Fiddler Natalie MacMaster: mother and musician.
The Catholic Register (Toronto) offers an article on well known Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster.
Mother of seven home-schooled children (... that fact speaks to MacMaster's willingness to practice what she "preaches" ...), MacMaster's remarks are a useful guide to evangelization in the public square. The vehicle through which she communicates something of the Catholic Faith is, of course, her music. By reminding people that music requires a particular orientation of mind in order to appreciate it as a thing of deeper meaning than common distractions, she provides a meaningful witness to the necessity of having a habit of mind which allows one to approach life with integrity. Appreciating or embracing the spiritual life, like music, requires a mind willing to go deeper, a mind formed by beauty that recognizes and embraces beauty, a mind thus capable of embracing truth. How does one acquire that orientation to truth, to beauty and to goodness? God freely offers us the grace to respond to His invitation to newness of life, a joy-filled life. We need but ask Him with a sincere heart to give us the grace to know and love Him.
God feeds us with His very Body and Blood at every Holy Mass to sustain us in the way that leads to eternal salvation. God, knowing our weakness, provides the Sacrament of Penance (Confession) to relieve the burden of our sins. During this Lent, perhaps one might consider visiting the confessional to better dispose one's soul to God Who alone can rescue man from the tyranny of sin and despair and raise him up to life and hope.
God feeds us with His very Body and Blood at every Holy Mass to sustain us in the way that leads to eternal salvation. God, knowing our weakness, provides the Sacrament of Penance (Confession) to relieve the burden of our sins. During this Lent, perhaps one might consider visiting the confessional to better dispose one's soul to God Who alone can rescue man from the tyranny of sin and despair and raise him up to life and hope.
Read the entire article at the Catholic Register.
'It's the Lord, working through the music,' Catholic fiddler Natalie MacMaster says—by Michael Swan.
“I’m not a person to be purposefully inspiring. I don’t intend to inspire,” she told The Catholic Register from Wisconsin as she went through sound checks for a Valentine’s Day concert.
“All I can offer is a sharing that this is my way of living; this is what works for me, based on how I was moulded. I’m passing my experiences on to you through music and a little bit of chat. I always say, it’s never me who inspires. It’s the Lord, working through the music.”
But to hear music you first have to be quiet, attentive and ready to receive whatever comes. The state of mind necessary for contemplation, for prayer and for music is increasingly rare in our world, MacMaster said.
“We’re living in a world where there’s a hundred million things you could be doing with your time,” she said. “It’s all around you. It’s at your fingertips.”
It isn’t just the options and apps on our cellphones or the endless choices on Netflix. It is preferring distraction over quiet, diversion over keen attention and contemplation.
“There’s a problem with finding the necessary headspace for any activity that requires thought,” MacMaster said.
“Whether it’s for something simple or trying to write music, create music, even talk about music — or whether it be prayer life — it’s all very, very, very difficult. You just have to persevere and try to find creative ways.”
The article ends with an important reminder, especially with regards to raising children with a moral and spiritual compass, i.e., a Catholic compass.
As the 45-year-old mother of seven home-schooled children living on a working farm, and juggling her touring and recording, MacMaster has learned to plan for prayer and plan for music.
“Music and music related topics were constantly in my every day for decades,” she said. “And then I got married and had the first of seven children. So it slowly takes on a new evolution. I would say my day is divided between my mind as a musician and my heart as a mother.”
Growing up in Cape Breton, MacMaster simply claimed the time and space for music and prayer as her birthright. As a mother, she now works to ensure her children cultivate those habits of mind.
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Perhaps one reason why MacMaster reaches many people with her music is that she embraces beauty and goodness, two of the transcendentals that to many people, people trapped by a relativistic mindset, are more approachable than the plain Truth.
By suggesting one finds "creative ways" to foster a "necessary headspace for any activity that requires thought", Catholics might strive to speak through beautiful things in beautiful ways in order to entice people to the Truth, Goodness and Beauty of the Catholic Faith. nowadays, people are more inclined to allow themselves to be led through beauty to truth, the Truth. Without guidance made available through personal encounter, guidance in the form of conversation freely entered into, for example, to foster healthy habits of mind and heart, people despair and become ensnared by worldly things and consequently engage in meaningless activities that rob them of their dignity.
Worship God, therefore, in the beauty of holiness (Psalm 96:9).
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