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Views from the Choir Loft

Advent vs. the Saints

Fr. David Friel · December 14, 2012

DVENT IS MY FAVORITE SEASON. Bar none, I like Advent better than any other liturgical season. I like the waiting, the stillness, the longing anticipation; I like the interplay of light and darkness, hope and anxiety, immanence and apocalypse. Advent, although so brief, is a season filled with rich meaning and sacramental symbols.

I also love the saints. Some years more than others, however, these two loves seem in conflict with each other. This year, for instance, in less than two full weeks of Advent, we’ve already celebrated eight memorials of the saints. Much as I love the saints, it feels at times like we can’t really get into celebrating Advent.

So today I resolved to celebrate in my heart both St. John of the Cross and Advent by finding something that would link them. I found this excerpt from the saints poem, On the Incarnation:

          Men sang songs
          and angels melodies.
          But God there in the manger
          cried and moaned;
          and those tears were jewels
          the bride brought to the wedding.
          The Mother gazed in sheer wonder
          on such an exchange:
          In God, man’s weeping,
          and in man, gladness;
          to the one and the other
          things usually so strange.

What a remarkable reflection! On Christmas morning, for which we now prepare, Christ will be seen sharing in our sorrows in this valley of tears. Perhaps even more fantastically, if we prepare well, we will be seen sharing in the joyous strains of the heavenly choirs. What beneficent surprise!

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Fr. David Friel

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at St. Anselm Parish in Northeast Philly. He is currently a doctoral candidate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

Can You Spare 33 Seconds?

Here’s an audio excerpt (33 seconds) of a setting for Kyrie VIII which was recorded live last Sunday at our parish in Los Angeles. The setting (“Missa de Angelis”) is by composer Richard Rice, and you can download the free PDF if you click here and scroll to the bottom. I think Richard’s composition is marvelous. I missed a few notes on the organ, but I’ll get them right next time.

—Jeff Ostrowski
5 April 2021 • When Girls Sing

Covid restrictions here in California are still extremely severe—switching “two weeks to flatten the curve” into “two years to flatten the curve.” Since 2020, we’ve had police breaking into our church to check if everyone is wearing a mask…even when only 5-6 people are present! But we were allowed to have a small percentage of our singers back on Easter Sunday, and here is their live recording of the ancient Catholic hymn for Eastertide: Ad Cenam Agni Providi. The girls were so very excited to sing again—you can hear it in their voices!

—Jeff Ostrowski
29 March 2021 • FEEDBACK

“E.S.” in North Dakota writes: “I just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU for all the hard work you have put—and continue to put—into your wonderful website. In the past two years, my parish has moved from a little house basement into a brand new church and gone from a few families receiving Low Masses twice a month to several families (and many individuals) receiving Mass every Sunday, two Saturdays a month, and every Holy Day. Our priest has been incorporating more and more High Masses and various ceremonies into our lives, which has made my job as a huge newbie choir master very trying and complicated. CCWatershed has been an invaluable resource in helping me get on my feet and know what to do!!! Thank you more than I can express! May God bless you abundantly and assist you in your work and daily lives!”

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“It is difficult to imagine a more unjust situation than abortion, and it is very difficult to speak of obsession in a matter such as this, where we are dealing with a fundamental imperative of every good conscience—the defense of the right to life of an innocent and defenseless human being.”

— Pope St. John Paul II

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