Second Sunday in Advent

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear!
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

Based on “O” Antiphons,
Latin, 9th century

Music in Advent: the “O!” Antiphons
During the season of Advent, the music from liturgy to liturgy and week to week will be much more united in character than it is during Ordinary Time. We are using different Mass Acclamations, our Kyrie and Alleluia are based on a familiar Advent carol (“O Come, Divine Messiah,” which we sang at the closing for most of last weekend’s liturgies,) and we will use the same ancient hymn at the Entrance for all four Sundays, with different verses each week.
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is one of the best-known and best-loved Advent hymns of all time. What many people do not know is that it is, in its original form, over 1200 years old: it was a Gregorian Chant hymn in Latin (“Veni, veni, Emmanuel”) commonly sung by monks to count down the final week leading to Christmas Day. The verse we now know best and sing first in our version of the hymn would have been the antiphon for December 23, the last evening before the Nativity celebrations begun.

Each of the seven verses, in the Latin, began with an invocation of a different title for the Messiah: “O Key of David!” “O Root of Jesse!” “O Dayspring!” and so on. These texts have become an integral part of much of our Advent hymnody: during this season, we will also sing two different contemporary settings of the same text: “For you, O Lord, my soul in stillness waits…” (#336 in our hymnal) takes its refrain from Psalm 95 but its verses from the O Antiphons. “Maranatha, Lord Messiah!” by Kathy Powell (#324 in our hymnal) removes the word “O!” from the beginning of each verse, but they still follow the pattern of the original, even to re-placing “Come, Emmanuel” in its original spot in verse 7.

Enjoy these hymns, as we raise our voices in song to prepare for the Lord’s coming!

O Come, Divine Messiah! Advent week I

O Come, Divine Messiah!
The world in silence waits the day
When hope shall sing its triumph,
And sadness flee away!

French Carol, 16th century

The First Sunday in Advent: Happy New Year!
Advent marks the beginning of the new liturgical year—you’ll notice that today we have new Word and Song books in the pews, and that the general style and form of the music has shifted from the grander and more expansive praise hymns and songs to music that is a bit quieter, a bit more ancient, a bit more hushed and subdued.

We do not sing the great “Glory to God in the Highest!” acclamation of praise during Advent; instead, we choose to sing the ancient Greek “Kyrie Eleison” where we normally recite the same text in English: Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.

We also choose to sing the ancient chanted “Agnus Dei” Gregorian Chant as the presider breaks the Eucharistic Bread. Many will know this well from their own childhoods, and all our parish second graders learn it for their First Communion each year. However, since I know there are folks who are unfamiliar with it and wonder about those strange Latin words that we are singing...

Just as when we sang in English, we sing the first line (“Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.”) twice, and the third time we end with the supplication, “grant us peace.” (It is number 320 in the hymnal.)