Several years ago, I was walking around a neighborhood of Menlo Park in one afternoon. It was a nice day around five o'clock when the sun hang in the western sky. Suddenly I heard some singing coming out from some distance away. I found that it was a chapel with some people inside performing a mass. The solo singing was beautiful & I couldn't name the song. However, I was deeply moved at that moment. The music with the chapel, sunset & colorful cloud in the background created a spiritual world. I stood there & listened until the song was over. I later found that the song is Vesperae Solennes-Laudate Dominum by Mozart. Vespers is the evening prayer service used in the mass of Catholic church. It is also in limited use in some Protestant denominations to describe evening services or evening prayers. The psalms and hymns of the Vespers service have attracted the interest of many composers, including Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi, Anton Bruckner & Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The one by Mozart is the most well known. Mozart was an Austrian & his Vesperae Solennis was for Catholic mass. If Mozart belongs to the world, his Vesperae Solennes belongs to all faiths. Indeed, this work is very ethereal & has effect of sublimation & transcendence to another world. With disaster one after the other in recent years, the nature selects no particular target. The world is a village indeed, all people should help & treat each other decently transcending nation, religion & race. Let's dedicate this music (the following link) to our village with the substitution, (Cosmos for Lord, Sun for Father, Earth for Son, Mother Nature for Holy Spirit):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ug0PYot-mE&feature=related
Lyrics in Latin:
Laudate Dominum omnes gentes
Laudate eum, omnes populi
Quoniam confirmata est
Super nos misericordia eius,
Et veritas Domini manet in aeternum.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper.
Et in saecula saeculorum.
Amen.
English Translation:
Praise the Lord, all nations;
Praise Him, all people.
For He has bestowed
His mercy upon us,
And the truth of the Lord endures forever.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and forever,
and for generations of generations.
Amen.
Note: I sent the above in email to the classmates on 3/12/2011. I think it is proper to save it in our blog here.
2 comments:
Some nature disasters in our life time:
The Tangshan Earthquake (Richter Scale 7.8) was a natural disaster that occurred on July 28, 1976. It is believed to be the largest earthquake of the 20th century by death toll. The number of deaths initially reported by the Chinese government was 655,000. The epicenter of the earthquake was near Tangshan in Hebei, People's Republic of China.
The Loma Prieta earthquake, also known as the Quake of '89 and the World Series Earthquake was a major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area of California on October 17, 1989 with Richter Scale 7.1. The quake killed 63 people throughout northern California, injured 3,757 and left some 3,000-12,000 people homeless.
The 921 earthquake (九二一大地震, Richter Scale 7.3), also known as 集集大地震, which occurred on Tuesday, 21 September, 1999 in Jiji (集集), Nantou (南投) County, Taiwan. It was the second-deadliest quake in recorded history in Taiwan, after the 1935 Hsinchu-Taichung earthquake.
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea earthquake that occurred on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The earthquake triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (100 feet) high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia was the hardest hit, followed by Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.
The 2008 Sichuan earthquake (汶川大地震) was a deadly earthquake that measured at Richter Scale 8.0 occurred on May 12, 2008 in Sichuan province of China and killed at least 68,000 people. It was the deadliest earthquake to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed at least 240,000 people,
The 2010 Chilean earthquake occurred off the coast of either the Maule Region or the Biobío Region of Chile on February 27, 2010, rating a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, with intense shaking lasting for about three minutes. It ranks as the sixth largest earthquake ever to be recorded by a seismograph.
The 2010 Haiti earthquake (January 12) was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0. It is estimated that about three million people were affected by the quake. The Haitian Government reports that over 316,000 people had been identified as dead, an estimated 300,000 injured, and an estimated 1,000,000 homeless.
The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami (東北地方太平洋沖地震) was a 9.0-magnitude megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at on Friday 11 March 2011. The earthquake triggered extremely destructive tsunami waves of up to 10 meters that struck Japan minutes after the quake, in some cases traveling up to 10 km inland, with smaller waves reaching many other countries after several hours.
For those who like to watch the sky, examine the shot at 3:34. This is a serene & artistic night view of some place like Lake Louie in Canada, postcard quality. In this shot, on the upper right corner, you can see a star constellation like a tea pot. It is Sagittarius (半人馬座). Right next to it, you can see the tail of Scorpius (天蟹座). As to the bright star on the left hand side of Sagittarius, it is not a star, it must be a planet, perhaps Jupiter.
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