See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. (1 John 3:1-2, NRSV)
I first met Ruth on September 3, 1968. When my father’s business transferred my family from Chicago to St. Paul, I was beginning my junior year in high school. The first person who talked to me, welcomed me, and smiled at me to my new high school was Ruth.
By the year’s end we began dating (our first date was on May 29, 1969, the movie we saw was Charly, and it rained all evening). We were married on December 27, 1974. I have come to think of Ruth in terms of the word miracle.
It was a miracle that my family moved when we did, and I chose the high school at which Ruth was attending. It was a miracle that I met her that first day. It was a miracle that we began to be very close and started to date. It was a miracle that she fell in love with me (I had fallen in love with her long before the first date). It was a miracle that she married me (even though her dad told her as she walked up the aisle at St Bridget of Sweden Church that she could still get out of marrying me if she wanted to). Each of one of our children is a miracle. Each year of my life with Ruthie is a miracle. If you would ask me who has taught me the most about love, and how to live that love, it is Ruthie. When the author of the first letter of John exhorts his followers to see now greatly God has loved them, I have come to know how greatly I am loved by being in this miraculous relationship with Ruth. She is the incarnation of God’s love for me and I am blessed to be so very aware of it. I have often told her that when I grow up I want to be like her. Each passing day only affirms those words and sentiments of mine. She is the living image of God’s love for me, and this only inspires me to strive to better become that which God is calling me to be.
ABOUT THE MUSIC: This music is composed in my favorite meter, 5/4 time (5 beats grouped to every measure, a quarter note getting 1 beat). It is not common time like 3/4 , 4/4, or 2/4 time in which most music is composed. What is fun with this meter is where the accented beats (the stronger sounding beats) are placed in the measure. It can be 1,2,3,4,5 or 1,2,3,4,5. In this music, the accents sometimes falls on the second beat (note: the first measure of the song) 1,2,3,4,5.
The music is composed in the key of C major (no sharps or flats in the Key signature). It is in rondo form, namely, A1,A2,B1,A1,A2,C,A1,A2,D,A2,B2,A1,A2,Coda, with melody A (or its variant) being the dominant melody.
Psalm Offering 9 Opus 9 (c) 2018, Deacon Bob Wagner OFS. All rights reserved.
