A Symphony Of Love
by Rev. Robert J. Hermley

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Have you ever listened to a beautiful piece of music and wondered where the composer got his inspiration for such a magnificent work?  Music sometimes is so wonderful that it seems to reach into our very soul and lift us up to a high level, and perhaps we sometimes wish that we could create something similar to that beautiful melody or symphony which has just touched us so deeply.

The truth is that all of us possess such an ability and we seldom stop to think that the reason we are so moved by music is that those notes were always within us and awakened a happy feeling of joy when we heard them.  We were simply touched by something beautiful which lay dormant deep within us and was now awakened by someone else who played our music.  There are many joys within us which we feel, but sometimes seem unable to express.  Real, genuine happiness comes when we are able to hear music within our own heart which we ourselves have created.

A symphony, or for that matter any great piece of music, is composed of notes on a scale, C D E F G A B C, some half notes, some whole notes, placed one by one after the other in a musical and harmonious fashion.  Certainly, the feeling within the composer has a lot to do with the melody.  The song could be a happy song; it could be light music or heavy.  It could be meant to stir up a feeling of great emotion, or composed to calm us down.  A good musician knows how to arrange those notes and when carefully done, the result is beautiful music.

One of the most tedious jobs for all of us n this life is to accept the small trials and tribulations which plague us day by day on life's journey.  Holy men tell us to see in them the will of God; each action we do can be offered up to God as an act of love and adoration.  A mother arises in the morning, prepares breakfast for the family, wakes them and her husband, gets them all off to school and to work, washes he dishes, cleans the floor, and then begins to prepare in her mind the menu for the evening's dinner - all little things, nothing glamorous.

Her husband drives to work sometimes, still tired and often through horrendous traffic, worrying about bills, being concerned about a child's health problems or about his own, and prays for many needs.

The children run off to school, hoping that the teacher will not spring a surprise quiz on them, praying that they will understand some subject matter better today then they did yesterday, hoping that their classmates will like them better, worrying what others think about them, deeply concerned about some blemish that doesn't really matter to those who truly love them.

All of these are grave problems for the individual involved.  They may be small or insignificant to onlookers, but to the individual affected with the trial of the moment they are real, big and troublesome.

Now, suppose we take all of these problems and offer them to God, each one as a note of music - the making of breakfast, washing of dishes, sweeping the floor, driving through traffic the troublesome bills, the cantankerous teachers, the reluctant pupil, the troublesome subject matter, our physical defects, our aches and our pains.  Suppose we offer them up to God one by one in a quiet sequence as music written on a scale.  All of these actions can be offered to God as our sacrifice - prayer, almsgiving, obedience, contrition, acts of self-denial, work, all of these we can offer to God in sacrifice.

We can tell God to arrange each of our actions and tribulations one after the other in a melody of love which we offer to Him as an act of friendship and adoration coming from deep within our hearts. . . what music it would make!  Our troubles and difficulties would then become meaningful.  They would take on purpose.  We could then put up with any cross.  Our work would still be difficult, but each task would be offered to God and it would strike a note making a most joyful sound; and at the end of each evening we could replay for Christ the melody we had created just for Him that day. and on that final day, when we appear before Him in judgment, instead of fear, we will feel the anticipation of hearing our daily symphony of sacrifice - our symphony of love played in its entirety.