I once read that the music we listen to becomes the soundtrack of our life. I just love that sentiment! As in a movie with a great soundtrack, music can transport us in time and evoke in us emotions we had thought were long gone. Have you ever noticed how certain songs bring you right back in time?

For me, “The Servant Song” is one of those songs. I remember singing this song in my high school choir, joining in the soulful rendition of our college folk choir, and raising this song with prayer-filled communities as we prepared to go out and serve Christ among us. Every time I hear this song, I am transported back to these times in which my heart was filled with a special awareness of the Holy Spirit at work—present and alive—in the unity and fruits of these communities rooted in Christ’s love.

This song doesn’t just bring me back in time though; it impels me forward too. Every time I hear it, I am reminded that the Christian call to serve is a personal and lifelong call. And it reminds me that those we are called to serve may not always be in a far-off country. It might also be that we are called to “hold the Christ light” that we sing of in this song for our best friend, child, or spouse—whomever is vulnerable at the time. Mother Teresa said, “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.”

When I hear “The Servant Song,” I remember too that the call to serve requires accompaniment. Serving is never a one-way street if we’re doing it right; it is a special privilege that requires a certain vulnerability on the part of both giver and receiver. Pope Francis reminds us almost daily not just of our call to serve, but also of the need to accompany those whom we serve:

The call to serve involves something special, to which we must be attentive. Serving others chiefly means caring for their vulnerability. Caring for the vulnerable of our families, our society, our people. Theirs are the suffering, fragile and downcast faces which Jesus tells us specifically to look at and which he asks us to love. With a love which takes shape in our actions and decisions. With a love which finds expression in whatever tasks we, as citizens, are called to perform. People of flesh and blood, people with individual lives and stories, and with all their frailty: these are those whom Jesus asks us to protect, to care for, to serve. Being a Christian entails promoting the dignity of our brothers and sisters, fighting for it, living for it. That is why Christians are constantly called to set aside their own wishes and desires, their pursuit of power, and to look instead to those who are most vulnerable. (Homily of Pope Francis in Havana, September 20, 2015)

In the soundtrack of my life, “The Servant Song” is a powerful reminder of God’s presence in my life and my response to God’s presence. What about you? Where do you find God in the soundtrack of your life? What songs in your soundtrack bring to mind those who have held the Christ light for you? What songs remind you of times when you held the Christ light out to others? Whom might you be called to hold the Christ light out to in the future?

We’re in the last week of 31 Days with St. Ignatius. Read today’s selection, In God’s Waiting Room by Loretta Pehanich.

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There are certain routine sounds in our lives that call us into action simply by reflex. The morning alarm clock jolts us out of bed and into our morning routine. The ring tone on our phone beckons us to drop what we’re doing and respond to the person seeking us out on the line. The familiar beeping of a microwave leaves our taste buds anticipating another delicious meal. Familiar sounds call us into familiar actions.

So what then, of the quieter sounds in our lives that too often get drowned out by the well-practiced symphony of our routine? In a guided audio Examen shared here, the listener is invited during the preparatory phase of the prayer to “Gently listen to all the sounds around you; try to capture each one.” What a fantastic and profound invitation! We are invited to be still and listen for the sounds we’ve been too busy or too distracted to hear through the day. In the profound but fleeting pauses between the movements of the symphony of our lives, we are invited to listen to God’s voice hidden behind the fanfare.

We’re invited then to take one step further. Just as those routine sounds call us into action, we are invited to “capture each one” of those subtle sounds quietly playing in the background of our day. Capture. Not just to observe, not to meditate on it, but to actively chase and seize it! “Capture” is just the sort of militaristic word St. Ignatius would love. It’s very much in keeping with his vision of contemplatives in action. If we but take the time to enter into the stillness and listen to the more subtle voice of God whispering in the quiet moments, we can capture an opportunity to be contemplatives in action. We must seize that moment, for soon the Conductor will start the next movement in the symphony.

When the symphony of your day comes to a pause, what will capture your attention and call you into action?

Think more about the patterns of your day with today’s 31 Days with St. Ignatius entry, The Truth of My Life by Mike Hayes.

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