IT’S a title of
a Motown soul song originally done my
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell way back in 1966 and
re-performed by
Diana Ross in 1970. It was a big hit as it proclaimed the
good news of
hope whatever may happen in our life.
Part of its
lyrics says: “Listen baby / ain’t no mountain
high / ain’t no valley low / ain’t no river wide enough,
baby. / If
you need me call me / no matter where you are / no matter
how far /
don’t worry, baby. / Just call my name / I’ll be there in
a hurry. /
You don’t have to worry.”
It’s, of
course, a love song, but it actually is
Bible-inspired. It can be used to connect us to our true
Lover, and
not just any human lover. The whole idea behind is that
whatever
happens in our life, whether in our high moments or in
our lows, God
is always there for us. We have no reason to worry. God
takes care of
everything.
In the Book of
Isaiah, we have the following pertinent
passages that serve as basis for this song. “Every valley
shall be
raised up / every mountain and hill made low / the rough
ground shall
become level / and the rugged places a plain. / And the
glory of the
Lord will be revealed / and all people will see it
together.” (40,4-5)
These words,
which are divinely inspired, should be taken
seriously, and should be engraved deeply and permanently
in our mind
and heart. Whenever we are faced with some problems,
difficulties and
issues that are hard to resolve, let’s remember these
reassuring
words.
The beauty of
this song is that it makes God’s assurance
of his constant care for us very easy to be felt. Human
as we are, we
need to feel God’s love for us, his mercy and comfort for
us. We just
should not be too cerebral about this matter. We need
emotions,
feelings and passions as well.
I sometimes
advise people to sing an appropriate popular
song that can throb in their heart to bring to our mind a
pertinent
divine quality that is applicable to a particular
situation we may be
in. I think it was St. Augustine who said that “he who
sings prays
twice.” I believe it’s because when we sing we would
really express
what we have in our heart.
Given the
temper nowadays of people whose thoughts are
often set in some melody, suggesting to them some
appropriate popular
love songs can have better effects than asking them to
read and
meditate a serious, cerebral book.
Not that
meditating on some spiritual book serves no
purpose or is counterproductive. It, in fact, is
indispensable. It’s
just that we have to help others by suggesting ways or
processes in a
gradual manner. For many, songs are easier to appreciate
than books,
though later on, books obviously give a deeper mooring.
In my work as
priest who has to give a lot of advice to
people, especially the young ones, I can see that many of
them can
relate to songs more easily than to books. And so, I am in
the process
of collecting titles of songs whose messages are
appropriate to the
different situations and predicaments of the young ones.
Nowadays, many
young people find themselves in some grave
predicaments. Cases of persistent anxiety, depression and
thoughts of
suicide are increasing. Very often they resort to some
escape
mechanisms or deceptive and fake cures to address their
problems, and
these only make things worse.
There is a
great need to reach out to them, but in ways
that they can easily relate. There definitely is a need
for
accompaniment which can be sustained if it is done in the
context of
the concrete conditions of the person concerned, not the
hypothetical
or theoretical conditions.
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