Reflection - Autograph

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051418.cfm
Acts 1:15-17, 20-26
John 15:9-17

People carve their initials on tree trunks and write their names in the front of books. Children and dogs, among others, cannot resist leaving the signature of their hand prints in fresh cement. Although no one ever met Kilroy, he apparently found it necessary to frequently advise that "Kilroy was here." You might wonder if it’s something we just cannot resist doing.

Even on a sophisticated plane the practice is common. Artists sign their names to completed works, whether it’s a painting, a novel, a sculpture or a historical study. One of my favorite musical artists, John Denver, displayed his own life and experience in the words of his songs. Just how deeply and intimately he did so was not obvious to me until I listened one day to the words of one composition titled “Autograph” where he affirms it clearly.

This is my autograph
Here in the songs that I sing
Here in my cry and my laugh
Here in the love that I bring

Once I really listened to the words, I looked back on his other songs — Rocky Mountain High, Sunshine on My Shoulders, Annie’s Song, and so many more — and discovered a personal content that I didn’t recognize as present before. I suppose I should have, since that’s the way it’s always been. Many artists see their artistic work as an expression of themselves, where they are in life, the things that impact them, how they feel about world events and who they are.

Personally, I think the practice has divine origins; and that’s how these observations found their way into this reflection. Jesus’ spoke to his disciples about remaining in his love. John, the Apostle whom Jesus loved, after years to ponder his experience with the Lord, approached the same subject in a slightly different way.

God is love (1 John 4:8), says John. 

So if God wishes to express himself, if He wishes to convey where men can discover his presence, if He wishes to express the inmost secrets of his life, if He desires to manifest who he is, then, of necessity, his signature will be recognized in Love. We are God’s autograph, his signature work. We cannot escape the fact that it was out of love we were created; and out of love that we continue to exist. Like every artistic work, we are, in some way, a reprise of the essence of the author. So, the practice of signing one’s creative work does, indeed, have divine origins. That is why John first reminds the early Christians:

We know and believe the love God has for us.

And then goes on to say:

God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16)

It’s why Jesus will tell his disciples:

As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,

God has signed us with the only signature he has. It is a signature deep within us such that even the most hardened criminal is not necessarily devoid of its living presence. We are God’s autograph.

Here in the songs that we sing
Here in our cry and our laugh
Here in the love that we bring

AUTOGRAPH

Here I am closing my eyes again
Tryin' so hard not to see all the things that I see
Almost willing to lie again
I swear that it just isn't so, it just isn't me
We are never alone, even though we'd like to be
Then I go and open my eyes again
Love in your eyes is the thing that I'd most like to see
I'd be willing to die again
to know of a place and a time that it always will be

This is my autograph
Here in the songs that I sing
Here in My cry and my laugh
Here in the love that I bring

To be always with you
And you always with me
Say a prayer and open your heart again
you are the love and the light that we all need to see
always willin' to shine and then
Peace on this Earth is the way that it always can be

— John Denver —

"It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you: love one another."