What better way could there be to honor the life and teachings of a Doctor of the Catholic Church than through song? That’s just what famed Catholic singer Matt Maher did back in 2009 when he released a splendid song based on the life and writings of St. Augustine of Hippo, patron of brewers, printers, theologians, and philosophers.
The tune, “Alive Again,” stands as a testament to Maher’s enduring talent, as it shows that the high quality of his music has gone unchanged over the course of 15 years. It is a rocking faith anthem that belongs in a big arena, with an emotional melody that really lets the singer show off his power to belt out a chorus.
The lyrics speak of coming to one’s faith late in life after a long struggle against seeing the light. Maher beautifully illustrates the disoriented feeling one might have when unexpectedly placed on the road to conversion:
I woke up in darkness, surrounded by silence
Oh where, where have I gone?
I woke to reality losing its grip on me
Oh where, where have I gone?
'Cause I can see the light before I see the sunrise
Around the time of the song’s release, Maher took his camera out to the Arizona desert to watch the sun rise from the top of a hill. As the morning came closer he showed how the sun’s light reaches the world before the sun has even come into view, explaining that this is what he referred to in the song.
“You can see the light on the horizon, but you can’t see where it’s coming from and I tend to think of that as like the presence of God in the world. You’re seeing the effects of him everywhere but you don’t necessarily recognize the source of it yet.”
As the video progressed, he moved on to St. Augustine of Hippo, and how the saint inspired Maher to write the piece. He began by noting how Augustine was a pagan as a teenager and lived a sinful life that saw him abandon his family and have a child out of wedlock. Later in life, however, St. Augustine converted to become a man of such devout and inspiring faith that he was named a Doctor of the Church:
“His insights into Christ were so vast, and that's the Holy Spirit that grants wisdom and revelation. He has this poem where he says ‘late have I loved you, beauty ever ancient and ever new,’ and he talks about how as a young man he went into the world in search of God, but because he didn’t encounter God first in his own heart, it was in the lovely places of the world that he basically got stolen away further from God.
"To me that’s a really great analogy for Western culture as it stands right now, which is we dive deeper and deeper into the world in search of God and Truth, and beauty, and love, but without God in our hearts the world ends up being the thing that steals us further away from God. It’s kind of like in order to see the world for what it truly could be, you need the eyes of Christ. Otherwise you don’t see the potential. All you see is the brokenness, the reality of sin. You can only see the reality of Grace through the eyes of Jesus, which live inside of you.”
In 2024, Matt Maher began dedicating more of his time to producing thoughtful reflections on the saints, Scripture, and various other aspects of Catholicism. Hear more deeply religious musings from this esteemed Catholic musician at his official Youtube channel.
