St. John the Divine is the well-known and massive cathedral of the Episcopal Church on the upper West Side of Manhattan (not too far from the Commonweal office). It is named for the Evangelist St. John, who is designated by the Great Tradition of the Undivided Church, "the divine," "the theologian."

But, for me, there is another John the Theologian, whose faith and profundity are a continual source of nourishment: Johann Sebastian Bach. Thus I was delighted to find these words in the Orthodox theologian David Hart's book, The Beauty of the Infinite. "Bach is the greatest of Christian theologians, the most inspired witness to the ordo amoris in the fabric of being."

It has been my practice for more than thirty years to listen to Bach's John Passion each Good Friday, before the celebration of the Liturgy. And my proximate preparation for the Easter Vigil is to listen to the magnificent Cantata 4: Christ Lay in Death's Bonds."

But, if one were forced to chose the Everest of Bach's Himalaya, one would probably agree with the late Stephen Jay Gould that the B Minor Mass is "the greatest work of music ever written."

The Gloria of the B Minor Mass has a typically Bach touch that recapitulates an entire spiritual world. He sets the phrase "Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam" to a wonderfully spacious melody for the chorus. But, at the very end of the Mass, the same melody reappears as the final chorus: "Dona nobis pacem."

Doing so, Bach has brought the whole composition to a magnificently inclusive climax musically. But, even more, he has underscored the diastole and systole of our spiritual lives. "We give you thanks for your great glory ... grant us your peace."

A blessed Easter.