SPEAKER_01 0:00

From the McGrath Institute for Church Life and OSV Podcast, this is Church Life Today. I'm Leonard DiLorenzo. In the summer of 2024, about 1,300 people gathered at St. Mary's College for the premiere of Behold God's Love, an original Eucharistic musical in three acts: Root, Vine, and Branches. Everyone else outside those 1,300, well, they missed it. But now the whole world can listen. The full musical is now available as a recorded album, from The Mana in the Desert to The Last Supper to a House Church in Corinth. Today its creator and composer returns to the show to listen to a few tracks with me. We talk about what they reveal, how performing a role becomes a way of dwelling in Scripture, and how listeners can use the music to pray their way back to the Word and the altar. Carolyn Perdle is program director of the Center for Liturgy in the McGrath Institute for Church Life here at the University of Notre Dame. And she is the writer and composer of Behold God's Love. Carolyn, welcome back to the show.

SPEAKER_09 1:19

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

So, Carolyn, we've talked before on the show about the original musical you wrote, Behold God's Love. This debuted, it's world premiere back in the summer of 2024. But since then, you've been really busy bringing this work to a new level of availability, which comes through this polished and publicly accessible audio recording of the entire musical. So let's start here. Share with us a little bit what we encounter when we listen to this musical.

SPEAKER_09 1:49

Yeah, so um, you're going to encounter a lot of the show, actually. So what's what's tough about a cast recording is that obviously you're not gonna get the intervening dialogue in between musical numbers. And this show is written in three acts. And acts one and act three are really more like straightforward musical theater where there's like a song and then there's some dialogue and then there's another song and then there's some more dialogue. But act two is more like a series of vignettes where there is like part of song and then some dialogue, and then part of song, and then some dialogue. So for act one and act three, you're gonna get like standalone musical numbers. But for act two, you're actually gonna get all of the vignettes. So the intervening dialogue in act two has been recorded because it will not make sense from a story perspective to leave it out. And so I think listeners who weren't able to view the premiere performance, which is literally everybody in the world except the 1300 people who were there, they're gonna have a sense of what it was like to be to be in the house and to um kind of hear these stories come to life.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

So everybody in the world, eight billion or so, minus 1300. That's the possible audience that we'll encounter something new here.

SPEAKER_09 3:07

I mean, I'm kind of hoping the original 1300 listen to it. Also that leave no one.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

I love that. Why not? I love that. So you've already shared a little bit just in that in that first response about the shape of the musical itself. Uh it has three acts, and I think previously when we talked about that, we kind of thought about it as a triptych, like a three-part panel, something that opens together uh and each of the three pieces revealing a fuller sense of the mystery or the reality or the phenomenon that's being uh presented, right?

SPEAKER_06 3:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

So especially for the sake of those who are unfamiliar with the show. So let's say eight billion minus thirteen hundred. Um what are what is the schema? Like there are these three acts, but what are the three acts and what do they focus on? What do they bring us to?

SPEAKER_09 3:53

Yeah, so so the schema is uh root, vine, and branches, and that's acts one, two, and three, respectively. So it presents a kind of cohesive image that's deeply scriptural, right? Christ is the vine and we are the branches. And um, and so uh with Act One, which is entitled Root, um, we get the prefigurations of the Eucharist, and we see uh a Jewish family in the time before Christ preparing to celebrate the Passover together, and they share stories of the Exodus as a family. So we one of the early numbers in the show is basically the entire Exodus narrative in about seven and a half minutes.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

That's I mean, that's casual, right?

SPEAKER_09 4:37

Yeah, we're hitting the high points. And then um there is a number where the Israelites are complaining in the desert, as they do. And then that's followed very quickly by the a number where we see them receive the gift of manna. Um and then, of course, there's a big finale and everybody's happy, you know, they're all kind of looking to the arrival of the Messiah. Um, so that's act one root. And then act two, Vine, is set and during the Last Supper. And at various points in the Last Supper, something happens that sparks a memory in one of the apostles. And that apostle will step kind of out of the action of the Last Supper and basically address the audience and share a memory of another meal that he had had with Jesus. So we get flashbacks into the meal ministry of Jesus that remind us how that meal ministry really culminates in the Last Supper with the institution of the Eucharist. Um, so we get to see moments like Martha and Mary, and we get to see the wedding at Cana, and we get to see uh the woman anointing the feet of Jesus in the home of Simon the Pharisee. We see the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, and we see how those things all cohere together. And all of those stories come to life in the telling, which I think, as I shared last time, is a deeply liturgical reality. Um when we go to Mass, uh, the past event of Christ's passion, death, and resurrection is made present in the celebration in a reality that we call amnesis. And so the whole musical is rooted in that, where in the telling of the story, the story comes to life. And so, so the listeners won't get the sense visually of the stories unfolding simultaneously on different parts of the stage. Um but they'll hear I think they'll hear it and they'll be able to see like with the eyes of the heart, hopefully. And then we have act three, which is called Branches. And in that act, we meet Paul, and he's just arrived in Corinth at the home of Priscilla and Aquila, and they take him into their home. Um, he and Aquila bond over tent making and a love of shared roasted meats. And uh, and then they decide to host a domestic church celebration of the Eucharist in their home the upcoming Sunday. So the Corinthian Christians gather with Paul and he basically unfolds for them the Eucharistic teachings of Jesus within the context of that domestic celebration of the Eucharist. Um, Act three culminates with Paul um singing the words of institution, consecrating the elements of bread and wine. And actually, the listener won't see this either, but in that moment, Jesus is actually standing behind Paul on the stage as a visual representation of the in persona Christie, right? And so, and Jesus actually sings the words of institution with Paul. And I want to point that out because the blend that these guys have on that moment on the recording is so good that you actually can't. I I almost have a hard time telling that it's two voices. They're so, they're so locked in and it's so beautiful. Um, but then the Corinthian Christians receive the Eucharist, um, some of them for the first time, and then they are sent on mission to become the light of Christ and spread the light of Christ into the world. And the whole show ends with this vision of the wedding feast of the Lamb that will that will happen when Christ returns in glory. So we start with Exodus and we end with the ex eschaton, and it's just a lot of fun stuff happens in between.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Fantastic. You know, as you were this is a straight, I'm just gonna give you the straight thought because you you like straight thoughts.

SPEAKER_06 8:12

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Straight thought. As you were talking about the third act and and the two of them blending and they're so blended. I'm just imagining, like my kids have never said this, but I can imagine at some point this is a thing the kids will say, You're so blend.

unknown 8:22

Like, let's go on.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Why why isn't that one?

SPEAKER_09 8:25

I mean, this is I think you just coined it.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Yeah, like that's bars.

SPEAKER_09 8:31

That's so blend.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Yeah, you can say that's blend. They say that's bars, but I still don't know what that means. I I hope it's not something terrible that I've just said on uh our podcast. I don't think it's not, it's not. It means I think in a musical or lyrical or literary way, that has like a nice bars on bars on bars. Yeah, something like that. Anyways, okay, so listeners, let's get that trending. You're so blend. But to come back to this, the blend here was um was Jesus and Paul. Wonderful. But to think about that, even as you've kind of laid that out for us, uh, and really speaking about that in the middle act, the central act, act two, where it's almost it seems to me like the the thought of the whole is taking place in act two, right? Like memory is being made present, which is also what's going on in the entire musical. Memory of um the prefigurements of the Eucharistic gift are being made present in act one, but also made present again at the actual Last Supper, which is anticipating what is to come. And all that is to come is also a regathering of what has been.

SPEAKER_09 9:34

Yeah, that's right. Okay, I got it. Good job.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Yes, I got it. Well, thought it'd be fun. We talked about this a little bit, so you know, listeners will just be honest with you. This is not just happening organically that we are gonna say, well, let's listen to a few things. Um, we thought about this beforehand, but let's do that a little bit. Um maybe we'll we'll set our our ears and our attention into each act and get a little sample of one of these uh tracks, and if you can help us like to understand where we are, and then maybe we'll listen to it together and then uh unpack it a little if you can unpack it for us a little bit uh further there. So so let's start with act one. Act one is the root, as you said, or root. Sorry, not that I think we take out the definite article.

SPEAKER_09 10:15

I think we did because well, mostly because Questlove would probably be angry with us. I was literally thinking of Questlove because that's I mean, I'm almost always thinking of Questlove.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

So So, anyways, Act One root. Um, and as you shared with us already, this takes us through the experience of a Jewish family, right? And takes us through much of the recalling of the history of Israel relative to being fed. Yes. Great. Yeah. So we're gonna listen to um one particular uh selection of one particular track. And the track, I think, is called What Is It? Yes. Okay, so just give us enough so we know what we're listening to, then we'll listen into it, and then we come back and talk about it more.

SPEAKER_09 10:59

Okay, so this track actually opens with the family, the grandparents and the parents singing to the children um the decree that God gives to Moses um about the ri how the how the Israelites are supposed to receive this manna. So they kind of set up, they provide the context, right? They're they're um laying out the the law, right? Where you only gather one jar of bread per day, no less, no more, except for on the sixth day when you gather two days so that everybody can keep the Sabbath, right? So there's the context. And then there's just this kind of little um break in the music, and what we will hear will be the next moment, which is where the Israelites kind of wake up that the next morning and they discover something on the ground. Um, and there's a conversation that ensues between a couple of them, and then one by one, we hear them sort of trying and tasting the manna and their reactions to that.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

All right. Well, let's listen to this together and then we'll talk about it a little bit more.

SPEAKER_03 12:05

I have no idea. It's it's something. Try it. You try it. You'll eat anything. So what is it? It's it Yes?

SPEAKER_07 12:18

Hmm. It's sort of what? I mean it's good, but it's different. Try something.

SPEAKER_03 12:27

It looks a little bit like frosty little flakes.

SPEAKER_07 12:33

It tastes a little bit like honey flavored cake. Here.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

So this uh selection from this track, what is it? Take us through it a little bit, Carolyn.

SPEAKER_09 13:32

So the Israelites have woken up and they have discovered something on the ground, and no one is really quite sure what it is. And um, I love I love the opportunity to find any moments of comedy in the scriptures. Like, and I just I have four brothers, yes, and dudes eat anything. And so I thought it would be really funny to have one of the Israelite men try to kind of pawn off this first taste on one of the ladies when really, let's be real, it probably would have been the guys who are like, I'll try it. Yes. Um so you know, we have this little exchange between a couple of the Israelites, and then as I said, you know, one by one, as they try it, each of them has a different response, right? And um, no one can quite place what it tastes like. Um they have sort of, you know, culinary analogs that they're trying to place it on, and and it's just defying all of them. Um, and so, you know, in the lyrics, I really tried to be as faithful to the scriptures as I could. So the chorus comes in with this morning there was dewfall, and that's that image is taken directly out of the scriptures. And actually, it's picked up in the second Eucharistic prayer. Um if you listen, if you hear the second Eucharistic prayer at Mass, like that's another image from scripture that we hear. Um, so the spirit coming like the dewfall um to convect the Eucharist. Um, and it's just a really lovely, beautiful image. Um, and I like the idea of food and memory. Um, at one point somebody says it tastes more like a memory that's wandering around my head. And how many times do we associate food with memory, whether it's Christmas or Thanksgiving or Easter, there are always like traditional foods that are made at those times of year. And so I wanted this to be something in their discovery. There's something really childlike about it. And even the score itself, the music, um, has this sort of whimsical. This is by far like as Disney-esque as I got in this score. Like it's very much like Howard Ashman, Alan Mencken, and inspired.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Just imagine you in your longest flowing dress.

SPEAKER_09 15:44

I wish. That's that sounds awesome.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

That's not the creative process.

SPEAKER_09 15:47

Um, it's a little uglier than that, to be honest. It's more like me just trying not to critique myself into oblivion. Um, but yeah, it's it, I think the this the sound of the music and the um sort of fragmentary nature of the lyrics sort of reflect and embody this moment of discovery and this moment of wonder, and this moment of, I have no idea what this is. And the fun fact really is that the word manna means what is it? And so you're gonna hear that phrase like a lot of times in this. Um, so there's your little Taylor Swift Easter egg. Um, manna. The word itself means what is it? And that's where the song takes its name.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Well, and and that particular lyric, if I got it right, uh that you recalled for us, it tastes more like a memory. Is it swirling around my head?

SPEAKER_09 16:34

That's wandering around my head.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Wandering around my head. I mean, we think about that, and you you think about, you know, you you eat something and it reminds you of a previous time, but there's also in a very Augustinian sense, if we will, um, the memory, something that's like a memory of that which you've never actually experienced. And for Augustine in the Confessions, that memory is the memory of unending happiness. Or it's the he discovers it as the longing for unending happiness, of beatitude, which he's never none of us have actually ever tasted that because we've had moments of fleeting joy, of fleeting fulfillment, but not of permanent. And it points him towards, as he says, it points us all towards that which we're created for, which we long for. Um I think C.

SPEAKER_09 17:20

S. Lewis talks about something similarly in The Weight of Glory, right? Where we've heard about it. Augustine got it from Lewis. This is true. Where we hear C. S. Lewis talking about like a beautiful piece of music or a work of art that that calls forth a memory of a country that we've never visited. And what comes through it is longing. Yes. And so it's it it ties in so beautifully with what you've just described. Um, and I think, you know, as we imagine soon after this number happens, uh, there's a little boy in the family, and he he says, I wish we could have manna at the Passover. I want to know what it tasted like. And so like he's able to kind of tap into that longing. He's discovered it for himself. And and he he wishes that he could. But for you know, the Catholic Christian audience, like we we have the thing that we can taste. We can taste and see that the Lord is good. And we can do that every time we receive the Eucharist. And even when we receive the Eucharist, it does call forth a memory of a future, right? If you can call it that.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Um ordered to that full and unending.

SPEAKER_09 18:22

Exactly. The the beatific vision that we all long for. Um, and and the Eucharist is food that's meant to sustain us, but it's also food that's meant to engender a deeper hunger and a deeper longing for what awaits us.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Well, if that's what your most Disney-like number did. Let's go a little deeper.

SPEAKER_09 18:40

Hey, don't underestimate Disney. Let's bars on bars. They're so blunt. They're so blunt. They're so blind.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Absolutely. Great. So uh let's move from that then into act two. Act two, Vine. And remind us again, Vine is. Tell us.

SPEAKER_09 18:54

Vine is set during the Last Supper. And uh again, the apostles step out of the action and share a memory of a meal that they had with Jesus, and in their memory sharing, the meal comes, that story comes to life.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Very good. So we're gonna listen to uh a portion of this track, Christ, the providence of God. I think I recall where this takes place. This is uh where we're seeing Jesus, the good shepherd, and we can uh we like catch a glimpse of the way his heart is moved at the sight of the crowd. Yes. Right? Okay.

SPEAKER_09 19:22

Yeah. So the the vignette here, if you will, is the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. So Andrew the Apostle is the narrator here, and he's introduced us to this number. And this is a 12 and a half, I think, almost 12 and a half minute number. So we're not gonna listen to that.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

It's not getting played on the radio, Carolyn. It's not getting radio.

SPEAKER_09 19:41

So we're just gonna hear a short portion, but I think I wanted to offer listeners of this this podcast really a glimpse of um the inner life of Jesus, right? This is, I think, what the only track where we'll where we'll hear from Jesus. And um I love the the lines in scripture. It's it happens a couple of times where Jesus, his heart is moved with pity for the crowds because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And so what we will hear from Jesus is basically my own kind of reflection on that line of scripture and imagining what would have been going on in Jesus' heart. And at one point, it's I love Robert Michael Havard. He's the he's the young man who played Jesus, and he also played Moses in Act One because we believe in typological castings. We believe we're gonna be able to be able to do that. Yes. Um, and his voice here, first of all, his voice is just so versatile. Um, I love that it's a little raspy. It sounds like a cart carpenter would sound to me. Um, and in this particular clip, uh, there's there's speaking directly to the apostles. Um, he's trying to convince Andrew that he doesn't want to leave and you know, he wants the people to come to him. And he's also like introspective. So we can't really tell if he's singing to somebody or if this is his kind of interior monologue. And so uh the his performance just carries it so beautifully.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

So well, without any further ado, let's listen to this little clip of this track, Christ, the Providence of God from Act Two. Uh, sorry, Act Two, Vine.

SPEAKER_04 21:19

Master, a great crowd is approaching. Hundreds, maybe thousands. We need to get you out of here. Andrew. I can see them all. I can see them eat. I can see everything every Just look at them wandering like a flock of sheep without a shepherd to protect and to guide them. My work is to feed their hearts, and tend their needs, and my place is right beside them. Don't worry, Andrew.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

I know what I'm doing. Alright, that again is this track, Christ, The Providence of God from Act Two, Vine. What do you hear as you listen to this again, Carolyn? What comes out to you? What are you hearing?

SPEAKER_09 22:43

Um, this is actually one of my favorite moments, I think, in the entire show. If I'm allowed to have a favorite moment, which I like to think I am. Um again, a lot of it has, I I think almost all of it has to do with Robert Michael Havard's performance because he's just so warm and real and authentic. There's something very genuine about his voice and the way that he carries that warmth forth. Um I love the interaction between him and Andrew the Apostle, who's played by Peter Mueller, um, who's just an incredibly talented vocalist. I really lucked out with my cast. Like that's what this is reminding me of is how incredibly fortunate I was with this volunteer cast of performers. Like I'm just incredibly grateful for them. And and to be able to have this little moment between Jesus and one apostle, um, you know, Andrew is concerned for his friend, right? He sees that he's tired, he sees that people are coming by the thousands. And his concern is for the master and to protect him. But Jesus' concern is to protect and to guide the 5,000 people that are coming to him. And he says, My work is to feed their hearts and tend their needs, and my place is right beside them. And it harkens back to there are other passages, I think, in John's gospel in particular, where Jesus says that his food is to do the work of the one who sent him. Um and here we hear, my work is to feed their hearts. And so that image of food and work and will of God, they're all kind of integrated and intertwined in a way that's that I hope at least um invites a really fruitful reflection for the listeners and kind of creates a feast for the imagination.

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Really nice. You know, there's a couple of times now you've uh really drawn attention to the particular performers and your appreciation for their talent, but also the way in which they give life to what's there on the page. Because the musical is not yet there when it's just there on the page. Yeah, it's a recipe. Exactly. So I don't know, I guess like just stepping a s uh a level above this, uh what do you I mean you've you've spent a lot of time in your life with musicals, but here in this particular instance, to take scripture and to hand over um a work that you've assembled from scripture to a local cast, a local community where their own voices bring it to life, where basically scripture in some ways is being channeled through their bodies and being encountered in a new way. What does that mean to you? Not just to you as the I suppose partly you as the artist, but also you know, for you as the listener, for any of us as a listener.

SPEAKER_09 25:28

Yeah. So for me as a composer, like it it's so um there's a lot of symbiosis that happens um in this process. Um there are notes on the page that I wrote that are not recorded that way because a particular performer inflected what was on the page with his or her own like unique take on it, right? And so, you know, in the rehearsal process, there were some moments where I realized, oh, I actually should have written it that way. And so the next task actually is to go back to the score and update it and make sure that it matches what the recording is doing, because the ultimate hope is to make this available for high schools, for um, you know, dioceses with a theater ministry, because it's pitched at a level where people can learn this and perform it. As I said, my cast was all volunteers. Some of them had never done a show before. Um, some of them just loved singing and they loved Jesus and they wanted to be a part of this. And so to be able to bring that group of people together and then, as you say, hand this thing over to them, um, it's it's a great act of trust, but it's mutual trust, right? Where they are trusting me to help guide them in the learning process and to to really steer them in their performance. But then they're asking me to trust them so that they can make it their own, right? And there's something really special that happens in that kind of collaboration. And there are moments now where I look at them on the page and I can hear the person who sang it and I can hear the person who brought that character to life as the original performer of that particular role. Um, and so what they've given me really in the end is an incredible gift. Um, because when I hear those passages, for example, at Mass now, um, you know, it's funny, after the show premiered, just because of the way the lectionary cycle worked, the bread of life discourse came up in the lectionary like a month later. And in Act Three, Jesus sings the entire Bread of Life discourse. It's like another 12-minute extravaganza. But everything he sings is straight out of the Gospel of John. And props to Ignatius Press for giving us permission to use their translation of the scriptures. But um, every time, you know, every time one of these stories comes up in the lectionary, inevitably one of my cast members will text me and be like, Oh, we heard the wedding at Cana, or they'll text me like a really obscure line from that number. And it's just, it just shows me how how deeply they took it to heart. Um, so many of them shared with me after the premiere that um participating in the show was like a three-month Lexio Divina experience because it invited them to dive more deeply into the scriptures than they ever have before. Um, and so it's deeply humbling, but it's also gratifying because you know, the moments that land the best are the ones where I went back to the scripture and it's not me at all. Um, and I think that's that was important for me to remember as a composer. Anytime I got stuck, I would just go back to the word. And that's where the solution always presented itself. So I'm hopeful, you know, that as we share this more broadly, that it's going, you know, we're gonna post the lyrics um on our website when they're ready. I have to finish preparing them. But but the lyrics have um, you know, you'll you'll know who's saying what. All of the dialogue will be there, everything that's on the recording will be in these lyric documents. And then there will be a little sidebar. So if something is taken directly from the scriptures, I'm gonna put a footnote and it will lead you to the pericope, the the scripture passage. So it'll identify for you precisely where you can find that in your Bible. And we're also gonna include like little basic instructions on how to pray, use like with Lexio Divina, so that people can actually pray, hopefully, with this show and encounter the scriptures that way.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Fantastic. So good. So you just gave us so much. Like there's no, I mean, it's it's so much in such a good way. And also you've made a lot of uh pledges now that are being recorded and you sent out there that this is actually a good way to make a to-do list. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 29:44

I'm almost done with act two. Like so it's it's it's in progress.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

No, I mean, I'm I'm a lot more cautious with my to-do list. They're on a little post-it note on my uh on my desk.

SPEAKER_09 29:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

Um you're being recorded. Yes. And you've just said these things will be available. So we look forward to them. Yeah, very good. I look forward to offering them, actually. Yeah, that's great. Um But you know, your point about the Lexio Divino, like and just to think about the different levels of this, that um the performers themselves who were who are rehearsing this, who are taking on the personas as they interpreted them of the various figures from scripture, they themselves are being drawn into a deeper contemplation of the mysteries of scripture in and through these access points. The access points of this figure, the access point of this uh event, this pericopy, this mystery, as it's connected to that one. And especially, I imagine, those who were shuttling between, as they all were, uh different um periods of scripture.

SPEAKER_09 30:39

And different characters. Different characters. Like there were uh several of my cast members who played five or six different characters. We had a 27-person cast, and there are a lot of people in the show. So so you go from playing an apostle to playing like a head Pharisee who is railing against Zacchaeus, and you you start to get like a sense of oh, I actually understand this person, the head Pharisee, maybe a little bit better than I wanted to admit. And maybe I'm struggling to understand the apostle who's in closer relationship with Jesus than I might be, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Kind of like an exploration of the human soul, almost like to take it.

SPEAKER_09 31:13

I mean, that's what great art does, yeah. Like that's what great art does.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Well, to move between those those sort of boundary figures or the different areas of is also some ways to explore the mystery of yourself in relation to God. Yeah, absolutely. Um fantastic. And that comes for, you know, those who are performing. And as you said, the the next horizon here is to make this available to those who could take it on locally or perform it. So performers locally could have that experience. But the other thing you were saying, just to make sure that like we're all recognizing this, is that that is not only limited to those who perform this on stage. In fact, like the work that you and your team are doing to kind of map from the musical back to scripture with the guidance of how to take this on as a sort of Lexio Divina means that in from one's own listening into one's own prayerful encounter with scripture, you make the same kind of journey and the same kind of like imaginative stretch with scripture to put yourself not just in the place of those who are there, but to see Christ from there, to enter into his words more deeply there. Yeah. Um, you know, in another register, you you see this as Ignatius' guidance uh for exercitants and how they uh move from mystery to mystery with the Lord and then have colloquy with him. Yeah, you know, so really great.

SPEAKER_05 32:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

All right. Well, with that, let's come to our last bit here uh taken from act three. Act three is branches, and we're going to land on the track communion. This is towards the end, middle. Toward the end. Toward the end, end.

SPEAKER_09 32:45

Yeah. The cast, I don't know if I can say this. Feel free to edit this out. No, say it. Okay. So there was like the last three numbers of the entire show, the last three numbers of act three, this was the territory that my cast started referring to as the bangers only section.

SPEAKER_06 32:58

It's just good. Just good.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Okay. So this is the beginning of that. So this is communion, and this is, if you'll remember from uh the description earlier, act three branches. This is Paul comes to Corinth. He's being hosted by Priscilla and Aquila. And in this case, he's contemplating, Paul is, um, and the Corinthians are contemplating the mystery of communion and the call contained within that guest.

SPEAKER_05 33:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

So let's listen to this little segment from the track communion, and then we'll talk about it a little bit more. Carolyn, tell us a little bit about what we've just heard there.

SPEAKER_09 35:09

So you've just heard the Corinthian Christians um marveling really at the fact that Christ is dwelling within them, right? Body, blood, soul, and divinity. They have just received Jesus in the Eucharist. And it's almost like they can't believe it. It's the they've just received the greatest gift that any person could ever possibly receive, right? And and the reaction to that is I want to love like him. Like I want to love like the one that I've just received, and I want to share the love that he's given me so that everyone around me can have this too. It's not a gift that they want to hoard for themselves. The immediate impulse is to share it. And so, Paul, who is the soloist that you hear, um, performed by Father Gabriel Griggs, who's actually a Holy Cross priest, Father Gabe, great voice, also.

SPEAKER_08 36:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 36:00

Um, so he really starts tapping into Paul's Eucharistic theology, you know, through the gift of his body broken, through the gift of his blood outpoured, we receive the gift of communion. We are all made one in the Lord. And as he's singing that, the Corinthians are echoing, Jesus lives in me. Right. And so then we move into the final chorus, um, and they they say, you know, now I can see that the one who gave his body and blood for me is the one I'm called to be. And it's actually the Eucharist, and of course, you know, through the gifts that we receive in baptism, and of course, culminating in the Eucharist that that capacitate us to do that, right? They they free us to do that. And then the whole, the chorus always ends with Galatians 2.20, for I know that I live no longer I, but Jesus lives in me. Um, and for the careful listener, there's a little musical tag at the end. Um and that little musical tag actually happens, uh, we hear it first in Act 2, um, because it's fun to have callbacks to things that we've heard previously. But that little tag is actually the final phrase of the Adoro Te devote chant, um, which is sometimes translated as Godhead here in hiding. So Adorote Devote is a Latin hymn written by Thomas Aquinas for the Feast of Corpus Christi. Um and actually, this entire song, um, the whole verse melody is based on that chant. So if you kind of sing along in your head the Adorote Devote chant, um, it will sort of map on to the melodic content of this particular song.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

So we're it's just a It's so blend. It is. This is blending. That's blend.

SPEAKER_09 37:44

That's right. Yeah.

unknown 37:46

That's so good.

SPEAKER_01 37:47

Well, and you know, what you were um bringing forth from this there for us there to help us to recognize what's taking place, that the Corinthians are rejoicing in this great gift of Christ living in them. But the response to that joy at reception is the willingness to imitate, to become for others what he is for them. And it reminds me so back in a theological register, um Henri de Lubac in his great work Catholicism, um pointing out to us in the modern era what has been lost in our understanding of the Eucharist that was so present in the earlier eras, in the earlier church, which are the three senses or dimensions of the Eucharist. Um the Sacramentum Tatum, the sign itself, which is bread and wine. Bread and wine is the right and fitting sign and it's only sign. It points to the reality to come. The sacramentum adres, the sign and the reality, which is the body and blood of Christ. Right. He is the reality itself of the Father's love poured into the world, made present for us, but he's also a sign. He points to the Father's love that is now made present. But then the sense that is lost, the dimension that's lost, that's been atrophied that De Lubach makes this case from the early church to now, especially, is the res tantum, that is the fruit or the reality itself. And the fruit or the reality itself is the response to the reality of peace, of unity, of charity, which is that gift of Christ, of the Father's Lord love poured out into the world that truly takes flesh, takes root, if you will, in us.

SPEAKER_09 39:20

And blossoms forth. And blossoms forth. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

So there um, you know, I mean, the musical is not so crass to to have this kind of explanation, but it gives us, right? It gives us the um the experience, the the aural experience, the musical experience of that kind of uh transition or translation from reception to rejoicing to further giving to the response, if you will.

SPEAKER_09 39:46

Yeah. And actually, um, so the very next number that follows up on this, you know, we just keep ratcheting up with the is called Be the Light.

SPEAKER_06 39:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 39:55

And uh for those 1300 of you who are in the theater, you might remember that this was the number where we had little candles, like little flameless candles that were distributed to everybody in the audience. And a s at a so at a certain point, this number became like a kind of lutrinarium because the Corinthians went from the stage out into the house to literally share the light that they had received with an audience member. And so it filled the whole theater with this beautiful glowing light. And it was just really, it was. I actually played the show. I was on the stage with my performers. Um, I was at the piano, um, supporting them every single note, every step of the way. And the piano was on the stage, it was at the back of the stage.

SPEAKER_08 40:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 40:40

And so I was able actually to like look out from my perspective on at the back of the stage and see the house just filled with the candles. And it was, it's one of my favorite memories, actually, from the performance. And um yeah, it's, you know, people still ask if I have all, you know, I have tons of candles left over. So if you're in South Bend and your candle burned out, come see me. I have more. That's good. Um, but it's, you know, it's all meant to invite people into a contemplation of what you've said, the reality. Like the reality that we celebrate is so much richer than than we could even conceive of. And and this show is just one way to contemplate it, right? It's not, it's not the definitive way to contemplate the Eucharist. And no, no work of art ever will be. And that's also really exciting. Like, I hope actually that this inspires some other composer to like take up this subject matter in a way that helps us contemplate it in a different way.

SPEAKER_01 41:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 41:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:40

Somebody else will write the Song of Songs. That's right. The musical.

SPEAKER_09 41:44

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Actually, that would be amazing. Um, that would be amazing. Uh the next one I want to write is it? Um, Ruth and Naomi.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Because I know.

SPEAKER_09 41:54

Part three, not wicked.

SPEAKER_06 41:57

Just kidding.

SPEAKER_09 41:58

No, because I love the idea of first of all, sometimes it's hard to feature women when you're, you know, setting scriptural material. Like I had to find 14 dudes to be in my cast, which is like hard.

SPEAKER_03 42:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 42:09

Because usually it's the ladies that want to be in the musicals.

SPEAKER_03 42:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_09 42:12

And so to have a scriptural narrative where it's an older woman and a younger woman, like I love the intergenerationality of it. Like, there's just a lot to love.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

So that's that's a good on the horizon. This is now on your podcast to-do list. I've said it. So it's gonna happen now. We look forward to that. Yes, great. Thank you so much. All right, Carolyn, this has been so awesome and so so grateful for you uh not only for creating this work, but for sharing little bits of this with us so we can listen along through this podcast. Good news for everyone out there is that this entire work is now available. We're going to, in our show notes, link to the show page. And the reason we're linking to that is because when you go to the show page, you will find all the resources for this musical, including where you can download it, which is basically everywhere that you would normally download uh music. Um, but it's all collected together on the show page. But it'll also be your landing page, the central hub for all these other resources that Carolyn was talking about, um, the lyrics, which will be made available there, some of these further prayer resources, like to guide into Lexio Divina. Eventually that'll be the place perhaps where uh those who want to take this musical into their own community and begin to practice it and perform it, you'll be able to find everything there. So we will link in the show notes to this episode. So when you move from listening to a place where you can look, you can look at the show notes, click on the link, you'll go to the show page for uh Behold God's Love, this new musical that's made available to you. And uh we'll also link to some other resources that are related to this in the show notes. Do I get it all, Carolyn? I think so. I think we're in good shape. All right. Well, Carolyn, thanks so much. Thank you. And thanks, as always, to all of you for joining us on Church Life today.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

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