Bob Dylan and St. John Paul II

[tinytherese]

Since BarbaraTherese wrote a couple posts recently mentioning Bob Dylan, I was reminded of something I read in a book. At the Heart of the Gospel: Reclaiming the Body for the New Evangelization by Christopher West mentions Bob Dylan and St. John Paul II. The second paragraph is when the singer is mentioned, but you need to read the first for context.

 

       “When the Church’s teaching is presented without beauty---in a dry, cold, mechanical, doctrinaire way, for example---the heart rarely (if ever) responds, even if what’s being presented is true. Worse still, when the Church’s teaching is set to an ‘ugly tune,’ so to speak---for example, when our presentation of truth is tinged with self-righteousness, condemnation, accusation, or judgmentalism---the truth can even come across as an affront to our hearts. And when this happens, our hearts revolt---with good reason: we’re made for beauty. . . Conversely, when we seek beauty as an end in itself, cutting it off from truth---the truth of God and the truth of the human made in God’s image---we ‘porn’ it. By this I mean we reduce beauty to the merely physical level and fixate ourselves on it for the sake of a selfish, base gratification of our bodily senses, cut off from transcendental truth.” (204)

          “Where reality has been ‘twisted’ in their songs, perhaps we can help ‘untwist’ it, showing them that Christ has been hidden in their heart’s music all along. As I have learned over the years, doing so can become a powerful catechetical tool in sharing the Gospel. John Paul II, himself, took this approach with the music of Bob Dylan after the famous singer performed at the 1997 Eucharistic Congress in Bologna. Quoting from Dylan's Song ‘Blowin’ in the (209) Wind,’ John Paul asked, ‘How many roads must a man walk before he becomes a man’? I answer you, One! There is only one road for man and it is Christ.’ And what is the answer ‘blowing in the wind’? ‘The breath and voice of the Spirit,’ John Paul insisted, ‘a voice that calls and says, ‘Come’ ’ (address, September 17, 1997).” (210)

 

Here's the singer's performance for the pope.

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by tinytherese

[BarbTherese]

Lyrics can be found here on his official site :  https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/

My take and thanks TT.   Bob wont reach a (not THE) climax of his personal journey until he becomes Catholic, if he does.........with The Blessed Eucharist as foundation and summit.  No reason not to follow him in his journey now and pray for him as he goes.  Perhaps a call to do so. I think Bob's most beautiful lyrics and music were after he became Christian.  I have followed him now and prayed for him for probably 35 years.  He doesn't sing of his doctrine/his personal beliefs of necessity, but always from his road, his journey and where he is at, his personal now.  I have almost watched him unfold, I think.

If anything was a cry from darkness, what you presented TT, from Bob's Bologna presentation, and the songs Bob sang were such a cry.

But we all have our own perspective as any true artist worth his/her salt will recognize, appreciate and affirm as valid.  The following is perhaps a reflection of where he had been at, where he is now as well as questions posed to us.  Past, present and future.

 

Bob is not perfect and never claims to be so.  He is journeying and knows it.  I dont take every song or lyric Bob writes on board.......I really would be crazy if I did.

 

 

Image of Bob today, more or less: .........................

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by BarbTherese

[BarbTherese]

Bob Dylan's two speeches on receiving the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for Literature https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2016/dylan/speech/

[Francis Coffee]

Bob lived up the block from Blessed Sacrament Parish in Hibbing, and probably walked by everyday on his way to High School

wonderful parish: https://www.blessedsacramenthibbing.org/

At some point it must have made some impression on him

 

[BarbTherese]

5 hours ago, Francis Coffee said:

 https://www.blessedsacramenthibbing.org/

At some point it must have made some impression on him

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