Catholic Ragemonkey

And then...the Sound of Silence...

Felix Mendelssohn makes dramatic use of silence in his oratorio, Elijah. In the key scene between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, if you will recall from the biblical text, the prophets go to extremes to get Baal to respond and ignite their sacrifice. In the score, the prophets sing, "Hear and answer." And everyone falls silent, from chorus member to orchestra. It repeats like this two more times.

In the last weeks of campaigning, no doubt exists in my mind that many times Fr. H has had his hands raised before the altar of God, crying out, "Hear and answer." What he has been receiving as an answer, I will leave him to tell you. But after the convention, the smoke, the interviews, the scandalous news reports, now there is silence.

Let us hope that this endeavor ends better for Father than it did for the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18:40). In Northwest Oklahoma, I don't know of a brook that is equidistant from his parish to mine.