4/9/08:

Justin Wrzesinski

What is a sacramental moment? The capital “S” sacramental moments are the ones that take place in this Church and other Churches around the world. Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Confirmation, and Marriage are some examples. So then what is a sacramental moment with a lower case “s”? This may be a little more difficult to define, however we can certainly think of examples. Think about the little graces throughout the day that give us life. What gives us the motivation to wake up in the morning and say, “Ok, I’m going to do this again, here we go.”, and dive into the day? What are those little moments during the day that keep us going? What are those moments during the day that make us stop in our tracks and think, “Wait a second, maybe I was wrong about that. Maybe I should have . . . acted differently”?  The most important sacramental question is, “WHO are the people involved in these moments in our lives?” Whatever these moments are, BRIEF as they are, they mean something to us. These moments are when we feel Gods presence in our life.   

In my own experience, music plays a large part of my answer to these questions I’ve posed. As some of you might know, I am a music major. What this entails is not only music classes, but lessons and ensembles. The moments that I find in my day that keep me going are those related to music.

Ever since I was young I have had sacramental moments involving music. Looking at photo albums, I see that me first encounter with music are with my grandpa, who played the trumpet. There’s a picture of my grandpa playing the trumpet, his brother playing the accordion, and myself on the maracas. I was probably four or five, I don’t know exactly, but nonetheless a sacramental moment it was. This continued in fourth grade when I started to play the trumpet because my grandpa had a stroke and could no longer play let alone recognize who any of his family members were. He was certainly someone in my life who not only changed the direction of where I was going, but he also, through his illness, caused me to embark on a long musical journey that brings me to today.    

As I look back on my musical experiences, even those that happened last Tuesday or yesterday, I can see the presence of God. I can see this because I believe that God gave me this talent to play music in the first place. With that said, I think God works through us as musicians when we practice, perform, or share our talent here during Mass. I know when I practice by myself, whether I’m playing piano or trumpet, I sometimes fall into the music in a way that is hard to explain. I can sense something greater than myself. The same can be said when we listen to music as well.   

The people in my life who take part in these sacramental moments of mine, are those that perform music with me, those that listen to the music being performed, and those that share in the music during the liturgies. For me, it is these encounters with these people where I feel the presence of God.      

You can think of this process like a big water wheel. The definition of a water wheel is, “a large wheel DRIVEN by flowing water”. Who is the water in your life that is driving the wheel? Water is very symbolic in this picture because as we know in numerous scripture passages, water is LIFE-GIVING, just as people are life giving, just as JESUS is life giving. And for me, these sacramental moments, that is both upper and lower case “s”, are moments where Jesus steps in and says, “Hey, guess what? I’m here, I’m here.”