O Magnum Mysterium

As I write this I'm listening to Morten Lauridsen's choral piece "O Magnum Mysterium" as recorded by the Dickinson Collegium directed by Prof. Blake Wilson. Well, truth to tell I've been listening to it all afternoon...there's just something about it that wraps itself around me and makes my heart say "YES!"

There are two moments in "O Magnum" with dissonant chords so exquisite that they give me goosebumps - just the kind of dissonance I hear/feel when I sense I'm right at the edge of a Thin Place; a place where the world we know that's here and the world we sense is there are separated by nothing more than a thin veil. The chords send shivers up and down my spine, capturing my attention and drawing me in. There's something in them that I recognize; a signal that I've entered a holy space and that all around, and within, is sacred. A space that feels immense and fragile at the same time. As the dissonant chords are resolved there's a peace; a feeling of returning home.

The past week has been a pilgrimage of sorts for me. A familiar paradigm shifted as a sudden clarity took hold, and I'm not the same. There was a moment last week when the truth shimmered in front of me and a Thin Place opened. I heard a dissonant chord...and then it resolved. Grace-fully. And I feel as if I've come home.

I'm grateful for the gifts the last week brought. I'm grateful for the journey I'm on and the mystery that is all around. I'm grateful for the dissonant chords in music and in life that alert me to the Thin Places that welcome me home and give me a sure sense of peace.

O magnum mysterium...