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At the conclusion of a concert performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Quartet and offered in his honor by the President of Germany, Pope Benedict XVI recalled that music has the power to bring harmony to the inner being of man.
Following the concert, which was offered in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall, the Pope offered his thanks to the four musicians, in German, for a “masterfully executed concert.”
“Music,” the Pope continued in Italian, “…offers the listener…the possibility of scrutinizing, as in a mirror, the events of our personal histories as well as that of the universe.”
“But it offers us even more,” he said, “by way of its sounds, it carries us to another world and harmonizes our intimate being. Finding thus a moment of peace, we are gradually able to see, as from a high vantage point, the mysterious realities that man seeks to decipher and which the light of faith helps us to better understand.”
“In effect, we are able to imagine the history of the world as a marvelous symphony that God has composed and which He Himself leads as a wise conductor. Even if to us, the score may often seem complex and difficult, He knows it from the first to the last note,” the Pope assured.
In this way, the Pontiff continued, each member is given particular instruments and parts to play in His harmonic plan. “Faithful to His commandments, and respecting His salvific plan, we can construct together a world which will resound with the consoling melody of a transcendent symphony of love.”
“And so, dear friends,” the Pope concluded, “we see how music can lead us to prayer: it invites us to lift our minds towards God to find in Him the reason for our hope as well as support in the difficulties of life.”
Music harmonizes our interior selves, Pope says after concert
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