Friday, July 23, 2010

Magnificat


We visited many places in the Old City today, among them, St Anne’s Church. It’s a beautiful church, at the site of Bethesda. We arrived to the sounds of a music group---some young men from Yale, who were singing acapella Broadway songs in the Sanctuary. I’m sure that if the priests had understood the music they were singing, they wouldn’t have permitted them to do that! I'm guessing that they were just rehearsing and loving the sounds of the acoustics there.

They left, our group was alone in the church, and it felt as though we needed to reclaim the Church with sacred music----we decided to pray the Magnificat and I was asked to lead it. I love two different Magnificats---Leon Roberts' version (sung by ValLimar Jansen) and John Michael Talbot’s version. That's the one we sang. I was humbled to be able to sing Mary’s Canticle in the church dedicated to her mother, my patron saint. This church has the best acoustics ever in any church I have sung in. To hear all of our voices rise in the refrain of “Holy, holy, holy is God’s name,” was overwhelming. I could barely choke my way through it. I don't do well singing through tears. The sound of all of our voices washed over me. It was like the ocean---the song and the reverb rose and fell back like the tide. The reverb seemed to go on forever---as did our prayer.

3 comments:

Diana Joy said...

The thought of hearing you sing there after reading your description of the accoustics has given me goosebumps.

I'm enjoying your posts. Hugs to you all.

Angela said...

I can only imagine how that must have felt. I wish I could have been there to hear the angels singing with you!

klford said...

Dear Ms Ann, thank you for sharing your thoughts. Your writing and your photography have grace and bring grace to all who see them. I certainly hope you got a blue work shirt at the Holy Rock cafe.