I really liked the point about how, "Our emotions and thoughts don’t always align with the truths of our faith, and we need human tools to bolster them at times." I think we often overestimate our own self-control and underestimate the help that simple, physical aids like good music, holy images, and the experiences of good sleep or good food can provide in our spiritual journey.
I like very few modern Christian music to be honest, but I do truly love Audrey Assad's music from when she was a practicing Catholic, sad though her apostasy has been to see. Chant is also good, though it definitely serves a different purpose than more pop-ish, upbeat tunes.
". . . tools to bolster . . ." That part caught my eye too, Amanda, and I'll add a comment of my own along like lines. I'm with you as well on different purposes than pop-ish, upbeat tunes. Am not familiar with Audrey Assad, so just found her "Be Thou My Vision" on YouTube. Loved it. And I appreciate you sending me there.
So, my friend Gary allowed as how he was considering introducing his toddlers to Christianity in light of Freud or Weber or someone comparable having said he was "tone-deaf" to religion, and Gary didn't want Jenny and Emily to be tone-deaf to anything important. Not that Gary believed. He was a commie at the time. (This was an incident along Gary's and Mary's paths into Catholicism, and my own becoming godfather to their girls. My only godchildren. Beloved godchildren.)
"Huh?" you say. Well, this is about being tone-deaf; and I'm afraid I am - to nearly everything you've written about The Imperials. When I've clicked on the links you've given, I've only had "Huhs?" of my own. A bit of a relief then to read Amanda's frown over "pop-ish, upbeat tunes."
But she and I both homed in on "This is because following Christ is hard: our emotions and thoughts don’t always align with the truths of our faith, and we need human tools to bolster them at times." Coincident with your earlier post, Regina, about Louis Marie de Montfort's "True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary," I had begun reading Mexican Archbishop Luis Maria Martinez's "True Devotion to the Holy Spirit," which begins with de Montfort's book. And now I am in the section about the gifts of the Holy Spirit - true trads say "Ghost"! - and right there - in that very section, I'm running into tools to bolster my emotions and thoughts. Tools divine and human both.
Okay. Back to the music. Amanda told about Audrey Assad - obviously, naturally, predictably unfamiliar to me - did I mention about "tone-deaf"? - so I found Assad's "Be Thou My Vision" on YouTube. And yes. That will definitely do for the likes of me. Including the icy river video accompaniment.
So. If Amanda can get away with that - well, then. Here, is a piece I like. Amanda might too. Imperial afficionados? Maybe not so much. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGHWiAGpIP0
I really liked the point about how, "Our emotions and thoughts don’t always align with the truths of our faith, and we need human tools to bolster them at times." I think we often overestimate our own self-control and underestimate the help that simple, physical aids like good music, holy images, and the experiences of good sleep or good food can provide in our spiritual journey.
I like very few modern Christian music to be honest, but I do truly love Audrey Assad's music from when she was a practicing Catholic, sad though her apostasy has been to see. Chant is also good, though it definitely serves a different purpose than more pop-ish, upbeat tunes.
". . . tools to bolster . . ." That part caught my eye too, Amanda, and I'll add a comment of my own along like lines. I'm with you as well on different purposes than pop-ish, upbeat tunes. Am not familiar with Audrey Assad, so just found her "Be Thou My Vision" on YouTube. Loved it. And I appreciate you sending me there.
So, my friend Gary allowed as how he was considering introducing his toddlers to Christianity in light of Freud or Weber or someone comparable having said he was "tone-deaf" to religion, and Gary didn't want Jenny and Emily to be tone-deaf to anything important. Not that Gary believed. He was a commie at the time. (This was an incident along Gary's and Mary's paths into Catholicism, and my own becoming godfather to their girls. My only godchildren. Beloved godchildren.)
"Huh?" you say. Well, this is about being tone-deaf; and I'm afraid I am - to nearly everything you've written about The Imperials. When I've clicked on the links you've given, I've only had "Huhs?" of my own. A bit of a relief then to read Amanda's frown over "pop-ish, upbeat tunes."
But she and I both homed in on "This is because following Christ is hard: our emotions and thoughts don’t always align with the truths of our faith, and we need human tools to bolster them at times." Coincident with your earlier post, Regina, about Louis Marie de Montfort's "True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary," I had begun reading Mexican Archbishop Luis Maria Martinez's "True Devotion to the Holy Spirit," which begins with de Montfort's book. And now I am in the section about the gifts of the Holy Spirit - true trads say "Ghost"! - and right there - in that very section, I'm running into tools to bolster my emotions and thoughts. Tools divine and human both.
Okay. Back to the music. Amanda told about Audrey Assad - obviously, naturally, predictably unfamiliar to me - did I mention about "tone-deaf"? - so I found Assad's "Be Thou My Vision" on YouTube. And yes. That will definitely do for the likes of me. Including the icy river video accompaniment.
So. If Amanda can get away with that - well, then. Here, is a piece I like. Amanda might too. Imperial afficionados? Maybe not so much. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGHWiAGpIP0
Ooh, I thought that was beautiful and moving. I actually like all types of music, and that was lovely.