Enjoy 3 Minutes of Musical Paradise

Springtime – the most beautiful time of year in the northern hemisphere. Hillsides are tinged with the new, bright green growth of maples and beeches, pink cherry blossom petals flutter in the air like confetti, sunny daffodils bob in the breeze under bright blue skies dotted with fluffy white clouds. And we awaken, once more, to the tunes of birdsongs in the morning.

For most people, it is the happiest season. In fact, when springtime weather is on its best behavior, it seems like paradise.

Pope Francis, the Roman Catholic leader often called the “people’s pope,” known for his humility, social justice advocacy, and emphasis on mercy, died on April 21. It was the height of springtime in Rome, just as the pink and white azaleas had burst into bloom on city’s beautiful Spanish Steps.

It seems fitting to mark the humble pope’s passage with Gabriel Fauré’s “In Paradisum,” the final movement of Requiem in D Minor, his moving choral-orchestral take on the traditional Latin Mass for the Dead. It premiered in Paris in 1900. Fauré once remarked, “It has been said that my Requiem does not express the fear of death, and someone has called it a lullaby of death. But it is thus that I see death: as a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above, rather than as a painful experience.”

No matter what you believe or how you honor the passing of a loved one, “In Paradisum” will fill your heart with three minutes of joy. A brief respite we could all use right about now.

Follow along (translation below) or simply close your eyes and listen!

Sung by the Choir of St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh; 2007.

Translation of the lyrics:

May the angels lead you into paradise:

may the martyrs receive you as you arrive,

and bring you into the holy city of Jerusalem.

May the choir of angels receive you,

and with Lazarus, once a beggar,

may you have eternal rest.

Photos: The Spanish Steps in Rome, Graphico/Envato Elements; Pope Francis, CNS/Reuters/Giampiero Sposito; Gabriel Fauré, Wikimedia.org.

😊 Please like and share with anyone you know who needs a few minutes of peaceful beauty – thanks!