Christmas Carol #3 and Gaudete Sunday

Happy Gaudete Sunday!

“Huh?” many of you are thinking.  Ok, I’ll explain.  Both Lent and (surprise) Advent are penitential seasons, so the color for the liturgical vestments in the Catholic Church is purple.  Since Easter is the most important celebration in the church year, the preparation period (Lent) is longer, forty days (which also has a Biblical connection to the forty years the Israelites spent in the wilderness).  Christmas is the second most important celebration, so we get four weeks (actual length varies, based on what day of the week Christ Mass falls on).

These being major celebrations of events concerning our salvation, the Church asks us to examine our lives better than usual, try to improve, find more time for prayer, etc.  A little over half-way through the seasons of self-searching and attempts to conform our lives more closely to Jesus, we get a break.  In Lent, it’s Latare (Be joyful) Sunday, the fourth Sunday of six.  In Advent, it’s Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday, the third Sunday of four.  Both names come from the readings for that Sunday, which are all about our joy in Christ.

And the priest has to wear pink.  See here for the hysterical and totally typical reaction of most priests to having to wear *ahem* dusky rose… or salmon… or something, just don’t call it pink.  (If you do an Advent wreath, this is the week for the pink candle.)

So, for Christmas carol #3 I was going to offer you The Priests singing “Gaudete, Christus est Natus” (Rejoice, Christ is Born).  The Priests are a new group of (surprise!) priests from Ireland (two brothers and a friend).   They were on EWTN’s news show, The World Over, last Friday night, and they’re supposed to be on the TWO Christmas special this coming Friday.  Unfortunately, “Gaudete” is not actually on their new (and first) CD.  They did a really lovely job of it live on the news show, but nobody seems to have posted the clip anywhere.  So, you’ll just have to catch the Christmas special next Friday at 8 pm (EST) on EWTN, and see if they do that one again.

In the meantime, here’s another version.

 

Gaudete, Christus est Natus

(Latin, traditional)

Refrain:
Gaudete! gaudete!                                          (Rejoice!  Rejoice!)
Christus est natus ex Maria virgine,       (Christ is born of the Virgin Mary)
gaudete!                                                              (Rejoice!)

1. Tempus adest gratiae, hoe quod optabamus;
carmina laetitiae devote reddamus. Refrain

1. At this time of grace and longed-for blessing,

love faithfully offers a song of praise.

2. Deus homo factus est, natura mirante;
mundus renovatus est a Christo regnante. Refrain

2. God is made human in this wonderful birth:

the world is cleansed through the rule of Christ.

3. Ezecaelis orta clausa per transistur;
unde lux est orta, salus invenitur. Refrain

3. The gate of heaven now opens which to us was closed,

sending forth transforming light through which holiness is found.

4. Ergo nostra contio psallat iam in lustro;
Benedicat Domino; salus regi nostro. Refrain

4. Therefore we meet in pure songs of joy:

we bless the Lord, King of our salvation.

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Christmas carol #2

Happy feast of the Immaculate Conception!  In honor of the feast, I offer “The Basque Carol,” also known by its first line, “The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came.”  Yes, properly, the song sort of belongs in March, for the feast of the Annunciation, but that feast obviously relates very closely to Christmas.  The text comes from the account in the Gospel of Luke of the Angel Gabriel being sent to the Virgin Mary to ask her to be the mother of Jesus.

This is one of those that you may say, “Oh, yeah, I’ve heard that before…” but may not have heard the words.  I first really noticed it on the Jars of Clay Christmas album, with that, “Hey, wait a minute, what was that he just said?”

For listening/reading, I recommend opening the music in one window, minimizing it, and reading along as the music plays.  I keep looking for links to choral versions of these carols, but haven’t had much luck finding good ones.

So, here’s the traditional organ version (click on the MIDI link).

And here’s the Jars of Clay version.  (click on the “listen to samples” link in the lower left, then choose track 12)  (The rest of the album is very good, too, although some of it is more modern, and a few songs are strictly secular.  Although “Hibernation Day” is really fun… I wish I could do a hibernation day, but I have three kids, six and under, who don’t sleep in, ever.)

The Basque Carol

or The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came

The angel Gabriel from Heaven came,
His wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame;
“All hail,” said he, “thou lowly maiden Mary,
Most highly favored lady,” Gloria!

“For know a blessèd mother thou shalt be,
All generations laud and honor thee,
Thy Son shall be Emmanuel, by seers foretold,
Most highly favored lady,” Gloria!

Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head,
“To me be as it pleaseth God,” she said,
“My soul shall laud and magnify His holy Name.”
Most highly favored lady, Gloria!

Of her, Emmanuel, the Christ, was born
In Bethlehem, all on a Christmas morn,
And Christian folk throughout the world will ever say—
“Most highly favored lady,” Gloria!

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Christmas carol #1

Sitting through the tambourines at the end of mass (our usual Advent song, “Rise Up, Jerusalem,” involves tambourines… which I guess is slightly better than the bongo drums our previous parish used for, “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning”), I started thinking of all the really great Advent and Christmas music out there (none of which, in my experience, requires bongos or tambourines or reminds you of “Age of Aquarius”).

So, instead of griping about more awful-60′s-folk-done-badly, I’m going to do an off-and-on series until Christmas is over (that would be Epiphany, not Christmas Day) on some of my favorite hymns for the season.

The reading for the lectionary for today, the second Sunday of Advent, included part of Isaiah 40:

[1] Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. [2] Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. [3] A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. [4] Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
[5] And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” … [9] Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” [10] Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. [11] He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

To a logical music minister, this would suggest the beautiful carol, “Comfort, Comfort, O My People.”  Listen here.  (lovely recorder instrumental from www.stumbleaudio.com)

Comfort, Comfort, O My People

by Johann Olearius

Comfort, comfort, O my people, speak of peace now says our God.

Comfort those who sit in darkness, mourning ‘neath their sorrows’ load.

Speak unto Jerusalem of the peace that waits for them;

Tell of all the sins I cover, and that warfare now is over.

 

Hark, the voice of one who’s crying in the desert far and near,

Bidding all to full repentance since the kingdom now is here.

O that warning cry obey!  Now prepare for God away;

Let the valleys rise to meet him and the hills bow down to greet him.

 

O make straight what long was crooked, make the rougher places plain;

Let your hearts be true and humble, as befits His holy reign.

For the glory of the Lord now o’er earth is shed abroad;

And all flesh shall see the token that His word is never broken.

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