The Loyola community celebrated the Lenten season’s reflective nature with music provided by Christian recording artist Kara Klein.
Loyola’s Office of Mission and Ministry hosted a concert with musician Kara Klein on Feb. 27 as a part of their Lenten retreat. The concert served as a reflection about Lent and how to derive joy from the season as participants are more opened up to what God has to provide.
Jesuit Center Fellow Nick Courtney, who coordinated the event, spoke of how integral music was to the event that evening.
“I don’t think anyone who attended walked away being able to separate the music from the entire experience. They got something that was more holistic and, I think, more powerful,” Courtney said.
Music therapy junior Christine Johnson said that she related to the musical focus that Klein brought into her performance
“As a musician myself, part of my Lenten commitment has been trying to get back into music making and composing music, so I wanted to meet somebody who composes their own music, specifically spiritual. It was really great to be able to come and meet Kara and hear her speak,” Johnson said. Klein’s performance and speech also confronted the suffering of those around us and of ourselves as she spoke of how God meets us in dark, desperate places.
“I think her particular talk was important because on the one hand it brought up this important and very hard issue of suffering, but it also did what Lent should do, which is offer hope,” Courtney said.
J. Michael McMahon, president of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, expressed strong feelings about the inclusion of music in religious practices.
“Music is an integral part of Christian worship in part because of its sacramental quality, opening the human spirit to an experience of God’s presence. At the same time, music expresses the human response of wonder and awe, in praise and thanksgiving, in prayer and repentance, in a way that no other art or language can,” McMahon said.
Alaina Meynard can be reached at [email protected]
