Praise God and console the soul

"Brother, the children of this world have no understanding of the things of God. Formerly, the saints used such musical instruments as the zither, psalteries, and others to praise God and console their soul; now these instruments promote vanity and sin, contrary to the will of the Lord." - St. Francis of Assisi

I came across this quotation while reading John Michael Talbot's The Lessons of St. Francis: How to Bring Simplicity and Spirituality Into Your Daily Life (written with Steve Rabey). (The book did not give notes about where Talbot/Rabey found this quotation, and I have not been able to locate the source with a quick search. I'd like to know where it came from so I can read more.)

I immediately thought of contemporary music - so much of it full of messages that promote vanity and sin. Then I thought of contemporary Christian music, some of which is wonderful and inspiring, but some of which, sadly, seems banal, overly pop-influenced, and ultimately not really worshipful.

But then I thought about the local art museum.

We were there last week. There were many wonderful paintings, sculptures, and so on. I paused in front of many works to take them in.

So much truth, beauty, and goodness.

But I noticed that there were a number of modern/contemporary works that were disturbing, and not in a good sense. Yes, it's fine if a work disturbs us because it helps us to see something that needs to be corrected or improved, or shows us something about ourselves that we may not have realized. But these works were violent, disturbed, chaotic, discouraging. Rather than uplifting us or rousing us to take action, they made us feel worse about the world and ourselves.

They created hopelessness, not hope. Ugliness, not beauty. 

They struck me as false, not true.

I actually hurried out of one room full of these works to seek out a room with the works of some Masters. Yes, the Masters also showed some of the darker parts of life, but they conveyed a sense of hope. You got a sense that we can do better.

Too much of the modern/contemporary work seemed to convey the message that we can't expect anything to get better, so we might as well just give up trying.

I later scribbled:

At the museum
seeking truth, beauty, goodness -
find the Masters' rooms.

This is not to say that there were not some wonderful works among the more modern. There were indeed some really nice pieces. But they seemed to be the exceptions, not the rule.

The St. Francis quotation gave voice to what I've been thinking since: We do indeed need more that praises God and consoles the soul.

Pax et bonum