have you seen - jacki evancho?

have you seen this incredible little girl (10 years old)? she's been competing this summer on 'america's got talent', and she is something of a phenomenon. she sings opera like a seasoned professional and carries each performance with unusual maturity, candor and grace. last night she was showcased in a heavenly backdrop as she sang the 'pie jesu' or "merciful Jesus", a classical motet.


it strikes me that few of us listening/watching fully grasp what we are hearing/seeing. in fact, we admit that we don't when we say things like piers, "i have never seen anything like this before." even the words we hear are foreign to us, i had to look up the term 'pie jesu' to figure out what it meant myself. but the irony is not solely in the words we don't understand, or the image and sound of a 10 year old angel. the irony i'm speaking of cannot be seen or heard without spiritual eyes and ears.

listen to the words in english and a layer of the spiritually unseen unfolds:

Pie Jesu Domine, Kind Lord Jesus,
dona eis requiem. grant them rest.

Pie Jesu Domine, Kind Lord Jesus,
dona eis requiem sempiternam. grant them everlasting rest.


are you beginning to understand? listen again to the next part:

Pie Jesu, Merciful Jesus,
Qui tollis peccata mundi Who takes away the sins of the world,
Dona eis requiem. Grant them rest.

Agnus Dei, Lamb of God,
Qui tollis peccata mundi, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Dona eis requiem Grant them rest
Sempiternam. Everlasting.


is it possible we can perceive the presence of the same Lamb of God, Jesus, about whom this 10 year old sings with such brilliance? or have we missed God reaching out to us one more time, in the same irony with which He took away the sins of the world? have we forgotten the story at the center of time splitting our very calendar between B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (anno domini - at the birth of Christ)?

it occurs to me that the great sadness of God is the blindness with which we walk throughout life, missing His appeal to us day in and day out. if only we could perceive Him speaking to us, reminding us of His love for us... and the story of His love is written into the fabric of our time, our entertainment and is always before us. God proclaims His mercy, kindness and rest through the birth of His Son, Jesus, a child whose innocence is eternal, heavenly, and whose sacrifice alone can take on the weight of all our sin. and though Jacki is not and should not be confused for Jesus, it is ironic that once again from the lips of a child has come the message of everlasting rest and salvation.

and still somehow we cannot receive the presence of Majesty standing within this irony.

Jesus told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,
" 'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!

Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable?

How then will you understand any parable?"

--Mark 4:11-13