By Joe Pisani
Twenty years ago, composer Father Michael Joncas, best known for the hymn “On Eagle’s Wings,” was diagnosed with the debilitating neurological disorder Guillain-Barre Syndrome, after he realized he couldn’t elevate the chalice during the consecration.
A lifetime of creating sacred music seemed as if it might end because of the disorder. He couldn’t play guitar anymore, and he endured constant tingling in his fingers and feet, which required medication.
“I was paralyzed for a while, and actually for the first two weeks of the experience, I have no memories at all, because they intubated me,” he recalled during a recent phone interview. “I have recovered to a certain extent … Some doors close and other doors open, so the fact that I can’t play guitar anymore is a little annoying, but now after 20 years, I’m used to it, and I’ve got other things that I can do.”
Several years ago, Father Joncas, who spoke recently at Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Stratford, wrote a book titled “On Eagle’s Wings: A Journey Through Illness Toward Healing” about his experience to offer comfort and hope for anyone suffering from chronic illness.
“It gave me a much deeper insight, both as a human being and as a priest, that many of us can live with great suffering, which is not immediately seen by others,” he said. “Sometimes it’s emotional or psychological or physical suffering. My experience has taught me to be attentive to folks. For example, it changed the way I do hospital visitations. I used to be a little more swift in going in and seeing if I got any response from a patient. If I didn’t see a response, I’d move on. But now I spend more time with folks, just praying with them or actually being in silence with them because I don’t know what’s going on in their interior life.”
In an interview with The Catholic Spirit, Father Joncas said that suffering can deepen one’s emotional and spiritual life and even teach us new ways of praying.
“Just as the experience has given me new insights for my ministry, so illness can deepen one’s empathy for other human beings,” he said.
Another change in his life is that he is more grateful, and he believes developing an “attitude of gratitude” is often the result of enduring a personal ordeal.
“I am grateful that I’m still alive in this world of space and time,” he said. And that even with the residuals (of the disorder), life is really worth living, and I’m thankful for it.”
Despite the challenges he confronted, Father Joncas undertook a major project of setting all Psalms for the three-year cycle for Sunday reading, and the last of those four volumes is due to be published this year by Liturgical Press.
“I was pretty clear that was my last contribution, and that I’d be very happy not to do any more musical composition,” he said, laughing. “But lo and behold, some of the sisters in one of the communities where I celebrate Mass asked me last month to set a series of lyrics they had created. And even though I hadn’t really written anything for probably more than a year, I did create that, which is something they’re singing this Easter time. So I guess what I’m saying is I think I’m done, but every once in a while, people ask me to do a little more writing.”
A native of Minnesota, Father has composed more than 20 collections of liturgical music, and the Michael Joncas Hymnary consists of two volumes. His music career began early. He started writing classical music in grade school and later won the Minnesota Young Composers Contest in high school with a composition for string quartets. Gradually, he moved into church music.
His signature composition, “On Eagle’s Wings,” was created when he was 26. In 50 years, it has offered hope and solace to countless people, including President Joe Biden, who quoted it after his son Beau’s death. Based on Psalm 91, the hymn was sung at tenor Luciano Pavarotti’s funeral in 2007 and performed after the Oklahoma City bombings in 1996 and at many funerals of those who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“On Eagle’s Wings” was composed in 1976 for Father Joncas’ friend Douglas Hall, a seminarian at Catholic University of America.
“I went to visit him and we went out to dinner,” he recalled. “When we came back, there was a message waiting for him that his dad had died of a heart attack. And so we prayed together. The next day he flew back to Omaha, and ‘On Eagle’s Wings’ was created between that evening and the wake service for his dad.”
Father Joncas sang the song at the wake and the funeral Mass. His friend Doug was ordained a priest and served with the military and in the Archdiocese of Omaha until his death a few years ago, when Father Joncas returned to Omaha to sing “On Eagle’s Wings” at his friend’s funeral.
“So I was able not only to sing for his dad, years earlier, but I was able to sing at the wake and funeral for Doug, too,” he said. “And that really touched me, and I hope it helped the family.”
Photo credit: DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
