“Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” (Isaiah 2:3)
Like Isaiah, we are called to follow the Light of Christ, even when facing darkness in our lives, societies, and world. Let us pray together in the words of our beloved hymn, Christ Be Our Light, sung by our own Sofia Scattarreggia. And, in the knowledge that God will raise us out of darkness if we are but faithful and call upon him, let us meditate on the words of Ray Palmer's hymn, O Jesus, Joy of Loving Hearts, inspired by the words of 12th-century poet Bernard of Clairvaux and presented today by James McCarthy and Margaret. 1. O Jesus, joy of loving hearts, The fount of life and our true light, We seek the peace your love imparts, And stand rejoicing in your sight. 2. We taste in you our living bread, and long to feast upon you still; We drink of you, the fountainhead, Our thirsting souls to quench and fill. 3. For you our restless spirits yearn Where’er our changing lot is cast; Glad, when your presence we discern, Blest, when our faith can hold you fast. 4. O Jesus, ever with us stay; Make all our moments calm and bright; O chase the night of sin away, Shed o’er the world your holy light.
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“Stay awake and be ready! For you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” (Mt 24: 42a, 44)11/5/2020 "The Lord says: ‘I am pondering thoughts of peace and not of affliction; you shall call upon me, and I will hear you; and I will bring you back from all the lands where you are held captive.”
(Jer 29: 11-12, 14) This is a message of great hope as we near Advent, the season of hope and anticipation. And let us also regard it as a message for hope in our times: There is turmoil in our world, but through our faith we have been given the opportunity to align our footsteps with our Lord (remember Sunday’s Offertory Antiphon--“Guide my footsteps, O Lord, according to your word, so that no iniquity may ever gain the upper hand, O Lord.” (Psalm 119:133)--to be led at last out of darkness and into His Love. The Church’s juxtaposition of Christ the King Sunday and Advent gives a sense of continuous anticipation—both for our Lord’s Second Coming, and for our Lord’s Nativity. Indeed, our whole lives are an Advent, as we await our Lord’s coming, and as we constantly seek to live in a way that will lead us closer to Him. How shall we live out this call of “waiting and watching” in the time between now and Christmas? What music will lead us into a state of greater readiness to meet our Lord when He comes? Here are two pieces to get us started: The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns (I like this recording because of the congregational singing—we eagerly await the day when we will be able to sing in full voice together again!) This hymn is in our hymnal under “Advent,” but the content relates just as much to the Second Coming. Here is John Brownlie’s poem in full; only four or five of the seven stanzas appear in most modern hymnals. The King shall come when morning dawns and light triumphant breaks, when beauty gilds the eastern hills, and life to joy awakes. Not as of old a little child to bear, and fight, and die, but crowned with glory like the sun that lights the morning sky. O brighter than the rising morn when He, victorious, rose and left the lonesome place of death, despite the rage of foes. O brighter than that glorious morn shall this fair morning be, when Christ, our King, in beauty comes, and we His face shall see. The King shall come when morning dawns, and earth's dark night is past; O haste the rising of that morn, the day that aye shall last. And let the endless bliss begin, by weary saints foretold, when right shall triumph over wrong, and truth shall be extolled. The King shall come when morning dawns, and light and beauty brings; "Hail, Christ the Lord!" Thy people pray, come quickly, King of kings! Ad te levavi ~ Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839-1901) Rheinberger’s setting of the Offertory Antiphon for the 1st Sunday of Advent is from his collection of 9 Advent Motets (Some of our choir members will remember singing "Benedixisti, Domine" from this same collection 😊) “Ad te levavi animam meam: Deus meus, in te confido, non erubescam: neque irrideant me inimici mei: etenim universi, qui te exspectant, non confundeturer.” (Ps 25:1-3) “Unto you, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul; O my God, I trust in you, let me not be put to shame; do not allow my enemies to laugh at me; for none of those who are awaiting you will be disappointed.” What other pieces can you think of that will help us ready ourselves for our Lord’s coming? "I am the salvation of the people, says the Lord;
from whatever tribulations they cry out to me, I will give heed to them; and I will be their Lord for ever." (Ps 37:39-40) The Introit introduces a theme which pervades this Sunday's liturgy, of reaching past our own inclinations to rest in God's care, discerning and trusting in His ways, no matter what life brings. Let us pray this beautiful prayer of trust: Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. O good Jesus, hear me. Within Thy wounds, hide me. Separated from Thee let me never be. From the evil foe protect me. At the hour of my death call me And bid me come unto Thee, That I may praise Thee in the company Of Thy Saints for all eternity. Amen. ________________________________________ Anima Christi, sanctifica me. Corpus Christi, salva me. Sanguis Christi, inebria me. Aqua lateris Christi, lava me. Passio Christi, conforta me. O bone Jesu, exaudi me. Intra tua vulnera absconde me. Ne permittas me separari ad te. Ab hoste maligno defende me. In hora mortis meae voca me. Et iube me venire ad te, Ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te in saecula saeculorum. Amen. This Sunday's Introit, from Chapter 36 of the Book of Sirach, is traditionally presented in alternation with verses of Psalm 122.
“Grant peace to those who are waiting for you, O Lord, so that your prophets may be proved trustworthy; hear the prayers of your servant and of your people Israel. “I rejoiced when it was said unto me: ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” When I noticed this prayer for peace given at the outset of this Sunday’s liturgy, I was moved by its timeliness, given the unrest we are witnessing in our communities and our country. To open our Masses this weekend, we reflect the Introit through the much-loved melody of Sebastian Temple’s Prayer of St. Francis. Here are a few more musical prayers for peace… Herbert Howells wrote the anthem O Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem (its text also from Psalm 122) during World War II. Melchior Franck’s Da pacem, Domine is a favorite of children’s choirs, since it’s so easy to sing in a round. It is a simple prayer which translates: “Give peace in our time, O Lord, because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.” And finally, we find a powerful testimony to the inner peace that Christ offers even in the midst of turmoil, in Horatio Spafford’s hymn, When Peace Like a River. Together, we are living through an unsettled, unsettling time. Do you have a favorite prayer for peace to add to our collection? As we approach the Feast of Mary’s Nativity, what better time to reflect on musical settings of our most-recited prayer to her, the Hail Mary.
At the vast majority of our weddings and funerals, the engaged couple or the grieving family asks for the Ave Maria to be sung. Often, it is the moment of the Mass that moves even the most stouthearted to tears. There is one setting of the Ave Maria that has boomed in popularity above all others — Franz Schubert's setting, composed in 1825. Schubert’s Ave Maria is so popular, in fact, that we music directors can be about 99% sure this is the one people are requesting, even if they don’t know the composer. Schubert’s Ave Maria is beautiful, for sure, but is it so beautiful as to eclipse all the others? After all, the Ave Maria text has been set to music time and time again, often in extraordinary ways. Consider, for instance, the Ave Maria by Russian composer Vladimir Vavilov, composed in a decade when Catholic themes were unheard of in contemporary Russian music. The work, released anonymously, was later misattributed to Caccini. The past few years, our choirs have begun the tradition of singing an Ave Maria by the Renaissance composer Jacob Arcadelt on Christmas Eve. There is also a version by Charles Gounod, the music of which is an arrangement of a famous piano Prelude by J.S. Bach. French organists Cesar Franck and Jehan Alain wrote stunningly-prayerful settings of the Ave Maria. All of these settings, and countless others, are potential meditations for a funeral or wedding, as is the precursor of all, the Gregorian chant Ave Maria, whose melodic contours inflect the text with such meaning as to bring the Hail Mary into vivid focus. I invite you to take the time to listen to these various settings, by clicking on the underlined links within these paragraphs. Which is your favorite? Which brings the prayer to life for you? Do you know of another beautiful setting to add to the list? Thomas Aquinas says: "The soul is distracted from that which is sung by a chant that is employed for the purpose of giving pleasure. But if the singer chant for the sake of devotion, he pays more attention to what he says, both because he lingers more thereon, and because, as Augustine remarks (Confess. x, 33), "each affection of our spirit, according to its variety, has its own appropriate measure in the voice, and singing, by some hidden correspondence wherewith it is stirred." The same applies to the hearers, for even if some of them understand not what is sung, yet they understand why it is sung, namely, for God's glory: and this is enough to arouse their devotion." (Summa Theologica II-II, Q. 91)
Why is there music at Mass? To offer prayer and praise to God! To direct our attention to the action of the Mass, the Eucharistic celebration. We all have favorite hymns, and favorite styles of hymns. We have all had the experience of hearing a beloved, forgotten hymn from childhood, and being overwhelmed by sadness or joy--or both--as memories come flooding back. This happened to me, playing a funeral some months ago. The family had requested "Softly and Tenderly," which I hadn't heard in about 20 years, but which I instantly remembered from the Lutheran church where I grew up. In addition to the poignantly-familiar melody, I heard the text in a new way than ever before. At the end of that refrain, "earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home!" the tears came, and it was quite inconvenient, as I could no longer see the music I was supposed to be playing! But just like Augustine, we must check ourselves. Why are we stirred by a certain hymn? Is it really drawing us closer to Christ, or is it actually distracting us from Christ by acting more superficially on our emotions? Can you think of a time when the music drew you into a deeper experience of the Mass? Maybe the cantor sang the Psalm so prayerfully that you, too, were stirred to devotion. Maybe a hymn or the choir's Offertory anthem recalled so well the Word as proclaimed in the Gospel reading. Maybe when singing "Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us," you really felt led to offer this as a fervent prayer. Please share your stories! Help us celebrate the ability of music to move the mind and heart. (Click on "Comments" below to post a comment.) |