WHAT WAS GONE

 Holy, Holy is the Lord

God of the Universe

Heavens and earths proclaim

your glory

Hosanna in the highest, Hosanna

Hosanna in the highest, Hosanna

I confess that the invitation to join the New Year's Mass Choir took me by surprise. I like to sing, and there was a time when I wanted to join the church choir. But the opportunity never arose. And, suddenly, the invitation. Not that I'm an exceptional singer. None of that. It's just that a good part of the members of the Choir could not attend on the day, for different reasons, and the maestro needed a minimum number of members for the group. Hence the invitation...

Of course, he only invited me because he's my brother, he's the conductor of the group and he urgently needed someone to "plug a hole", so to speak. But it was an enchanting experience, I would even say that it was "a divine experience"... yes, it was very pleasant to be part of that community for a few hours...

I'm not exactly a religious person... I'm Roman Catholic by origin and baptism, but I don't go to church much, I must confess. Yes, I know I shouldn't say this, but I have my own vision of how God interacts in our lives, and it doesn't always correspond to what the Holy Church determines. Oh, and before you ask, most Churches have their own version of Divine Power, which often puts the very definition of God in check, which means I don't follow any other Church.

But I didn't come here today to discuss what is the right or wrong philosophy among the churches, but to talk about my experience on the 31st. All I can say is that it was just wonderful. We arrived at the church at four o'clock in the afternoon, and most of the group had already gathered. I was introduced, the group received me very well, so we started the rehearsals, with some voice exercises to relax. They defined which hymns would be presented, following the order of the day's homily. For the closing of the mass, as it was the last of the year, the parish priest had asked the maestro that the group sing "Marks of what is gone", which I thought was appropriate for the date. After all, it's a very beautiful song, and its message fits perfectly with the spirit of renewal that is remembered at the turn of the year. Of course, not everyone knew the song, after all, most of the group's members are young people, in their twenties, and this song is a little older than that... look, me giving my age. ..

We rehearsed the song, so some members decided to argue about the final verses of the same, claiming that, instead of "As every day is born new in each dawn", they should sing "As every day is born, Thank you, dawn"... Well, I disagreed at the time, since the change, in addition to mischaracterizing the original song, also took away all the sense of poetry construction... After all, the day is not forced to rise, it does so because it is part of its cycle, like the life has its own.... and it doesn't make any sense for us to "thank" the day for it being born, because that doesn't depend on any will, ours or his...

Of course, when I disagreed with the group, my brother was a bit taken aback. He's known me since early childhood and knows who I am, but he didn't expect me to start a discussion there, especially since I was a guest and not an official member of the group. But that's my fault, if I think something is wrong, I can't stay silent, I have to say what I think. I even regret it later, but at the time it's automatic. This sometimes gets me into trouble, after all, you can't always give your opinion. In any case, after about five minutes of discussion about the lyrics of the song, everyone agreed to stick with the original, without any changes to the poetry.

We passed all the hymns that would be presented on the day and the clock warned us that there were only twenty minutes left for the beginning of the mass... so we were dismissed, to rest a little before starting the Divine Liturgy...

Finally we went up to the place where the Choir meets, the last instructions were given to us, the position of each group was defined, the maestro recited his mantra before starting the functions, the parish priest, with his entourage, prepared to go to the pulpit and began the opening hymn of the celebration. I confess that the energy I felt when we started singing was really, really good. In order not to miss the time of the hymns, I chose a member of the group to be my vocal guide and followed her. Of course I didn't tell her that, after all you don't hand out your sleight of hand to anyone. And so we went on to celebrate. The mass was very delicious. The officiating priest occasionally chatted with the faithful, telling them how his day had been. Of course, he illustrated the situations so that they coincided with the script of the liturgy. He said, for example, that he participated in the São Silvestre Race in the morning, and that he only managed to do the test in a reasonable time because one of his friend, an already experienced runner, didn't mind not scoring and helped him complete the route. And that was the central theme of the homily... you give up some things in your life to help your fellow man. I thought your speech was very beautiful.

Well, I have the habit of associating situations and people with moments I've lived... and, when I saw the vicar's face, I immediately remembered a... wreath. When I was little, one day I discovered a wren's nest in our backyard. And there were two little puppies. I, very nosy, decided to give pig feed for the little animals to eat... I gave too much food, and the little animals died. But that's not what I remembered at the time. In fact, when the priest started talking, I don't know why, I automatically associated him with the little animals opening their beaks and asking for food... Does your parish priest look like a hungry wren wren? The world would fall...

The celebration of Mass was very beautiful. It was one of the most beautiful experiences I've ever had. It was really amazing. And of course she had her ending. After Communion, and after the final rites of the celebration, the closure... everyone with a white handkerchief in their hands, as if saying goodbye to the year that was ending and welcoming the one that was approaching, we then sang "Marks of what se foi", respecting the original lyrics. Yes, I must confess, it was really beautiful... I know it's a very personal feeling, but we felt the divine presence at our side...

It's 8:15 am on this first Monday of the year, the temperature is 22ºC, on a day that promises to be sunny and hot. I hope it doesn't rain, because soon I have to call the tow truck to take my car to the garage, because it just "blacked out" on Friday night, and it refuses to start, at the moment...

May God give us a simply wonderful day and may everything we hope and desire in our lives be granted to us by the Most High, if that is His Will...

May God bless us all and allow us to meet again tomorrow...