ST. FRANCIS AND SURGEONS

ST. FRANCIS AND SURGEONS
Some years ago, I was asked to address the Oregon Medical Association during a crucial time when legislature was being presented to change the course of health care in the U.S. An agreement between insurance companies and health care providers determining whether to cover health conditions which were “not cost efficient” was being proposed. The legislature would have allowed providers and insurance companies to deny care to those whose condition cost them too much. It was a juncture in history which would have altered health care as we have come to know it. I was asked to address the power of music as a means of assisting the healing process. A few days before I was to appear in Portland, I received a call from the woman in charge. She was reluctant to address her concern to me. She said that a number of her group were very concerned about the proposals coming forth and it was the opinion of many of those in charge of the event that the meeting should be opened with a prayer. They were harkening back to the founding of the nation when Benjamin Franklin asserted that prayer was needed at the Continental Congress as they were making such important decisions that would effect countless generations in the future. She was very concerned that if they prayed openly in the meeting, it was likely that representatives from the ACLU would likely close down the meeting. Still, the committee felt it was important. She asked if there was such a thing as a prayer set to music. I assured her that there were many. I told her I would be happy to comply with her wishes. When the moment came, I was announced to sing an opening song. I moved to the piano and sang the famous prayer of St. Francis of Assisi set to music by Olive Dungan as Eternal Life Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace Where there is hatred, let me sow love Where there is injury, pardon Where there is doubt, faith Where there is despair, hope Where there is darkness, light Where there is sadness, joy O divine master, grant that I may not so much seek, To be consoled, as to console To be understood, as to understand To be loved, as to love For it is in giving that we receive It is in pardoning that we are pardoned It is in dying that we are born to eternal life When I finished thousands of participants said, “Amen.” The music provided a means of meditation and invocation without offense. Music has the power to bypass religious, social, political differences and speak to the heart. It has no boundaries or language misunderstanding becoming a universal communication.