The Monthly Note
July-August 2011
The Millstone and the Zither
"Praise him with harp and lyre" (Ps 150).
by Éméry Désilets, O.P.
Do you know how Johann Sebastian Bach describes the origin of music in his family? His great-grandfather was a miller. At his mill, round and round went the millstone, whose noise was tiring. Fortunately, he would bring along his little zither. The zither’s charm would calm him from the moving millstone’s strident and monotonous noise. « A wonderful concert! He, thus, learned to firmly keep measure» (origin of the musical family Bach).
Thus goes life! We need the zither to remind us that our everyday struggle would be meaningless if it did not lead to a melody, that our undertakings would be meaningless if they did not improve and help us to blossom…
WE NEED THE MILLSTONE
Alas, we know it too well. We all know the exhausting noise of the millstone at work. We shouldn’t spare the turns of the millstone. We need the millstone to grind the grain of life, to give us the bread of friendship. Yes, eagerness in our work, steadfastness in our undertakings, we shouldn’t run out of that.
But, there is the zither
Without the zither, what would our life be? We need a zither! This zither that takes away boredom, that delights and rocks us. This zither that gives a meaning to our daily life, that elevates the heart, that makes our work easier, that gives breath and life, just like oxygen to lungs clogged with the carbon monoxide of our efforts and fears…
We need both the millstone and the zither. No one can escape it, it is time that regulates wear. Let us not become slaves of our work; let us take time to listen to the zither’s melody. It is the melody of friendship and solidarity.
It is the melody of the believer that embellishes the world in transforming it. (This note is inspired in large part from a book written by Father Bernard Bro, Dominican, which in entitled THE MILLSTONE AND THE ZITHER).
