Swedish House Mafia is a former DJ group. (They have since broken up.) One of their songs is, “Don’t You Worry Child”. I would like to share some lines from the first part of the song.
There was a time I used to look into my father’s eyes.
In a happy home; I was a king, I had a golden throne.
Those days are gone, now just memories on the wall.
I hear the songs from the place where I was born.
Upon a hill, across a blue lake, that’s where I had my first heartbreak.
I still remember how it all changed.
My father said, “Don’t you worry child. See, heaven’s got a plan for you. Don’t you worry now.”
Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of All Saints – the feast of the men and women of heroic virtue and faith throughout the centuries who witnessed to Christ – both those publicly known and proclaimed by the Church and those who are known to God alone. The saints, through their encounter with Christ, allowed their lives to be transformed and, I would say, they came to realize a deeper meaning to the words of the song quoted above. The saints came to know the truth of where we have come from and what we are meant for.
“There was a time I used to look into my father’s eyes.” There was a time we lived in relationship with God, we looked into God’s eyes – in a home, we were “kings on a throne” – beloved. But, something happened – pride grew, we turned away, there was sin. “Those days are gone, now just memories on the wall”. There is heartbreak. It has all changed. Yet, even in the heartbreak we know in the deepest part of who we are that it is not right, we are meant for something more. “I hear the songs from the place where I was born.” On our own we are lost and left yearning for what we once knew. But God comes to us. “My father said, “Don’t you worry child. See, heaven’s got a plan for you. Don’t you worry now.”
The saints through their encounter with Christ came to know the truth of where we are from, the pain of our isolation, the Father who has not forgotten and what we are ultimately meant for. Blessed, indeed, are they! In this awareness all becomes a blessing – blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who seek for righteousness, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers and blessed are even those who are persecuted. Blessed indeed are they, for in this saving awareness all becomes a moment of encounter with Christ and a moment to know who indeed we are and what we are meant for.
It has been said that when we get to the end of our lives the one regret we might be left with is not to have been a saint. Each one of us is meant to be a saint … you are meant to be a saint.
Encounter Christ.
Be attentive to those moments when you catch those songs from the place where you were born.
Don’t worry. Trust that heaven has a plan for you.
The Alternate Path 