Strings of Life through Sisters of Mary

One cold January morning while the White House was filled with police, I decided it was a mighty fine day to head out to the country and bring home a violin. Having lived in Italy and fallen in love with the birth city of the violin, Cremona, this was bound to eventually happen. 

A broken beyond repair violin I was given for free. I put some lace on it from Cremona, Italy, and let it become art.

I met a lovely woman outside of her cottage in the country who loved her instrument but could no longer play,  however with hands gnarled with arthritis she lovingly played one tune for me to hear what the violin could sound like. Out came "Joyful joyful we adore Thee" by Ludwig van Beethoven and I knew I was listening to my new violin. We need joy and we can only have joy when we adore Him, our Father.

There she is!

Each evening around 6 PM I've headed down to the basement, far from the ears of anyone who might not appreciate my learning curve, and I play my violin for about an hour or so. I've learned the four main strings are G, D, A and E. I'm taking lessons on YouTube with Allison Sparrow. So far, so good. My favorite tip from her is "The more you practice the better you get, the better you get the more you want to practice etc. The less you practice, the worse you sound. The worse you sound, the less you want to practice and you never get better."

Figuring out what's what.

I've learned to bow straight and that using my pinky finger is really hard! I have learned that my fingernails will need to stay short if I want to be a violinist.

Fretless fingers chart is helping me learn.

I just figured out what to do with my thumb. It needs to be low and give my fingers plenty of space to fly!

 On Easter I donned a formal dress, and put on a concert for my family with  "Twinkle twinkle little star" and "Amazing grace". They loved it. I am currently practicing music for a Mother's Day concert, in honor of Our Lady and the women of my family. I am learning one piece for each of them. 

O Sanctissima

Salve Regina

One thought that crossed my mind a few times was "Why play the violin when there are more important things to do?" Yes, those more important things that keep us from knowing our true self if we don't manage a balance in life... Laundry and a clean house are important, but if we use time carefully we can manage to complete our "to-do" list and unpack our gifts from God. You see, God created us with gifts within us that can only flourish if we are aware that they are there, and accept them with joy. Am I an accomplished violinist? No, but I realize that playing the violin is a joy that God gave me the ability to have. Even a form of prayer at times. Currently learning an Irish tune called Mom's Jig by Jerry Holland has lifted my soul in prayer so many times. It's such a good tune, listen to it here.

Realizing our image of Christ and our gifts that we are given from birth is something the children at World Villages would struggle to have with out their school.

Leo, as a baby was orphaned. He had no mother to care for him, no father to protect him. 

As an adorable baby, he found himself surrounded by sweet nuns who raised him as their son. 

"Sisters must always be seen by their children."

Father Al who founded World Villages, saved thousands of children, like Leo, from living in debilitating poverty or in the streets.

The source of Sisters faith, hope and love is Jesus.

They saw Leo's heart and helped him as a mother would: listening to him, cooking for him, taking care of him when he was sick and helping him develop his natural talents. Each night at 7 PM they would pray the rosary with him and all of their children. Leo got to know his true Father, the one that created him. With a new family, love and stability Leo began to know his talents, one of them being playing the cello.

Leo

He graduated and proceeded onto play as a professional cellist for a classical orchestra in Germany. His mentor being no other than Yo Yo Ma.

Yo yo Ma. I wish he could teach me how to strengthen my pinky finger to play better.

 In this podcast, Leo shares his music and his story of how his music brought him back to his Father. He saw in himself the image of his Father more clearly and that being on a world stage was little in comparison to being in the presence of God in a small, quiet chapel at 4 AM. He felt the divine will of God speak to his heart, through moments with his cello and responded to that call by returning to the source of the mystery.

I often wonder how many young people, also older folks, can't hear the call of God in their hearts because of the noise of their own inner voice, noise of society, noise of the TV and noise we think we can't live without. Also, how many children because of their dire circumstances will never see their full potential, or their true self. The famine of poverty will devour in a sense the image and ability to know they even have gifts from the Father. Leo, for example, would have never even touched a cello had he not been adopted by the Sisters of Mary. Who would have told him of his true parents: Our Lady as mother and God the Father as his true father, had he not been adopted by the Sisters of Mary or Mariaweh in Korean? 

Sister of Mary hugging a new son. Her first question, "How do you feel?" like a good mom

One of the first Sisters of Mary, saying "yes" to every child given to her care. 

This podcast is so beautiful because it shows how the utter selfless love of the Sisters of Mary, who have nothing personal to gain from raising children, are able to fill the vessel of each child in their care. They teach them to love God and others and in turn, the children see their dignity, are given the opportunity to unfold and use many gifts like learning the cello, and can grow as healthy adults who are aware of how loved they are. So much pain in the world comes from us not knowing who loves us and who wants us to love them back. 

I'm incredibly grateful to Mariaweh, the Sisters of Mary, for their abundance of maternal love to hundreds of thousands of children they have raised. 

 Today Father Dan and Kevin Wells surprised the podcast viewers with having a sit-down podcast in Mexico City. My favorite part was seeing the 3,500 girls behind them as they started their talk. I wonder what gifts our loving Father will unpack for each girl as they are given opportunities to see who they really are: a child of God. 

How many people could we give life to if we said yes to God and let Him guide our gifts and will? If you would like to sponsor a Sister of Mary, and the 50 children each have in their family, click here: https://www.worldvillages.org/sponsor-a-sister/

Enjoy today's podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_nl1IGisUs