"Shut Up and Dance"

Shut Up and Dance

 First I know it has been a while since I have posted a new blog and I am sorry but life got a bit crazy with applications and moving. I will get into all of that in a different blog but tonight I wanted to focus on a song that for the past few months helped me stay focused on my vocation. I have to say that some may feel that this is a bit of a stretch but I have found that while many hear a song and think of a relationship with their significant other, many times I relate the song to my relationship with God, Church or my Faith. The song is “ Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the moon.  Below is the full lyrics and video at the end of the blog. I have to state that first the “Catholic Church” when it is referenced as gender is female in nature. With that being understood the lyrics to the song will make more sense. 

     Life for me has revolved around my vocation and everything that goes along with it. The applications for both the diocese and the seminary, psychological tests and interviews, meetings, moving and packing, etc....... it has been a whirl wind at times and even to the point where I felt that my life was no longer my own anymore. I don’t know when that shift happened but it hit me these past few months. I understood and knew full well that it is part of what I am doing but when your in the midst of it and it hits, it kind of knocks you for a loop. Then this song came along and it helped me to keep focus on the reason why my life is as it is at this point. 

      The song is about meeting up with a girl at a club, just going with it, forgoing what is around them, just focus on each other and dance. How do I get being focused on my vocation from that you may ask? It hit me from the first time I heard that song to be honest. I will break apart the song lyrics and explain it that way. 

 "Oh don't you dare look back.

Just keep your eyes on me."

I said, "You're holding back, "

She said, "Shut up and dance with me!"

This woman is my destiny

She said, "Ooh-ooh-hoo,

Shut up and dance with me."

   For me at times during these past few months I would think about forgetting all of it and just stay in the life that I was leaving. In essence looking back to the life I was leaving to follow my vocation. The church is where my eyes needed to be focused on and nothing else. Yet, I was feeling at times how hard it was to continue without the “yes” from the church that all was heading in the right direction. That I was taking many leaps of faith during this time and I know that it is what I should be doing but doubts do settle in and take hold at times. Then she says just “Shut up and Dance”. Have you ever just put aside everything, and I mean everything that is in your head and heart, and just went with it. It is like when your at a party and your song comes on and before the first beat is finished your up and dancing with no regard to what anyone else thinks. Your just living in the moment and enjoying it, your life. That is what I felt like at times also during these months. Knowing and feeling that the church, my vocation to the priesthood, is my destiny. Then when that feeling or notion clicks for me, it is that just “shut up” all of those doubts or questions and just dance with the idea of your destiny. 

    We were victims of the night,

The chemical, physical, kryptonite

Helpless to the bass and the fading light

Oh, we were bound to get together,

Bound to get together.

    The lyrics speak about being taken up in the moment and no matter what else we were bound to get together. No matter what direction my life has taken, it always ends up back to the God, the Church and the Priesthood. This idea of a vocation has always been there no matter how far or close I was to the church. It is like when you see your destination on your GPS but yet for whatever reason you miss it, you know a better way then the GPS, you want to take the longer route or even realize you are getting to your destination before you are ready to be there (party starts at 4pm and its 3:45pm, so you of course need to kill some time till). It was bound to happen. This decision to discern my vocation and respond to what I feel was bound to happen because those feelings never diminished in my life but grew. I could not ignore that constant voice in my head that I tried to lower the volume or mute at times, well most of the time. The way my life is now was bound to happen. 

She took my arm,

I don't know how it happened.

We took the floor and she said,

     I can not say how this all happened or why it all happened the way that it did but I know it was always the church that guided me in one way or another. There was always that underlying current of the church that guided me in the direction of my life. I can look back and see where God guided me and where the Church help remind me of where my life needed to be heading vs where it was heading at the time. 

Deep in her eyes,

I think I see the future.

I realize this is my last chance

    When I am kneeling or sitting in the church, doesn’t matter what church it is, I look around as I pray and I really can see my future there. On the alter I look and think just how it will be to say mass. I look at the confessionals and I wonder what will it be like to hear confessions. My eyes gaze around thinking of all the sacraments that I will be part of.... Baptisms, Marriage, First Eucharist, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Confirmation and Holy Orders. I never say a future anywhere else in my life but with the church it always was there. When I was away from the church my life did not really have a clear future at all. I am happiest when I am at the church and being a part of that life. I think about being a Priest. How I want to reach out and serve. I can not see my life any differently then the direction I am heading nor, do I want it any other way. Sometimes after the last mass is celebrated, and I am helping close up the church, the lights are all off and I am walking from on end of the church to the other, I just stop in the center bow to Jesus in the Tabernacle and smile. That smile hits my core and I know this is right for me right now. My life is within the Church and I will continue to discern that life and pray it is that of being a Priest. I know this really is my chance to search for my future in the church as I am in the seminary. 

       I know this song for some may not make much sense or see it as I do but that is the great thing about music. What I get out of it may not be the same as someone else. For me this song has kept me focused on where my life is heading and my future vocation within the church. For me it is time to just “ Shut Up and Dance”. 

Until next time, God Bless, and remember to dance with all your heart, mind and soul as  you find your own destination and maybe your own vocation within the church. 

"Shut Up And Dance"

"Oh don't you dare look back.

Just keep your eyes on me."

I said, "You're holding back, "

She said, "Shut up and dance with me!"

This woman is my destiny

She said, "Ooh-ooh-hoo,

Shut up and dance with me."

We were victims of the night,

The chemical, physical, kryptonite

Helpless to the bass and the fading light

Oh, we were bound to get together,

Bound to get together.

She took my arm,

I don't know how it happened.

We took the floor and she said,

"Oh, don't you dare look back.

Just keep your eyes on me."

I said, "You're holding back, "

She said, "Shut up and dance with me!"

This woman is my destiny

She said, "Ooh-ooh-hoo,

Shut up and dance with me."

A backless dress and some beat up sneaks,

My discothèque, Juliet teenage dream.

I felt it in my chest as she looked at me.

I knew we were bound to be together,

Bound to be together

She took my arm,

I don't know how it happened.

We took the floor and she said,

"Oh, don't you dare look back.

Just keep your eyes on me."

I said, "You're holding back, "

She said, "Shut up and dance with me!"

This woman is my destiny

She said, "Ooh-ooh-hoo,

Shut up and dance with me."

Oh, come on girl!

Deep in her eyes,

I think I see the future.

I realize this is my last chance.

She took my arm,

I don't know how it happened.

We took the floor and she said,

"Oh, don't you dare look back.

Just keep your eyes on me."

I said, "You're holding back, "

She said, "Shut up and dance with me!"

This woman is my destiny

She said, "Ooh-ooh-hoo,

Shut up and dance!"

"Don't you dare look back.

Just keep your eyes on me."

I said, "You're holding back, "

She said, "Shut up and dance with me!"

This woman is my destiny

She said, "Ooh-ooh-hoo,

Shut up and dance with me."

Ooh-ooh-hoo, shut up and dance with me [x2]