Expressing Our Grief

Did you watch Andrea Bocelli yesterday singing in a cathedral in Italy? It was an amazing experience waiting for the concert to begin, watching the numbers waiting to watch rise until they reached over 3 million people! It was wonderful, during this time of social isolation, to feel united with the people all around the globe, who wanted to hear Andrea sing.

I hadn’t heard him sing for many years, so I was shocked to see how thin and old he was looking. I realized he must be feeling so much grief at the loss of so many lives to coronavirus in Italy. He stood all alone in the cathedral, accompanied only by an organ, with no microphones visible, and began to sing Panis Angelicus. Blessedly, I began to cry and for the next few songs, all the tears that had been stored up inside me during the past few weeks were able to be released. I felt a lot better.

I have been rereading the book The Language of Emotions by Karla McLaren, and she says that experiencing grief ‘drops you directly into the river of all souls.’ (pg 311). What a helpful, accurate way to describe it. It was good to find a way to naturally join the river of grief that is being experienced all around the world.

If you didn’t see the concert, it is available on You Tube. Just google ‘Andrea Bocelli You Tube’ and you will find it. May it facilitate you feeling the unexpressed emotions you need/want to feel, whether that be joy, hope, sadness, grief.. or all of them!