MONDAY OF THE FOURTEENTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME
Feast of Blesseds Ralph Milner & Roger Dickenson (1591), Martyr

Dear Father:

I am haunted by this old Inuit Song. The melody and words (sung in Inuit) are simple and yet strangely profound. That is one reason it haunts. In listening to the song it is as if one is on the verge of a profound thought, but not quite able to grasp it.

This song seems to have that character. It is like I know there is something really profound about this song, but cannot quite grasp it -- I just know it. This is not unusual about many aboriginal folk songs -- a sense of old wisdom not quite grasped.

This comes from a little known movie, Heart of Light.

HEART OF LIGHT tells the story of a family in Greenland torn apart by conflict between past traditions and the modern world. The point of departure is a bloody tragedy when Nisi, the older son, suffers a mental collapse and goes on a killing rampage before pointing the gun at himself.

Grief, disgrace, and shame invade the world of the involved and his father Rasmus, faced with a growing contempt from his younger son Simon, decides to leave the community. He heads for the icy inland on a broken dogsled. He encounters an old hermit who magically takes him into the past. It is a perilous journey between a stark reality and a mystical world in search of an inner compass.

The inner compass is what we all must find.

To hear the song Click Here. The song is sung in native Inuit. The words in English are below:

You, the returner
Bear my greeting
When you come
To our great land
Greet my beloved
Greet my little brother and sister
Greet them all from me

I must go far away
Tell them I must go far away
I shall end up
Somewhere far from here
I do not know
If I shall die on my journey
So tell them all
That I say goodbye


Your miserable servant searching for and finding a compass in Jesus and His Church,

Your miserable servant,
Brother Bubba

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