Those of us who live with teenagers know that music can cause intense suffering. But despite this, music is one of our most accessible sources of blessing. Martin Luther said: ‘Beautiful music is the art of the prophets.’ And speaking of Mozart, Sir Georg Solti said: ‘Mozart makes you believe in God.’
Many of us have found that music, at its deepest level, can touch our inmost being in the same way that prayer, at its deepest level, does. Both allow emotions to pour out that are too deep to be faced by the conscious mind. Poets, philosophers and psychologists still ponder the link between beauty and the spiritual. But whether you can explain it or not, both of them – music and prayer – are there for us to experience if we choose to; a way for each of us into the presence of God.