After I wrote yesterday’s reflection, I was walking myself and my dog, Spike-my 9 pound Min Pin (Miniature Pincher). Instead of listening to Irish traditional music, I decided to listen to some blues on my IPod.

It is important to know that the blues are deeply rooted in African American spirituality-the very spirituality which helped them endure the depravity of oppression. One song caught my attention.  It was We’re Gonna Make It. The song is so appropriate for today and the current economic climate.

We may not have a cent

To pay the rent

But we’re gonna make it.

We may have to eat beans everyday

But we’re gonna make it.

And if a job is hard to find

And we have to stand in the welfare line

I’ve got your love

And you’ve got mine

And we’re gonna make it.

Subsequent verses go on to talk about old cars, not having a home. The last stanza says:

We may have to fight hardship alone

But we’re gonna make it.

I know we will

“Cause togetherness

Brings peace of mind

We can’t stay down all the time.

I’ve got your love

You know you got mine

We’re gonna make it

I know we will.

Yes, we are gonna make it. We have love. We have one another’s love. We have God’s love. We have community. In addition, we know we are grafted unto the Great Lover:

I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do nothing.
. . .

If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. (Jn 15)

Contemplative living means that in everything-light and darkness, the good and the bad, joy and sorrow-we walk in the presence of the God who loves us into life. We know we ‘re gonna make it.

In The Spirituality of African Peoples, Peter J. Paris reminds us that, contrary to popular misconceptions,  African peoples had a belief in  a Supreme Being-the Source and Ground of All Life:

Then as now, they viewed this authentic gospel as centering on the parenthood of God and the kinship of all peoples under God. Since kinship among Christians implies the equality of persons in the community, the kinship of all peoples under God implies God’s opposition to those who threaten or destroy the equality of God’s people.

. . .

The new gospel that they enthusiastically embraced portrayed God as the liberator of all oppressed peoples and opposed to all bent on maintaining oppressive social systems. (41)

This gospel sustained African Americans in the oppression of slavery. It led them to believe that “we’re gonna make it.” It lead them to hide out in swamps where they could celebrate their faith in God. [Reminds me of my oppressed Irish forbears who hid in the hedgerows to celebrate Eucharist.] The people prayed to survive the oppression and also prayed for relief from oppression.

In spite of the oppression of war and the unjust economy, we are gonna make it. We’re gonna make it because God is with us. We may not always have the best of cars and houses but we have what counts. We have the love of God flowing through our branches and we entwine with loving communities which sustain us.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

We’re gonna make it.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do nothing.

We’re gonna make it.
. . .

If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.

We ARE gonna make it!