Hearing secular songs with a Eucharistic Ear: “To Make You Feel My Love” edition

We all could use a pick-me-up, and something to pull us back to THE ONE that is the true center of everything, and that we are fighting for.

I’ve been doing posts about hearing pop-secular songs with a Eucharistic Ear for over a decade now.  Good love songs can be heard either as God singing to mankind, or mankind singing to God.

Do these songs have any place in liturgy?  ABSOLUTELY NOT.  But they can be a consolation while driving, working, exercising, whatever.

Today we will look at “To Make You Feel My Love”, written by, of all people, Bob Dylan, and performed here by Garth Brooks.  I am NOT a Garth Brooks fan at all, but props must be given – Brooks’ cover of this song is the best version.

Below is a video of the song. Just focus on the lyrics, which I have augmented in red with the Eucharistic motifs and concepts.  Our Lord is singing this to you.  Enjoy.

https://youtu.be/vqRH6HVOcBY


When the rain’s blowin’ in your face (“And when they were sailing, He slept; and there came down a storm of wind upon the lake, and they were filled, and were in danger. And they came and awaked Him, saying: Master, we perish. But He arising, rebuked the wind and the rage of the water; and it ceased, and there was a calm.” Luke 8: 23-24)

And the whole world is on your case (“And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution.” 2 Timothy 3:12)

I would offer you a warm embrace (The Sacrament of Confession; Spiritual or Sacramental Holy Communion)

To make you feel My Love (The Beatific Vision – it is why He made you, and what your entire life on earth is driving toward)

When the evening shadows and the stars appear (“The moon and the stars to rule the night: for His mercy endureth for ever.” Psalm 135: 9)

And there is no one to dry your tears (“In thy sight are all they that afflict me; my heart hath expected reproach and misery. And I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was none: and for one that would comfort me, and I found none.” Psalm 68: 21)

I could hold you for a million years (“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5: 5)

To make you feel My Love (The Beatific Vision – it is why He made you, and what your entire life on earth is driving toward)

I know you haven’t made your mind up yet (Love, even of Infinite Love Himself, can only be freely chosen by us)

But I would never do you wrong (Christ is INFINITELY GOOD, INFINITELY FAITHFUL and can neither DECEIVE nor be deceived. He will NEVER abandon us, nor break His promises. EVER.)

I’ve known it from the moment that we met (Christ has known that you would exist for all eternity, and by your baptism the estrangement caused by The Fall and Original Sin was eliminated)

There’s no doubt in My Mind where you belong (We exist to know, love and serve Him in this world, and be happy with Him forever in the next)

I’d go hungry (His 40 days in the desert),
I’d go black and blue (His scourging at the Pillar. “But He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed.” Isaiah 53: 5)

I’d go crawling down the avenue (Carrying His Cross to Calvary, falling beneath it thrice)

There ain’t nothing that I wouldn’t do (His death on the Cross)

To make you feel My Love (The Beatific Vision – it is why He made you, and what your entire life on earth is driving toward)

Storms are raging on a rolling sea (The Freemasonic-Communist infiltration, Vatican II, The Bergoglian Antipapacy, etc.  “I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts, different one from another, came up out of the sea.” Daniel 7: 2-3)

Down the highway of regret (“For the sorrow that is according to God worketh penance, steadfast unto salvation; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” 2 Corinthians 7:10)

Winds of change are blowing wild and free, yeah huh (Did I mention the Bergoglian Antipapacy?)

But you ain’t seen nothing like Me yet (His Sacred Heart WILL TRIUMPH through her Immaculate Heart. The theological virtue of Hope.)

There ain’t nothing that I wouldn’t do (Incarnate, suffer, die, rise from the dead, ascend, send the Holy Ghost, build His Holy Church)

Go to the ends of the earth for you (He is reposed in every Tabernacle, and comes down upon the altar at every valid Mass)

Make you happy, make your dreams come true (“But, as it is written: That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9)

To make you feel My Love (The Beatific Vision – it is why He made you, and what your entire life on earth is driving toward)

Easter Morning Sunrise Cocktail: The Cimabue

Breakfast of champions, right here. A glorious pick-me-up, and for those who might have had gin after the Vigil, a bit of the hair of the dog. (I did not – I had bubbly 🍾🥂)

And yes, we heard ALL. TWELVE. PROPHECIES. last night. It was… glorious.

Happy Easter! Christ is truly risen!!!!!!

The Cimabue:

Juice of a red grapefruit or blood orange, freshly squeezed

Stout Splash of Cointreau or Grand Marnier

Top with any bubbly white or rosé: Prosecco, Franciacorta (Italian Champagne) or Champagne

And here’s the non-negotiable kicker:

Finish with SALT, preferably freshly ground.

The salt gives it not only incredible flavor, but needful electrolytes.

Remember, this is called the “Cimabue” (CHEE-ma-BOO-ay).

I have served it in Champagne coupes, martini glasses and large flutes. Even a large format red glass with a stem would work well. And don’t forget the SALT!!!

The Overshadowing Shoulders of the Resurrection

The Resurrection, Francesco Buoneri (

The Resurrection, Francesco Buoneri (“Cecco del Caravaggio”), ARSH 1619-1620, Art Institute of Chicago.

This is my favorite image of the Resurrection.  I have seen it in person as it is now housed in the Art Institute of Chicago.  If you get the chance to see it, do.  The overshadowing strength and virility of Our Risen Lord is indeed breathtaking as you stand before this enormous canvas.  Remember the “overshadowing shoulders” discussion?  That was in the context of the Crucifixion.  Now here are OVERSHADOWING SHOULDERS in the context of the Resurrection – full circle.

But what is equally striking about this image as you stand before it is the angel.  He is pointing upwards, but looking straight out at the viewer, and let me tell you, when you are standing in front of it, it feels like that angel is looking at your very soul.  His piercing yet benevolent gaze makes you blush.

And now what has become one of my very favorite pieces of music, good ol’ Cherubic Hymn No. 7.  The words are sublime (even if the translation is a bit of a fudge), paired with sublime polyphony.  

Happy Easter to one and all.  Christ is truly risen!  Yay!

Come, let us cast off all earthly care
And forget every vain employ
For the King of All comes in triumph
By unseen hosts of angels brought
To us that bid Him welcome
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Nostalgia for times past…

Antipope Bergoglio declared Thursday at the Chrism Mass he polluted with his presence that “nostalgia for times past” is a “sin against the Holy Spirit.”

And since the Antipope and very possibly False Prophet Forerunner of the Antichrist is the poster child for error, inversion and lies, let us engage in some nostalgia. I give you the skyline of Manhattan, Easter, ARSH 1958. The three crosses of Calvary.

If New York survives, hopefully we can live to see the day when things like this are done again.

Today is Good Friday and able-bodied adults SHOULD EAT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and take only zero-caloric liquid.

He was scourged until skinned, severely enough to kill any other man, then marched several kilometers carrying a huge piece of wood, then crucified while already in shock, and then hung asphyxiating for three hours, in your place, out of completely gratuitous love for you, personally.

How about, just for today, not eating? Out of penance, and respect for Our dying Lord and Savior. Just drink water. Zero food. I promise you won’t die. Jesus died. But you won’t, because not eating for 24 hours isn’t exactly being scourged and crucified.

The traditional fasting discipline for Good Friday (and Ash Wednesday) is a total Fast from food, that is for able-bodied adults to eat absolutely nothing. Nothing.

Something beautiful… and heartbreaking.

Here is a picture of the Palm Sunday Procession of the St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Philadelphia in ARSH 1958.

Every layman in this picture is black. St. Charles Borromeo was, at that time, in a black neighborhood. For those who know Philly, it’s at 20th and Christian on the South Side.

THIS is what black inner-city Philly was like in ARSH 1958.

The world today is so fallen, so impoverished, that if any one of us were to be transported there, for just a few hours, we would think that we had experienced a foretaste of heaven. There is nowhere left on this planet today that has 1% of the class and Christian civility that you see in this picture of inner-city Philadelphia, sixty-five years and five days ago. Look at how the people are dressed, and how the lad servers are comported. Consider how within seven years, LBJ’s Great Society was at full war against American blacks, in twelve years, it was all gone, and within fifty years… well. Some things are so foul and reprehensible that they can hardly be discussed, and the Rap/HipHop anti-culture is near the top of that list.

Never before in postdiluvian human history has so much been lost so fast.

Stickypost —— Mazza Spring Minicourse! Russia & Mary: War & Peace

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Immaculate Heart of Mary, World War III, Ukraine, China, Fatima, the Catholic Church, Russian Orthodoxy,  Putin, Solzhenitsyn, KGB, Lenin, Stalin, Dostoevsky, Tsar Nicholas II, Napoleon, Peter the Great, Ivan the Terrible, Andre Rublev, Archbishop Sheen, and more!

Mini Course: Sundays April 16, 23, 30, May 7

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Palm Sunday and Fear of the Lord

Christ’s Entry Into Jerusalem, Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin, ARSH 1842-48, Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris

Zoom in on this fresco of Christ entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  Look at the faces.  Look at the people in the crowd.  Look at the slack-jawed awe, and for some of them, fear – for example the man whose head is immediately to the right of the she-ass’ forehead – that dude is SCARED. And so should we all be.

So. Should. We. All. Be.

For the Lord is high, terrible: a great king over all the earth.
Quoniam Dominus excelsus, terribilis, rex magnus super omnem terram.

-Psalm 46: 3