#if I were billy I would resurrect and let them all die fr

[a-nameless-dreamer]

you know what, dustin? fuck you.

[loyolahcmass]

Homily on We Didn’t Start the Fire by Billy Joel

Here is the preview of Fr. Rossi’s homily on the song song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel:

We Didn’t Start the Fire Homily

 We didn't start the fire

It was always burning since the world's been turning.

Billy Joel

 Billy Joel created the monster hit, “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” in 1989, when Joel had just turned 40. 

 The idea came out of a conversation he had with a friend, Sean Lennon. 

 Lennon had just turned 21, 19 years younger than Joel, and was complaining about how crazy it was to be living in his particular era.

 Lennon believed that his era was the weirdest ever, worse than any other time that had come before. 

 This inspired Joel to write a song that would prove that any age is filled with extremes and calamities.

 Starting from 1949 (the year in which he was born), Joel chronicles the major events that occurred from that time on in a rapid-fire delivery of names, places, and cultural works.

__________

 “I started doing that as a mental exercise.” 

 “It was kind of a mind game. 

 “It’s one of the few times I’ve written the lyrics first, which should be obvious to why I usually prefer to write the music first, because the melody is horrendous. 

 “It’s like a mosquito droning. 

 “It’s one of the worst melodies I’ve ever written. 

 “I kind of like the lyrics though.”

__________

 And so did a lot of other people, Mr. Joel!

 In fact, they liked the “horrendous” melody, too!

 It’s captivating and even hypnotic!

 It certainly has a powerful, driving force to it, unlike almost any song I know.

__________

 In fact, it was so captivating that the song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

 And, it’s generally considered Joel’s second greatest song ever, second only to “Piano Man”.

 It’s certainly been a radio mainstay for three decades.

__________

 “We Didn’t Start the Fire” is a reminder that no matter how crazy things are today, they have always been crazy and will continue to be crazy.

 It is a time capsule of political and cultural events that ticks off for the listener the moments that shaped Billy Joel’s perspective on the world.

 Particularly striking is the pattern of events that followed World War II and ran through the beginning, middle, and end of the Cold War. 

 There are incessant recaps reminding us that a devastating nuclear war threatened large segments of the population of the planet.

 So, even though we may be living in what we think is a calamitous time, Billy Joel makes the chronological claim that his formative years were just as bad, maybe worse.

 There was an overwhelming fear that the world was going to end.

__________

 The emotional result of the song is this notion that as time moves forward things don’t improve.

 This is especially felt during the lyric, “but when we are gone it will still burn on and on and on…”

 The message is reassuring in one way: “it’s always been this way”.

 But, it’s also very disheartening and hopeless in another: “you can’t do anything about it”.

__________

 “The Lord Jesus Christ gives us a new birth to a living hope.”

1st Letter of Saint Peter

 This may be true on the global and political scene, but it is not so personally, if you believe in Christ’s Resurrection.

 On the Christian spiritual plain, there is hope, and the Gospel today shows this.

__________

 The setting is the night of the Sunday after Easter.

 In other words, tonight is the anniversary of these events approximately 2000 years ago.

 Some of Jesus’ followers, the Apostle Thomas in particular, are in despair.

 They saw Christ die, so don’t tell them that he’s risen from the dead.

 They did not see Him rise. As far as they’re concerned, he’s still dead and there’s no hope.

 Even after the women see the Resurrected Christ and after most of the apostles swear to Thomas that Jesus appeared to them on Easter Sunday itself, he won’t let go of his disbelieve.

 He refuses to be hopeful.

__________

 But Jesus refuses, too.

 He refuses to let Thomas alone with his hopelessness.

 He refuses to let him get comfortable in his desolation.

 He comes to Thomas, he doesn’t wait for Thomas to come to him.

 Jesus shows him what he asks for, his wounds, and then goes even further, he makes Thomas actually touch the wounds by which he died for Thomas’ sins and ours.

__________

 I don’t know what Billy Joel’s faith is, or if he has any faith at all, but I do know one thing.

 Joel has faith in gloom, at least as far as conditions in the world in general are concerned.

 It’s always been bad; it’s bad now, and it will be bad in the future, if the world survives that is.

 And because his only remedy for this gloom is cynicism, I think he might be cynical about the soul, his soul and ours, too.

__________

 Christ on the other hand says, believe in me and no matter what happens in the world around you, you’ll get through it and also have the courage to try to make your world a better place.

 With this in mind, I think Psalm 118 is right on the mark,

 “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love is everlasting.”