With Our Eyes
Kevin Bates sm
Every culture has a longing to make sense of life here and now and reaches for an experience of the sacred that is somehow beyond or within what we experience in daily life. We give this sacred various names and celebrate it with diverse rituals.
For the Christian person, the sacred has become one with us in the person of Jesus.
The songs on the album 'We Have Seen With Our Eyes' weave around this mystery, its truth and some of its implications for us. The music celebrates the sacred immersed in humanity and creation, that which we have heard with our ears, held with our hands and seen with our own eyes, the Word who is life.
Kevin Bates sm OAM
How to buy the album
2. Pay by bank transfer
$25 per CD (plus $5 postage)
Account name: Marist Fathers Australian Province Father Kevin Bates
BSB: 062 182
Account: 1007 3381
3. Delivery or pick-up
Have your CD mailed to you or come and pick it up
3A Mary Street, Hunters Hill
Add Glimmers of Grace, Father Kevin's anthology of reflections with illustrations by Daniel Dominguez.
$30
More information here
Album notes
1. God's Own Voice
Celebrating the birth of Jesus and the surprising revelation of God's saving purposes and God's mission for us, revealed in a tiny stable long ago.
2. Springtime
Spring always brings its own surprises as the earth wakes up from its winter sleep. Old burdens are left behind, questions unravelled and joy has its day.
3. Breathless Whispers
When God's Word becomes Flesh, words do not capture the beauty, the complete inclusiveness, the universal reach of this mystery. We keep listening still as the mystery unfolds in our time.
4. Jesus our Bread of Life
Written for the celebration of First Communion in our parish at Hunters Hill. This song invites Jesus into the heart of the lives of the children and families as they approach the Table of the Eucharist for the first time.
5. Life on the Line
This song cries out on behalf of those who become regarded as disposable in our society, whether it be before birth or with death approaching, as refugees who don't fit our systems or as people subject to human trafficking. In their regard, how brave is our loving?
6. Lead Kindly Light
Using the words of John Henry Newman's iconic hymn for the refrain, this song celebrates his canonisation on 13 October 2019 and expresses our longing for the light in our times.
7. Magnificat
Mary rejoices in the prospect of the birth of her son and in God's goodness to her which will in time become a saving gift for all peoples.
8. Bread of Mercy
Written to mark the 200th anniversary of the preservation of Blessed Sacrament on the site of Sydney's St Patrick's Church in May 2018, this song gives voice to the mercy of God which is released in the gift of the Eucharist for anyone who hungers for the release that this mercy brings.
9. On the Road
When we're suffering, our pain can become a world all its own. Hearing a voice of hope is a surprising challenge as the disciples on the road to Emmaus discovered.
10. Gaze Upon the Lord
Based on a letter from St Clare to St Agnes of Prague in which Clare advises Agnes to keep her eyes on Jesus (the Lord) in every circumstance. The male language in this song echoes the language in Clare's letter which refers to the man Jesus.
11. For Dympna
Medieval Saint Dympna has been claimed as a patron for those who have been sexually abused, especially in the Church. This song expresses a glimpse of the pain of someone so wounded and opens a cautious hope that loving support may generate.
12. With Our Eyes
John the Evangelist sets the scene for this song with a joyful declaration of the Word Who enters gladly into the depth of the human experience and who calls us to share the joy of this mystery in our turn.