The story is told of a little boy whose mother took him to a Paderewski concert. He slipped away, made his way to the platform, sat at the piano and began to play 鈥淭winkle, Twinkle, Little Star.鈥� When Paderewski saw this he went to the piano and whispered to him, 鈥淜eep going. Don鈥檛 quit, son. Keep playing.鈥�
Then Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began to fill in the bass part. Then with his right arm around the little boy, he added a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice held the crowd mesmerized.
Whenever we attempt something in God鈥檚 name, God comes along beside us, sits down next to us, and whispers in our ear, 鈥淒on鈥檛 quit; keep playing.鈥� Then, with His subtle guidance and able assistance, we suddenly find ourselves making beautiful music both with and for God, and enriching the lives of ourselves and of others as we glorify God.
鈥淚 can do everything through Him who gives me strength鈥� (Phil. 4:13).
In a homily 鈥淓very Soul is kissed by God鈥� Brendan McGuire refers to the tradition in the Catholic Church that when a person is created, God kisses his or her soul and then sends him or her forth into the world. 鈥淓ver since that kiss,鈥� he says, 鈥渨e yearn for another kiss from God. We can never unlearn it.鈥�
That restless yearning is described by St. Augustine: 鈥淥ur soul is restless until it rests in you.鈥�
Theologian Father Ron Rolheiser puts it this way: we have a holy longing within us; we are never, ever complete until we are in the presence of God, and everything we do is an appeasement of that longing.鈥�
McGuire suggests how we will find our way back to God鈥檚 presence, and that is through God鈥檚 gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the ultimate GPS that will guide us right back to the Lord. Then our mission is to share that gift, and the joy with others. But we have to find a way to listen to the Holy Spirit.
It is not always easy to respond to God鈥檚 call or even to discern it, but we need to go on doing what we are doing with faith that God will use our little effort and multiply it.
鈥淔aith is one foot on the ground, one foot in the air and a queasy feeling in the stomach鈥� --- Mother Angelica.
I have been fortunate in my pursuit of spiritual writing, and I use this to illustrate how God can work through us. After writing over 1,000 articles I still am amazed at how those words reach into little corners to someone who needs to hear them.
As we use our gifts, in our clumsy human way, we should listen for God鈥檚 whisper, 鈥淜eep playing,鈥� as God adds the accompaniment to our symphony of life.
