Pie Jesu - Hayley Westenra

I just love the angelic voice of Hayley Westenra. This is the best rendition of Pie Jesu that I have ever heard. Her voice quite easily surpasses all of those previous singers that I have heard.

I have all her latest CDs and even get concert tickets to live shows. Her voice is amazing and her success well deserved. I marvel at the beauty of the universe that I see around me, because it has thought of everything in advance.

No One's Ever Really Gone

The word requiem approximates to "rest". In this case, rest for the soul to be at peace. The Romans used it to mean a mass ceremony for the dead. All the civilised religions of the world, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Judaism, believe that there should be a ceremony for the soul because no one's ever really gone.

The Romans also believed that the soul could see and hear everything happening on the earthly plane for a short time. Sometimes it is unaware that it is no longer alive, and needs guidance to cross over to reach god. This is especially true if the end of the body came quickly and the soul was detached from the body very quickly. For that reason, a requiem ceremony helps the soul cross over into the kingdom of god. You can appreciate the music much better if you understood what the words meant, and they are very simple elegant Latin words that everyone can understand.

My Translation

Pie ~ Sweet

Jesu ~ Jesus

Qui tollis peccata mundi ~ Who takes away the sins of the world

Dona eis requiem ~ Grant them rest

Dona ~ grant

Eis ~ them

Requiem ~ rest

Agnus Dei ~ Lamb of God

Sempiternal ~ Everlasting.