Today's cd/Stabat Mater

Pergolesi, Stabat Mater/Vivaldi, Motet, and Stabat Mater/1994

I promise not to repeat too many postings as time goes on, but my Good Friday music is one which I probably will. It is so moving, so emotional, and so real. Whether we are Christians or not, whether we believe every word, still, still this music can touch us. It is said that Christ shared our humanity, our joys and sorrows. Yes, except he was not a parent. It is Mary's suffering this music is about. If you are a parent, you know that watching your child go through trouble is much, much worse than you going through it yourself. Her pain is literally your pain. His sorrow is your sorrow. And even when it ends for them, it never quite goes away for you, the parent. This is something I never knew until I became a mother. All at once, very suddenly, I was part of a world I never knew existed. I thought I knew what love was, I thought I knew what caring was, I thought I knew what sacrifice was. I didn't. Well, I did on some level, but it is not the same. There is a lack of self-consciousness when you are a parent. You truly think of the child before yourself. It is amazing. It is a miracle. So, when Jesus is on that cross, yes he is suffering. But, his suffering is so different from his mother's. Those who have lost a child will know this. Those who have not lost a child still realize it is the worst pain there is. And Mary had to go through it. That's what this music is all about. I cry several times a day on Good Friday as I hear the music floating throughout the house. It is very, very beautiful but very sad, too. And I think, we as Christians, need to go through it on this day. Yes, for Him, but I think equally, for Mary, the mother.

Some of the words:

Her grieving heart
So full of tears and anguish,
Pierced as though with a sword.

Oh, how sad and unfortunate
Was that blessed mother
Of an only son.