New music from the Distant Spire.
This week’s music for meditation is called How Insignificant Earth Seems (When I Consider Heaven), so named, and inspired by the quote from St Ignatius. Before finding some quiet time for prayer, I invite you to read below for some context to the music for further reflection.
(I recommend headphones or full range speakers both for listening quality and to provide some isolation from the noise and business so you can more easily enter into a quiet time with the Lord).
Heaven Is The Ultimate Reality
It’s easy to imagine heaven as a place of fluffy clouds and angels with harps, and there are many religious artistic, poetic and theological works that have attempted to capture the grandeur of our heavenly reward. Any image however will fall short for;
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him”
(Corinthians 2:9)
The Catechism of The Catholic Church1, drawing on the Scriptures, articulates what heaven is in a beautiful and succinct way, and I encourage you to read the section on heaven in its entirety. Below are a few quotes:
“Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfilment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness.” (CCC 1024)
“To live in heaven is “to be with Christ. The elect live “in Christ, but they retain, or rather find, their true identity, their own name. For life is to be with Christ; where Christ is, there is life, there is the kingdom.” (CCC 1026)
“This mystery of blessed communion with God and all who are in Christ is beyond all understanding and description. Scripture speaks of it in images: life, light, peace, wedding feast, wine of the kingdom, the Father’s house, the heavenly Jerusalem, paradise: “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.” (CCC 1027)
The ‘mystery of blessed communion…is beyond all understanding and description’, however we can still, as St Ignatius said, consider heaven, as it will help us see that everything the world has to offer is insignificant in comparison. I hope the music for this week helps evoke such consideration, no matter how short it might fall in capturing heaven in its fullness.
We see dimly through the mists and vapours;
Amid these earthly damps
What seems to us but sad, funeral tapers
May be heaven’s distant lamps.Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ‘Resignation’2
Additional Notes
One of the aspects of the Catholic faith I have grown to really appreciate is the shear number of great teachers, writers and theologians that we can draw inspiration from and continue to learn about. It’s easy to highlight the failures of popes, bishops and priests but I think it’s better to focus on those that have been a powerful witness for Christ, of which there are so many more. Here are a couple that I have recently discovered and I am keen to learn more about:
The newly canonised St John Henry Newman was a name I had only come across through quotes until now. I looked him up on Wikipedia and I found his story of conversion from Anglicanism and later influence in the Catholic Church fascinating. I am now on the lookout in my favourite used bookstores for any of his writings, and a biography.
Angelus Silesius was a completely new name to me until last week, when I was sent a poem called The Cherubinic Wanderer, and it sent me down the rabbit hole of mystical poetry and apophatic theology. It’s interesting to me how it overlaps with other mystical writings such as The Cloud Of Unknowing, The Interior Castle etc, and I hope it will enhance my understanding of Carmelite spirituality, which is prominent in my parish.
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🎵 The Distant Spire is a reader supported project that does not currently receive any financial support and content is free. Music from The Distant Spire is also available through the links below.
I highly value your comments and encouragement so please leave a comment if what you enjoy what you hear, and if it resonates with you or helps you in any way.
Thanks for being a part of the journey in growing deeper in union with our Heavenly Father through meditation and music.
You can read more about The Distant Spire and the concept behind it on my About Page.
D.A Sigley
The Distant Spire
Footnotes and Resources
Music written, recorded and produced by Dale Sigley ©2025
Scripture quotes from Revised Stand Version: Catholic Edition ©1989, 1993.
Church, U. C. (1994). The Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Longfellow, H. W. (c1895). The poetical works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Ward, Lock and Co.
