Advent – According to the Whole

December 23, 2023December 23, 2023

The Unlikely Alleluia

This year, something is happening on Christmas Eve that rarely happens: it falls on a Sunday. This is the only liturgical Vigil that is allowed to fall on a Sunday, as Vigils in the Western Rite are always penitential and preparatory in nature (fasting is prescribed and the liturgical color is purple). So in all other instances where a Vigil would fall on a Sunday (excepting the Vigil for Epiphany which simply gets replaced by the Mass of the Holy Name of Jesus), the Vigil gets anticipated and bumped back to Saturday or the first available day prior. Christmas Eve is entirely unique in being able to be celebrated on a Sunday. And when this does happen, aside from the fast being lifted, there is almost nothing that changes liturgically. . . . except for one particular Proper chant which is only ever sung in this instance. That chant is the Alleluia verse, which runs:

“Alleluia, alleluia. Tomorrow, the iniquity of the earth shall be done away: and the Savior of the world shall reign over us. Alleluia.”

[Latin] “Alleluia, alleluia. Crástina die delébitur iníquitas terræ: et regnábit super nos Salvátor mundi. Alleluia.“

November 30, 2019January 24, 2023

Ad te levavi

Ad te levavi animam meam, or “Unto thee lift I up my soul” is the first chant of the first Sunday of the first season of the liturgical year in the West. This Introit (Entrance Chant) comes from Psalm 25 (24) and is meant to set the tone not just for this Sunday’s Mass, but for the whole season of Advent. What is it about the character of this psalm that makes it appropriate for this season?

December 17, 2018May 4, 2022

The Great O Antiphons

One of the oldest and most enduring features of Advent in the Western tradition of the Church is the special set of antiphons sung with the Magnificat at Vespers in the days leading up to Christmas Eve. Usually called the “Greater Antiphons” in liturgical books, they’re more colloquially called the “O Antiphons” because each begins with the interjection “O” (O Emmanuel…, etc.).

The oldest and most traditional set of O Antiphons address Christ by seven titles, in this order: Sapientia (Wisdom), Adonai (Lord), Radix Jesse (Root of Jesse), Clavis David (Key of David), Oriens (Dayspring/Dawn), Rex Gentium (King of the Nations/Gentiles), and Emmanuel (God-with-us). The first letters of each title going back from Emmanuel (Dec 24) to Sapientia (Dec 17) form the Latin words Ero cras, meaning “Tomorrow I come.” The content of these antiphons was paraphrased as the verses to the Latin hymn Veni Emmanuel, translated into our familiar English hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel. While the history of the antiphons and their use is fascinating in itself, the most wonderful thing about them is the theology and spiritual learning that can be unpacked from these pithy poems.

December 7, 2018December 5, 2022

Advent Music

The season of Advent has arrived. But nothing kicks the legs out from under our observance of Advent like premature Christmas songs. Advent, of course, is the season leading up to Christmas, designed to focus us on the hope and expectation of Christ’s future advent (arrival) and the celebration of his first advent. The spirit of Advent, then, is of watchfulness and waiting. Because of this, Christmas songs are inappropriate to the spirit of the Advent season. They don’t jive; they’re incongruous.