By Maureen Briare
I'm going to tell you the story of how a Christmas gift from my sweetheart (now of 15 years) has changed my life. With the celebration of St. Valentine coming up this Saturday, I got to thinking about love ... and the love I have experienced in my own marriage. I must preface the story by saying that the greatest treasures of my 15 year marriage are reflected in the faces of my six beautiful children. If you were to have asked me when I was an undergrad in the UP school of nursing (class of 92) ... if I would ever imagine having six kids, I would have said, "no way!" But God has entrusted to me these precious souls, so each day I humbly ask for the grace to be a good parent (and not go too crazy in the process!).OK, back to the story of the gift. It was our second Christmas together, and I was instructed to "close my eyes" ... when I opened them I beheld a beautiful celtic harp. I was stunned/delighted/mystified as to how my husband ever got the idea of giving me such a gift. I have loved music all my life, but had never imagined playing a harp!Now fast forward thirteen years ... and out of all the musical instruments that I dabble with ... the harp has become my most beloved instrument. I can honestly say that I LOVE playing the harp. You hold the harp close to your chest, you wrap your arms around it as in an embrace and the melodious sound as you pluck the strings really becomes an extension of your heart. I like to tell students that the harp is perhaps one of the easiest instruments to express yourself and improvise ... the sound is just so beautiful that any note you play sounds good!On a deeper level, learning and playing the harp has been a deep spiritual experience for me. Working for almost a decade as an RN, and part of that time as a hospice nurse, I came to deeply appreciate the gift that music is to our earthly life. Among other intrinsic qualities, music has the power to alleviate suffering, to unify, to celebrate, to dance, to be a prayer, to glorify God. The most sacred experiences I have had with my harp are when I have played it at the bedside of a dying patient. It is difficult to express in words how spiritual that experience is. Even if a patient is in a coma, the sense of hearing is the last to go, so often music is a wonderful tool to be a gentle, healing way to relieve suffering, pain and anxiety. Within the last decade, hospitals around the country now employ harpists to play on hospice wards or in the intensive care units because music has turned out to be an incredibly effective and powerful "prescription." This past summer, I had an amazing experience recording my first harp CD, sponsored by Oregon Catholic Press. The CD is called "Peaceful Prayer" (the photo shows my harp pictured by one of the old growth trees on the bluff). What makes this project special is that all of the instrumentalists on the CD are either UP alum or current UP students. The gentle sounds of strings, woodwinds, and handbells are combined with the harp for an hours worth of instrumental "prayer." Now that the project is completed, it has been such a blessing to share this music, and have it function as a way for people to experience healing, peace, comfort ... and a connection with God.The Christmas gift from my sweetheart that I never would have "imagined" for myself, has truly changed and enriched my life forever and will continue to be a source of blessing in the future. Playing the harp has opened my heart and mind to the power of music in ways that I never thought I would experience in my life. I think my valentine is a keeper, don't you?
