All good gifts come from the Father of lights... and music!

Ode to Joy! Hear the voices soaring and the intricate counterpoint of the strings! The harmony! But especially after the rest of the 9th... you can't appreciate that sudden burst of ecstasy until you've listened to the quiet, even melancholy passages that precede it.... then suddenly the choir bursts forth and the whole orchestra resounds with rejoicing. And Beethoven was deaf when he wrote it! Oh, God, what a gift you have given to us in music! If this earthly choir, sculpted out of the dust by your hands, can stir my soul and lift my heart to You, how much more the throng that will surround Your throne, and the angelic choirs that sing, forever, Holy!