“May theskdjhfh of hope fill you with all joy and peace in your faith, so that in the power of the Holy Spirit you may be rich in hope.” – Romans 15:13
I once heard a story of a sixteen-year old teenage woman name Andrea who contacted stomach cancer. She could not keep any food down and was felt strong pain in her stomach area. At first the doctors dismissed it as a stomach flu and gave her medicine to treat it. But it only grew worse quickly. So her parents took her again to see the doctor. This time they did a lot of tests and found she had a very advance stage of what would be cancer. She and her parents were told that she had to enter a special hospital for a few months so they could give her chemo in hopes they could save her life.
So in June of 2004 she entered the hospital to start her treatment. At first she was optimistic – as she usually is – but as the treatment was both painful and humiliating (she started to lose her hair and her eyes deep red) Andrea started to consider strongly that she rather die than continue. She voiced her wish to her parents who quickly asked their parish priest if he could come and talk to their daughter.
Fr. Alan, who knew Andrea and her family well asked them why Andrea was not practicing her vocal skills and her guitar. Andrea was a very talented musician. He explained that sometimes the devil uses our lowest points to destroy our hope and our confidence. He also stressed to both Andrea and her parents that God had abandoned them –that he was right there with them. He could not tell them why God was allowing this – yet he knew for sure with God that only good will come out of this.
Andrea asked him, “Father, what is the point of practicing my guitar or even singing when I could die tomorrow?!” And jokingly he replied, “So you can out master the angels praising God in Heaven!” Andrea only seem to grow more upset – she was not ready for that yet. So he sat on her hospital bed, took her hands, and said to her, “Daughter, right now more than ever you need to pray! Know deep in your heart that God loves you.” Tears rolled down her face. He continued, “Did you know that St. Augustine once said, ‘He who sings prays twice!’ Since you are a musician – pray twice. Also, another friend of mine who is also a priest (and an exorcist – one who drives out demons) once shared with me that when one sings to God the devil cannot see them. So if you are singing to God, the devil will stop tempting you to give up. Don’t give up! Yes, this is a scary time but it is still a time of great hope. So sing daughter! Practice your music. Use this time of trial as a time of great joy and great confidence.”
Andrea did as Fr. Alan had suggested and was cancer free just one month later. She would say it was the music that God used to heal her. Now Andrea teaches music in a Catholic elementary school and volunteers at St. Jude’s hospital to help other young kids and teenagers with their illnesses by teaching them music.
I have come to learn that when I am full of sadness or overburden with the world – singing a song or listening to a beautiful piece of music soothes my soul. Music can powerfully bring me back to the one who loves me, the Master of all music. As long as I have breath in this life I will always seek to give praise to God with my song!