First off, I want to give some mad props to all of the awesome music/video collaborations that have been happening over the last year, but I'm just so pumped by this new trend. The Vigil Project was huge in making that a thing, and I'm excited to see more artist/film maker teams make more of these.
Now can I just talk about how awesome it is to see Fransciscan Friars worshiping with LEGIT original music? A lot of times art that priests and religious make can be over celebrated simply because of the novelty that is associated with a priest making art, which is why "Rising" struck me. I would have loved this song regardless of who wrote it. The lyrics are simple, but profound, the instrumentation is dynamic and open, and the spirit behind it full of worship and intimacy. The fact that it was the CFR's makes it just icing on top instead of the predominate reason for the enjoyment.
Also, it's awesome to see the diversity present in the group. A lot of times our Catholic art can just come off as a bit on the white side. This is just not a problem for the CFR's, is it?
As for the Video, there's just something so beautiful about the way the Spirit Juice team has of celebrating music and submerging you in whatever song they are filming. The lighting in this video makes me feel like I'm waking up just as the dark is fading at the sky's edges. I think this particular shine that Spirit Juice has with music comes from Rob Kaczmark's own passion for music and history, which he talks about in our podcast here.
If you haven't seen the video they did with Fr. Pontifex, it's one of my favorite music videos ever and is very fitting for Lenten meditation.
This blog is by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, CoFounder of Catholic Creatives and Principle at Sherwood Fellows, an agency dedicated to anointing new Davids in their fight against Goliath.
