We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
  • Compact Disc (CD)

    ships out within 15 days

      $20 AUD or more 

     

  • Sheet Music

    ships out within 15 days

      $18 AUD or more 

     

  • There's a discount of $5 if you buy a CD and book bundle.

    ships out within 15 days

      $33 AUD or more 

     

about

The title track from the CD was inspired from a couple of sources. I heard a sermon by a good friend on a story in the gospel of Mark. A woman had been sick all her life. Her particular ailment, together with the cultural (read patriarchal) baggage of the time, branded her unclean - a pariah. Jesus happened to be on his way to (yet another) life and death situation. With nothing to lose she touched Jesus’ cloak as he went by, in the hope of drawing "healing power" from him. In so doing she took a huge risk in being further ostracised, not to mention socially embarrassing Jesus (not that he would have cared) and making him unclean according to the same baggage.

I was struck by her courage, by her reaching out long after she might have given up hope. Shower Of Grace is really her song, at least how I imagine she might have felt. The other person who inspired me was Richard Rohr, a Catholic monk who has much to say on how we deal with our pain. Richard asks "Will we be small and bitter by the time we get to sixty, blaming everyone else for our misfortunes? Or will we have found a way through our pain that leaves us wiser, at peace, paradoxically with hope?" It made me think perhaps the woman in the story had not succumbed to bitterness, but grown taller, even before she touched Jesus.

lyrics

(Mark 5: 21-34)

Who can understand this man-messiah
Who turns no-one away, turns no-one away?
Who can understand how just a simple touch
Can heal my wounded heart, heal my wounded heart.

There’s nothing I can do
To scare your grace away
No foolish thing I do
No foolish thing I say
Under the shadow of a cross
Under a shower of grace
I feel the Father’s healing hands
And touch His smiling face

You don’t fear the things that make me hide in shame
You love me as I am, love me as I am
Take this burdened heart, lift these chains away
Turn bitterness to peace, bitterness to peace.

Where your Spirit leads, I know tears may follow
The wind blows where it will, wind blows where it will
Yet I trust in you and pray for tomorrow
Turn sorrow into joy, sorrow into joy.

credits

from Shower of Grace, songs from a lifetime, track released January 1, 1999

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Paul Gioia Perth, Australia

For decades Paul Gioia performed a unique mix of pumped up blues and gospel piano, as well as accordion and hammond organ. With a background steeped in blues and jazz, Paul performed in a number of solo, duet and band configurations, including tin dog and the Paul Gioia Trio. Paul sadly passed away in 2019. ... more

contact / help

Contact Paul Gioia

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Paul Gioia, you may also like: