Columnists Mark my words

What would you like to teach the world?

Father Mark Goldasich is the pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Tonganoxie. He has been editor of the Leaven since 1989.

by Father Mark Goldasich

I was raised on music.

I remember my mom and dad harmonizing to Croatian songs in the kitchen. Dad making me laugh with ridiculous songs he’d make up. Mom wrapping Christmas gifts in the basement singing along to carols on 78 rpm records spinning on a tiny player.

Later, when we got a stereo, I was treated to a variety of LPs from Dolly Parton to the Mitch Miller Orchestra to Myron Floren. Pretty soon, I was a member of the Columbia House Record Club, clutching my 13 records or tapes for just $1!

The older I grew, the more music moved me . . . literally. I can’t recall not heading out on the dance floor at a wedding reception to do a polka or kolo, a Slavic circular line dance.

While in school, I moved from listening and dancing to music to learning to play. It started with the Flutophone, progressed to a tabletop Magnus Electric Chord Organ, morphed into a short (and disastrous) experiment with a trumpet, then settled into a long-term infatuation with a prim, the smallest instrument in the tamburitza family, that I played for eight years with the St. John’s Catholic Club Tamburitzans. At present, I’m failing miserably — but still trying — to master a ukelele.

One of my favorite stories of the late archdiocesan priest Father Ed Hays is “Hanna’s Harmonica,” found in his book “The Ethiopian Tattoo Shop.” The story revolves around Hanna, “a heavy-set, middle-aged, Black woman,” a member of St. Stephen’s Abyssinian Baptist Church.

In this delightful tale, God the Father speaks to Hanna, drawn by her harmonica music that touches his heart. When Hanna expresses amazement, God explains, “Laughter and music are the language of heaven — they’re MY sounds. All music is sacred, not simply churchy music, all of it: rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country, classical, jazz and ragtime. . . .

“Music is harmony, and whenever you play it or really listen to it you proclaim the mystery of my being. . . . Music is a way of return. Whenever you play music, or truly listen to it, you are in Me and I am in you.”

In this Jubilee Year 2025, music is one of the things that brings me great hope. Music is a universal language that levels the barriers that separate us. When I get saddened by the polarization in the world, I head to videos produced by Playing for Change, called “Songs Around the World.” They feature a “virtual journey around the globe” where musicians come together to perform a particular song. (These videos remind me of events like Live Aid in 1985 that united a slew of bands and musicians to raise money for famine relief.)

Just for the heck of it, I wondered if there was an official hymn for the Jubilee Year. I Googled “Jubilee 2025 song” and, to my astonishment, there is one, and part of its refrain in English echoes this column: “Like a flame, my hope is burning; may my song arise to you.” Listen to it online or even download the musical score.

And here I was just going to recommend that you go back to 1971and sing The New Seekers’ song: “I’d like to teach the world to sing/ In perfect harmony/ I’d like to hold it in my arms /And keep it company./I’d like to see the world for once/ All standing hand in hand/ And hear them echo through the hills/ For peace throughout the land.”

C’mon now, don’t be shy, one more time, with feeling and commitment: “I’d like to teach . . .”

About the author

Fr. Mark Goldasich

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