Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
May 4, 2014
Spiritual Ponderings
IPod Theology
Leaving Heaven

As we enter the month of May the Church is in the midst of celebrating the Easter season which is a time of joy and festivities. One of the special ways that we celebrate Easter is to sing "Alleluia" (which in English means "praise YAHWEH"). It has been my tradition to devote my Spiritual Ponderings for the month of May to talking about music and the messages different songs strive to pass onto the society either sublimely or overtly. Victor Hugo the author of Les Miserables said the following about music: "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent". It is therefore important to ask ourselves what is the message that the music we are listening to trying to express.

"Leaven Heaven" By Mathew West
Last November, I was discussing with a group of friends how I find it fascinating that each year we seem to start hearing Christmas songs earlier and earlier each year but at the same time there are not many new Christmas Songs out there. I would just think that the increasing amount of time Christmas songs are being played on the radio would lead to there being more Christmas songs produced. This is why, I set aside the song "Leaven Heaven" By Mathew West, last December so that I could reflect upon it now with you. In addition to being the first new Christmas Song that I can remember it also has a very powerful message about our relationship with God and the mystery of the Incarnation.

The first spiritual insight from the song is simply a reminder that God did not have to send His only Son into the world. Our Lord was already living in paradise and our sins did not take away from this. There is another old song that says something like "all you need is love," and to a certain extent that is true. This is what makes heaven paradise. Each member of the Holy Trinity knows that He is love infinitely and unconditionally by the other members of the Holy Trinity. The second thing that people need is not only to be loved but to be able to love someone else. This is also happening the Holy Trinity at all times. The Father is always accepting the love of the Son and the Holy Spirit for example. Our Lord desires for us though to enter into this paradise of love. He wants us to know that we are loved infinitely and unconditionally and that we can love the Trinity with our whole being. We too can find eternal happiness and this is why Jesus became one of us.

St. John tells us that the world was in darkness and for me this darkness means is best described as a fear of being that we are unlovable. The light that Jesus brings is the confidence that we are loved.

The image of the Jesus saying "I'm gonna hang a star in the eastern sky so everybody's gonna know where I touch down" is symbolic in two ways. The first way it is symbolic is that it is a new star. Back in Genesis Abraham is showed the sky and God tells Abraham that his descendents will out be countless like the stars of the heavens. This being a new star in a way shows that Jesus is not Abraham's descendent because He existed before Abraham. The second thing the new star symbolizes is that the world is coming together as the new star brings the magi to worship the new born King. The Jews and Gentiles are now united in their common worship of the God made flesh.

"I'm gonna walk around the broken Earth trading these streets of gold?" made me think of the following joke.

There once was a rich man who was near death. He was very grieved because he had worked so hard for his money and he wanted to be able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him. An angel hears his plea and appears to him. "Sorry, but you can't take your wealth with you." The man implores the angel to speak to God to see if He might bend the rules.

The man continues to pray that his wealth could follow him. The angel reappears and informs the man that God has decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathers his largest suitcase and fills it with pure gold bars and places it beside his bed. Soon afterward the man dies and shows up at the Gates of Heaven to greet St. Peter. St. Peter seeing the suitcase says, "Hold on, you can't bring that in here!"

But, the man explains to St. Peter that he has permission and asks him to verify his story with the Lord. Sure enough, St. Peter checks and comes back saying, "You're right. You are allowed one carry-on bag, but I'm supposed to check its contents before letting it through." St. Peter opens the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaims, "You brought pavement?!!!"

Hopefully, as Christian we realize that material goods like gold are not important to God. What is important is other people. "So if you ever wonder how much you're worth You should know That you're the reason why I?m (Jesus left) leaving Heaven