Ignatian Spirituality In Music

About

About the Author and the Music

I have been writing music for twenty-some years--130 songs before I knew anything about Ignatian Spirituality. For the first two decades my music reflected everyday themes as a parent, spouse and church volunteer. During the tough times, I wrote lighthearted tunes such as: I'm Going Crazy, Tie It In An Old Sock, If Money Were the Answer, I Never Eat Chicken On Monday, Heavy Kevy, Bless Me Father For I Have Tried, I Need A Wife and If You Can't Sell It, Can You Eat It For Lunch? I wrote sad songs, too, like Heaven Sent the Rain, Winter Love and Jesus, Sing Me a Song as our family grappled with the reality of taking in abused, mentally handicapped and mentally ill children. Formal musical training consisted of six months of guitar lessons. Since I couldn't read music, I hummed and sang into a recorder and my husband scored the work. I learned by doing, by listening critically, by keeping and refining what held my attention after singing it fifty times. After a while, I pretty much canned the first 35 songs. And I kept writing.

Children grown--the second era of life--my husband and I moved to Omaha, joined the Ignatian Associate Community (a lay affiliate of the Jesuits) and began a nine-month retreat in daily life. I finished my undergraduate degree in communication and entered the graduate program in Christian Spirituality at Creighton University.

Writing music was the perfect way to express the impact of the retreat and the internal spiritual journey that had begun. It was a natural reaction to a landmark event; anything important always seemed to find expression in music. Also, through music I was able to return to the blessings, prayers and insights of the retreat long after it was over.

Writing music served a practical purpose as well. It was a prayerful way to remember and integrate basic Ignatian themes I was learning in the Christian Spirituality Program. Set it to music, I'll remember it. The emotional power of the melodies coupled with the rhyme and rhythm of descriptive lyrics was an easy way to recall the fundamentals of a spirituality beginning to ground all of my life.

About the Project

Creighton's three-year spirituality program requires an integration paper showing the student’s success at "pulling it all together." It is hoped the paper will have ministerial or apostolic application in the field.

This site, my 2003 integration project, was the outcome of three years of prayerful reflection and study. My goal was to provide beautiful, singable music for liturgy and retreats, music that could help people learn about and express Ignatian spirituality. Hopefully the remembering and retelling would be delightfully easy. In many ways, I feel I have succeeded and yet, there is so much left out. Whole chapters are written on themes I try to express in a few measures.

The faculty of Creighton University allowed me to learn as I learn best, through music. They accepted my proposal to write a new kind of integration paper, a collection of music. I sincerely hope I have "pulled it all together."

 ©2004 Ruth Scherer Leacock.