Senior Farewells (2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010)
Speeches given by seniors at our March concerts
April 2010: Catherine Beinke '10
When I found Bobby’s sticky note
so cleverly placed inside a piece of music, saying “TOP SECRET: start thinking
about ideas for your senior farewell speech” the wheels in my mind immediately
started spinning. I thought about what previous seniors had discussed in their
speeches, and once Bobby told me I had free reign to talk about whatever I
wanted, I began to think about what I really wanted to say, not what people
would necessarily expect me to say. That’s when I set a goal, something I
wanted to accomplish through the speech. More than anything else, I wanted all
of you to leave with something, something that would be useful and meaningful to
everyone. Tonight, I hope you leave feeling impacted by the power of this
music, and that you feel a sense of unity among all of us as together we share
in this common experience.
I want to try something with all
of you. So just bear with me J You
might feel a little silly at first, but just trust me! Close your eyes.
Imagine yourself in a place of your choice where comfort, peacefulness, and joy
surround you like a gentle cool breeze on a warm summer day. Feel the breeze
pass by you and through you. Experience the feeling of the breeze blowing your
hair back and the sound of the wind as it rustles through the trees as if it’s
almost whispering. Take a nice, deep breath and enjoy the moment of stillness
that you feel as everything stops around you- all the fear, the worry, the
demands, everything is frozen in time. You are in the moment and nothing can
distract you. Feel a smile building- just let it happen and then slowly open
your eyes.
What you hopefully just experienced is what I
experience and what I’m sure other choir members also experience when we sing
the songs that Fr. Bede and Bobby choose for Mass and Concerts. Of course this
feeling doesn’t come forth automatically. It arises once a song is learned and
we begin to fully understand and appreciate the lyrics, and then feel the
emotions waiting to burst forth from each song. This is when I believe we are
filled with God’s presence- in this incredible stillness and joy.
If you do a google search for inspirational
quotes about music, you will find pages upon pages of results. Here is one that
I found that I feel really captures the power behind music, especially the music
we sing here in the choir. “Music
speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the
heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul.” Music is a gift
from God with incredible healing powers for those singing the music as well as
those listening to the music.
A wise monk once told me- “God gives each of us
gifts. Learn to accept the gifts and use them.” Thank you Fr. Bede! Tonight
we share with you the gift of music, which we have been blessed enough to have
been given. Listen to the beauty and the praise in the lyrics, let the melodies
and harmonies soothe your soul. Let the power overwhelm and overtake you, and
you will be changed for the better. Then I ask this of you- let the beauty of
the music transfer over into your lives. Live more peaceably, with more joy,
more hope, more steadfast faith, more trust in our Lord and each other, and of
course, with more love.
So as you all leave tonight, I’m
going to give each and everyone of you a challenge. Find something, anything,
in any or all of the songs - that you can carry out in your life. It could be
having more patience, loving more, or something as simple as listening to music
more- whatever you’d like. In doing this, I can guarantee that you will enrich
the lives of others, as well as your own life. I have been given so much, and
my life has been enhanced in so many ways because of the power I find in the
music we sing. It is my hope tonight, as I say farewell to a wonderful four
years here, that you too can experience even a glimpse of what we all have
experienced and can love choir as much as we do.
Choir is more than simply learning pieces and
singing them. Choir is a breadth of friendship, support, fun, and love. I
started choir not knowing a soul, and now some of my best friends are choir
members. Some of my favorite memories from Saint A’s have been memories with
the choir. I’ve been fortunate enough to participate in both Eurochoir trips.
For those of you who don’t know, the choir takes a trip to Europe every two
years and performs in various churches and cathedrals over spring break. When I
was a sophomore we went to Hungary, Austria, and Switzerland where I was able to
enter and sing in some of the most breathtakingly beautiful churches I have ever
seen. This past year we went to Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. I will never
forget the enormous joy I felt in these churches- I highly suggest visiting some
of them! See Bobby afterwards if you’d like a list. Also, If you’d like to
donate to the next trip, see Father Bede, and he will be overwhelmingly
excited!! J Sorry, I just had to
throw that shameless plug in there.
I will never forget the
friendships that I’ve made and enhanced on these trips and in attending choir
rehearsal Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday nights. I actually feel a void if I am
unable to attend a choir practice, or if we do not have practice. At choir I
get to see my friends, and together we get to share our passion for singing.
Choir is also my stress reliever- I can walk into rehearsal in and awful mood
and leave feeling rejuvenated and cleansed. Choir is the one place where we can
forget all our worries and our burdens and just do something that we love.
I will also never forget all the
laughs that Bobby and the rest of us have had watching and listening to Father
Bede. One of his funniest moments was when we were practicing for this concert
and Father Bede was bouncing around throwing up his hands and the front panel of
his habit just to get us to laugh and to bring up the energy of the song. I
will also always remember his uncanny ability to calm us all down through his
meditations- one of the favorite parts of choir. His ability to bring all our
pieces to life will never cease to amaze me, and his words of wisdom will stay
with me forever. I will always be thankful for his unyielding dedication to the
choir, and for his constant encouragement. I will miss Brother Andrew and Don
Cox always being there to accompany us- always impressing us with their amazing
ability to bring the music to life. I will miss joking with Bobby, listening to
him poke fun at Father Bede, and singing next to him. I’m so glad that even
though he graduated a long time ago, that he’s still here! Without him, who
would plan all of our trips to Europe, or more importantly keep Father Bede in
line?? I’d like to express my endless thanks to Father Bede, Bobby, Don Cox,
and Brother Andrew for all that they do for us. We wouldn’t be the same choir
without each and everyone one of them. (clap for them)
Thank you also to everyone in the choir. You are all
beautiful people and I’m privileged to have you all in my life. I will miss you
all dearly and I wish nothing but the best for you. Continue to sing
beautifully- I know you will. I cannot wait to come back and experience your
incredible talent. I consider you to be my family, a place where I truly
belong, and I cannot thank you enough for that.
To all of you here tonight, thank you for supporting our
music, and I hope that you have enjoyed the music thus far, and will continue to
enjoy the rest of the music.
Finally, I’d like to extend a special thanks to the
seniors- I’ve loved growing with you over the four years. I’ve also loved being
able to experience two Europe trips with some of you. Thank you so much for all
of your support, encouragement, acceptance, and love- I would not be the same
person with out you all. I will remember all the laughs, the good times,
everything, as I hope you do. Tonight is a bittersweet night for us, but as we
leave, let’s not dwell on the goodbye, but instead remember all the wonderful
memories we’ve made, all the amazing friends we’ve made, how our lives have been
touched, and all the lives that we have touched. I wish you all the best of
luck for the future. I hope you all keep singing and never lose your love for
music.
And now, if you’ll let me, I’d like to end with a prayer.
Lord, thank you for bringing us together this night to sing your praises and to
share your word. Thank you for giving us the gift of music, and for allowing us
to share you with others through our music. May you keep us all in your
steadfast love and watch over us as we depart tonight, and in all the days to
come. And Lord, I’d like to thank you for Father Bede, Bobby, Don Cox, Brother
Andrew, all the choir members, my family and friends, and everyone here
tonight. Thank you for gracing my life with so many wonderful people. Spread
your everlasting love to all here tonight and let us leave filled with your
presence. In your holy name we pray, AMEN.
Thank you , and safe travels for all!
April 2009: Catherine Strazdins '09
“Seven Years”
Good evening,
my name is Catherine; I’m a senior and I have experienced seven years of this
choir.
Now, as hard as St. A’s may be, I’m not on the seven year plan (yet). (Nor am I
an ’01 grad who just can’t seem to leave.) As a freshman, I learned from the
three years of choir members older than me. As a senior, I’m trying to teach
the three years below me. And I’ve made the journey here with my fellow
seniors. In that sense, I have experienced seven years of this choir.
During our time
in choir, I think every choir member, past and present, can attest to something
that never surprises us: Fr. Bede’s emails.
These e-mails
usually contain the same categorically understood message: be on time.
On occasion, in those emails, Fr. Bede will include a quote, and, I hate to say
it, it can often go overlooked. However, a few months ago, Fr. Bede included
one that struck me and I hope that it will strike you all in the same way. The
quote was from Howard Thurman, who said, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask
what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people
who have come alive.”
This choir
makes me come alive. In many ways, it makes us all come alive.
I never thought
that I would ever get so much out of being a part of choir and I’m sure that Fr.
Bede and Bobby thought I wouldn’t get much out of it either! For almost three
years, choir was something I went to, but it was never anything more than
that at times. Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed going to choir, but mostly
because it was another chance to goof around with my friends. I never stopped
talking and I, along with my “cohort of distractors,” as Fr. Bede so lovingly
put it, constantly disrupted practice for no real purpose. Yes, I drove Fr.
Bede and Bobby absolutely crazy.
For me, I had
been in choir so long that it was hard to see the difference it was having upon
my life. I needed some perspective. The spring of my junior year, I studied
abroad in England. As the weeks flew by, I realized that I missed my friends in
choir; I missed our random outbursts of the college anthem walking past the
monastery—at 11pm. I missed our quick “chat sessions” right before choir when
were supposed to be getting our folders. I missed hassling the tenors.
I soon realized
that what I missed weren’t all the stories, the jokes and the time with the
choir outside the church walls—I missed choir itself—the experience as a whole.
While in London, I caught myself singing harmonies to familiar pieces during
mass. I realized that I actually knew how to sing a Gregorian chant—something
that I never realized I was capable of. I realized I missed taking an hour out
of my day to separate myself from my academics. It was when I was able to
surprise the choir—by meeting up with them during their European concert tour in
Hungary—that I began to comprehend the breadth and depth of the choir’s impact
upon my life.
This is just my
story, however. Each one of us has a different and equally as rich of a story
behind why we joined choir. Many sung in choir in high school and wished to
continue it in college. Others sang in their home parish where music ministry
was already part of their lives. And others had not sung since sixth grade and
were guilt tripped into auditioning by two friends. But the reason why we
joined choir is not the point. The real question is why we’ve stayed.
Choir is not
easy, that is also another categorically understood message. Aside from the
time commitment, choir challenges your ability to listen, your patience, your
dedication, and your ability to get in the coffee shop line at a decent time.
But we’re all still here. Each one of us has a unique choir experience but our
similarities have kept us together through the years.
Some people
have said that when you graduate, you will no longer be a part of this choir. I
really believe that’s not true. You will always have a home here; you will
always have the seven years of choir members you know to turn to. From day one,
I was immediately embraced into a community of people united in Christ through a
common passion. Choir made Saint A’s my home that day, and this choir became a
very real family for me. Concerts are like a family reunion—you may not know
everyone, but everyone has something in common.
At Saint Anselm
College, we are all affected by the Benedictine tradition. I will never forget
a recent session of Theology on Tap, when four of our monks were asked what they
enjoy most about being a monk. Without hesitation, they all responded quite
simply, ‘balance.’
Balance.
Choir is
balance. We have learned that choir is prayer and work through song. It is
laughter (at Fr. Bede’s crazy faces) and silence (in his meditations). It is
fear (of a new song) and faith (in knowing you have 65 others to back you up).
And in the same sense, though we finish tonight with A Song of Parting, and we
may find it difficult to actually part from the choir, we go out with joy.
Indeed, the song You Shall Go Out With Joy encapsulates everything we’ve been
working towards. It begins quietly, in meditation and in simplicity, and ends
quite triumphantly—much like our four years in choir.
Many of our
choir alumni are here tonight. Many others are not. But present or not,
current choir members or alumni, I will always remember you as my family at
Saint Anselm, and I can’t think of a higher compliment I can give.
You’re right.
These years did go by too fast. But I hope that you’ve enjoyed every
minute of them. No words can express the gratitude we all share for family and
friends who’ve supported us through the years, and especially, Don Cox, Br.
Andrew, Bobby, and Fr. Bede. You’ve all had a great impact on all of our lives
here at Saint Anselm. Thank you. So, as we conclude this, and for some of us,
our last concert, I, as Fr. Bede always does in his emails, will leave you with
a quote: “Restore your soul, in mercy and in truth. You shall go out with
joy.”
Thank you all
and God bless.
March 2008: Gregory Macksoud '08
Good Evening, my name is Greg Macksoud. In the next
several minutes I will attempt to give you a glimpse of Choir. Like so many
have done before me and countless more will carry on, I stand here tonight, a
testament to the wonders of this experience. In the past, senior farewells have
been directed at the audience, while the Choir remained in their stalls. I am
honored with the distinction tonight of being able to face my fellow members.
And although they’re not behind me right now, I feel grateful that they’ve been
there these past four years. Tonight I’ll tell you what Choir has meant for me
during that time. s
When thinking about what encompasses Choir, many things
come to mind. Farm parties (an orientation of sorts for new members), visiting
Europe and Father Bede’s "short and rarely sent" emails are just a few of those
things. But those wondrous events aside...Choir...for the most part revolves
around time spent inside these church walls.
It is a unique experience in
which each individual benefits in his or her own way, all the while
participating in the collective gain of the Choir, hence, making my speech
simply a glimpse. Belonging to THIS group provides a foundation, a
structure upon which one could and usually does find a certain
comfort right from the beginning.
I joined Choir apprehensively. As
a musically interested freshman who couldn't read a lick of music...Choir...and
Father Bede appeared rather daunting. Despite these initial fears and after
some more thought and a friend's encouragement, I found myself here, practicing
in the stalls behind me. And while my ability to read music has remained rather
stagnant, my involvement in Choir, among other groups on campus, has proved to
be the most rewarding.
When applying to college, I was
wrestling with a lot of questions, the most important of which revolved around
my faith.
I remember writing on my St. A's
application that I wanted to go here in order to strengthen that faith, and be
provided with a nurturing environment enabling that faith to grow. Above all
else...choir has done this for me.
My personal journey in choir embodies my
growing appreciation and realization of my faith, particularly through prayer.
Prayer was never something I was drawn towards or did often until joining
Choir. Singing these past four years every Monday, Wednesday and Sunday night
has strengthened my prayer life. I have learned that the songs we sing are
prayers. That when I find myself not knowing what or how to pray,
I can return to repeating lyrics learned in Choir.
I especially like the times before concerts when Father Bede has us seated with
our eyes closed. He runs through the list of the songs we'll be singing that
night and invites us to call to mind a person to whom that song will be
dedicated.
Offering up a song is one of the many things that the Choir encounters as a
group, but experiences individually. I'm sure many of you sitting out there
tonight had songs offered up for you before the program began. The sense of
prayer and belief I've found in choir has yielded a sturdy base upon which I can
grow and always come back to in later life. I think anyone who enjoys music can
understand this sense of awareness and comfort that prayer through song can
bring. This might also explain the large number of people who continually wish
to participate in Choir.
Though Choir is a personal experience, it is also about the collective and most
notably the sound of that collective. The hard work and commitment that
each Choir member puts in is present in every song that you hear. It is
extremely gratifying after many hours of practice to feel chills at the
completion of a chord or to have a smile forced out of you when singing a
favorite song. The sound of the Choir is a wonderful stress reliever and
incredibly uplifting.
I say this with authority, after hearing time and time again from people who
have heard this sound tell of its HEALING CAPABILITIES, its MEDITATIVE SPIRIT
and its PRAYERFUL STRUCTURE. I invite all of you to call these things into mind
as we complete our concert tonight. As you listen to the last two songs,
entitled "Thou Hidden Love of God" and the "Hallelujah Chorus" call to mind
someone in prayer.
Before I conclude, here is some advice to
my fellow choir members. As Father Bede has said many times: "God is an artist
and artists love other artists.” My advice is this: KEEP SINGING; use this gift
and all the others that God has given you in wherever life takes you. There is
no greater praise we can give God than to use our talents for his praise and
glory. I also believe there are few better pleasures than coming to the
realization that you've done just that. I experienced this first hand on a
Spring Break Alternative trip last year.
While volunteering in Mississippi,
my SBA group attended a mass for which there was no music...ever. Several of
the Choir members were on this trip with me and we offered to sing an opening
and closing hymn. We sang, "I Love You Lord" and "Amazing Grace," two of my
favorite pieces. To see the pleasure and gratitude on so many faces brought
upon by the simple use of a gift we'd be given was inexplicable.
I have enormous gratitude to all of you who
have made my time in choir so enriching and unforgettable. Don Cox, Br. Andrew,
Bobby, Father Bede…know tonight how grateful one can be to the experience you
provide. To the students in choir whom I'm privileged to call my friends,
especially the 24 other seniors that also complete their journey tonight...you
will live in my heart for a long time. Without your sacrifice, without your
hard work and devotion to the music and without your voices harmonizing praise
to the God we believe in, this college experience would have never been so
fulfilling. Thank you all…
March 2005: Edward "Teddy" Howland '05
For the past four years, I’ve sat in the choir stalls behind
me, right there, in the front row of the tenor section. I’ve participated in
one European concert tour, eight concerts, one hundred Masses and three hundred
hours of rehearsal. Give or take a few. The effect: Priceless. Although these
figures give an approximation of what choir does, they cannot come close to
relating what choir is.
What is choir? You could ask this question to any of the
current students or alumni of the choir, and you would get a different answer.
Choir is an intensely personal experience; you get out of it what you put into
it. My own experience with choir has been a journey of four years. Like many of
the people sitting behind me, I got a letter from a ‘Fr. Bede’ in the middle
of the summer, telling me all about choir. I had done chorus in high school, and
knew that I wanted to continue singing on a weekly basis. I was excited also
because that spring the choir was going to Europe for the first time. August
rolled around, and I came to St. A’s for orientation. I met Fr. Bede. That
experience, like choir, is something that each student has a very different
impression of. During orientation, he gave me a very valuable piece of advice.
Here it is. (Hold up I.D.) Most of you can’t see my I.D. card, but I looked
like this. Long hair, pudgy, in a word, cannon fodder for the fast paced and
ruthless environment of college. Fr. Bede’s piece of advice were these words
“Do you trust me?” “Um...yes?” At this point I was looking at Fr. Bede a
little askance. “Get a haircut.” These words for me represent choir.
Needless to say, I did, in October of my freshman year.
Getting a haircut was about change and discovery; not simply
continuing that which you had done in high school, but a new look, uncovering
and coming to an understanding about who I was going to become. As singers in a
choir we struggle to uncover the meaning of a text and a piece, and work to
communicate that meaning to the congregation or audience. Choir is about the
development from the first day that we hear a piece to the last note of the
final performance of that same piece. The journey that I have taken has been
wonderful. There are pieces of music that I start out loving, and end up being
‘blah’ about, reversely, there are works that I have a hard time liking, and
then suddenly they click. For me, the feeling of a piece working is the greatest
in choir because you know in your gut that the audience will get what you’re
trying to convey. And each note builds on the last until you don’t want the
piece to end; no one does.
One of my favorite moments in choir is when Fr. Bede gives us
a meditation. We close our eyes, follow our breathing, and relax from the
stresses outside the church walls. It is in many ways the essence of the choir
experience. We are both united by our common actions, and yet each of us
experiences these meditations differently. These meditations are wonderful
because they give me the opportunity to not only reflect on myself, my day, how
I’m feeling, giving my mind a check up, but also on the music we’re
performing.
I’ve entitled this farewell “Oh God Behold Your Family
Here” because at its heart I believe the choir is a family. We are brothers
and sisters on a musical journey towards understanding God. Without God, we
would not have a purpose here; without any of us, the music would falter;
however it would not fail, as even one voice can sing praise, but it would not
represent the fullness of what we can produce together. We laugh together, at
some of the ridiculously funny things that Fr. Bede makes us do for warm-ups, we
sing together, forming harmonies and soaring over the lyrics, and we cry
together. Well, okay, maybe that’s just me. How many of you here tonight are
former members of the choir? Raise your hands up nice and high. The rest of you
look around. These are our extended family; always welcome at reunions, but they’ve
moved too far away to be part of our regular gatherings.
The choir has been a big part of my life these past four
years. I’ve gotten hundreds of e-mails, sang thousands of notes, laughed a
lot, experienced the power of music and most importantly, made some friends
along the way. As I go out into the world post-choir and post-St. A’s, I’ll
obviously no longer be a part of the choir. But through the music that we’ve
made here tonight, and on nights like this, with the help of technology, I will
be able to recreate the wonderful feelings that I’ve had throughout my four
years.
It’s been a long road, and this journey is coming to an end.
Many thanks to Fr. Bede, Bobby, Br. Andrew and everyone who makes choir
possible. There will be other journeys, but none quite like this one. Goodnight,
and God Bless.
March, 2004: Michael Henessy '04
For the last 4 years, every Monday, Wednesday and Sunday night seemed a
little bit different to me than other nights of the week. For the last 4 years
there were 2 short hours on Family Weekend that seemed a little different than
any other hour in that weekend. For the last 4 years, there was a Saturday night
in December and a Saturday night in March that seemed a little bit different to
me than other Saturday nights. I needed these moments; they sustained me. They
made my college experience here at St. Anselm complete. I honestly cannot
imagine what these past 4 years would have been like without the presence of
this Choir in my life. It is an experience that is difficult to explain, though
I am sure that many of us here have had similar experiences. It is an experience
that is difficult to explain, but most of the students sitting peacefully behind
me tonight have an idea what I mean. If they don’t, they eventually will. It
is an experience that is difficult to explain, but necessary to tell.
Over the course of the past few years, I have been asked a few times by
various people why I joined choir. It is a story that I enjoy to tell. Before I
begin this story though, it is important to understand that before I came to
college, I would never have been considered the “choir” type. Sure, I
enjoyed music and I played music but never would I consider joining a chorus or
a choir. That just wasn’t my thing. I didn’t really sing at all. I had
nothing against it; it was just something that I stayed away from. I had no
intention whatsoever of singing when I got to college. Again, it just wasn’t
my thing.
The summer before I was a freshman I got a few packages from Fr. Bede,
containing CDs of recent choir performances. This honestly puzzled me: I had no
clue who Fr. Bede was, how Fr. Bede got my name and why he would ever think I
would join something like the College Choir. I put these CDs aside with the
plastic wrap still on them, thinking to myself, “there’s no need to listen
to these”. I didn’t think about the choir again for the rest of the summer.
As many current and former students know, orientation weekend can be a
very draining experience with many highs and lows. For most, the weekend does
not ease the very normal feelings of confusion and nervousness, it just adds to
it. The same was the case for me. I was ready to take on college; ready for all
the challenges I would meet in the coming years and ready to enhance my upcoming
experience by joining various clubs and organizations: one of which, by the way,
was not choir. Then I really don’t know what happened. I remember going to the
freshman activities fair in Cushing with my parents. I remember seeing one
familiar name of an organization. I remember seeing Fr. Bede and mentioning to
him that I got his CD’s over the summer. I remember his eyes lighting up when
I told him I was a tenor. I remember telling myself “Just try it out, see what
you think, you can always leave if you don’t like it”. Back then, Fr. Bede
had us sing at our orientation Mass, something I was very nervous about doing
but something I forced myself to do; this was just one of these challenges that
I was prepared to meet. I had no clue what I was doing: I had never sung a piece
of choir music before, I had never been in this very different church before and
here I was, singing with this group before hundreds of my fellow freshmen and
their families. And then something happened; it all started making sense. As I
was making a feeble attempt to sing this beautiful music, I felt like I belonged
to something. I knew that not many of these freshmen could experience what I was
feeling, and believe me, it felt very nice. Though I had just been singing with
the group for a few minutes, for the first time I felt like I needed choir in my
life. The trial period was over; I knew then choir would be a permanent part of
my college years.
For many of us students, our freshman year is the toughest. That
certainly was the case for me. While I spent those months adjusting to my new
life as a college student, I could always depend on my Monday, Wednesday and
Sunday nights to keep me going. I needed choir my freshman year. It gave me a
few hours of peace in a whirlwind year and security in a new hectic life.
Though I became more adjusted and comfortable here my sophomore and
junior years, I still needed choir in my life. As college students, we all have
those weeks that stretch us so far that we feel like we want to give up. My
Monday, Wednesday and Sunday nights sitting in these choir stalls saved me from
those feelings. Those short hours became, as Fr. Bede often referred to them, as
“islands of peace”. Though at times my life as a student became stressful
and straining, my life as a person was being strengthened spiritually by the
graces given to me this choir.
As a senior, I have been able to reflect on these past four years as a
student at this college and as a member of this choir. I am a better person
today because of the education I have received and the life lessons I have
experienced at this college. I am also a better person and a more spiritual
being because of my many hours singing here in the
Abbey
Church
. I simply cannot imagine what my life or my years at this college would be like
without Choir in it. I am going to miss these concerts in my years after I move
on from this college. I am going to miss those Monday, Wednesday and Sunday
night practices after I graduate.
But I will not need choir anymore.
This group, this music, and this director has given me, in these four
short years, the spiritual guidance that I can rely on after I graduate. I now
will always have a little piece of this group in my heart, and that is what I
will turn to from now on, instead of practices and performances. I have grown up
in many ways in these simple wooden seats, from a person who just wasn’t the
choir type, to a person who will be able to rely on this small choir for the
rest of his life.
I have two pieces of advice for my fellow choir members. First, buy and
save the recordings from these concerts. Believe me, you will want them and will
rely on them for many years to come. Remember those CDs that Fr. Bede sent me
before my freshman year, just four short years ago? Well, I still have them, I
still listen to them; and they do more for me than any other music CD in my
collection. Another piece of advice to you all: listen to the words you sing. I
wish someone had told me this when I was a freshman. You will get so much more
out of these concerts and practices if you take a second to understand and
comprehend these beautiful words. I guarantee that you will soon have a favorite
choir song to sing and to pray, a song that is not just based on melody, chords
and harmony but a song based on its words. You will soon realize that you are
not just singing these songs, but that you are praying to God three times a week
in a beautiful church with some of your closest peers. Not many have this
wonderful opportunity, so you must live fully in it. Pray the Ave Maria, Sing
the Our Father. You will soon know exactly what I mean.
You may have been wondering what my favorite choir song is. It came to me
sometime last year, and I have often relied on its words and message since then.
Its music is simple, its length is short but its message is boundless, we have
sung it for you all tonight. Cast Thy Burden:
Cast thy burden upon the Lord,
and He shall sustain thee;
He never will suffer the righteous to fall
He is at thy right hand
Thy mercy, Lord is great
and far above the heav'ns.
Let none be made ashamed
that
wait upon Thee.
Thank you and God Bless you all.
Mike Hennessy '04
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