And Mary Said: Behold The Handmaid Of The Lord (Luke 1:38) . . .
If a handmaid is she, who, with intent and with complete attention, beholds her Lord, then, again, the Most-Holy Virgin is the first among the handmaids of the Lord.
[...] She did not care to please the world, but only God; nor did she care to justify herself before the world, but only before God. She herself is obedience; she herself is service; she herself is meekness.
The Most-Holy Virgin could in truth say to the angel of God: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord".
The greatest perfection, and the greatest honour that a woman can attain on Earth, is to be a handmaid of the Lord. Eve lost this perfection and honour in Paradise without effort, and the Virgin Mary achieved this perfection and this honour outside Paradise with her efforts.
My Soul Doth Magnify The Lord (Luke 1:46).
Brethren, we have in total only a few words spoken by the Most-Holy Theotokos recorded in the Gospels.
All of her words pertain to the magnification of God. She was silent before men but her soul conversed unceasingly with God. Every day and every hour, she found a new reason and incentive to magnify God.
If only we were able to know and to record all her magnifications of God throughout her whole life, oh, how many books would it take!
But, even by this one magnification, which she spoke before her kinswoman, Elizabeth, the mother of the great Prophet and Forerunner, John, every Christian can evaluate what a fragrant and God-pleasing flower was her most holy soul.
This is but one wonderful canticle of the soul of the Theotokos, which has come down to us through the Gospel. However, such canticles were without number in the course of the life of the Most-Blessed One.
Even before she heard the Gospel from the lips of her Son, she knew how to speak with God and to glorify Him in accordance with the teaching of the Gospel.
This knowledge came to her from the Holy Spirit of God, whose grace constantly poured into her like clear water into a pure vessel.
Her soul magnified God with canticles throughout her whole life, and therefore God magnified her above the Cherubim and the Seraphim.
Likewise, small and sinful as we are, the same Lord will magnify in His Kingdom us who magnify her, if we exert ourselves to fill this brief life with the magnification of God in our deeds, words, thoughts and prayers.
O Most-Holy, Most-Pure and Most-Blessed Theotokos, cover us with the wings of thy prayers.
Nikolai Velimirovich.
Nikolai Velimirovich (1880-1956; Orthodox Church):
The following Text is from The Liturgical Year, Volume 1; Advent, 23 December, by Dom Guéranger, O.S.B.
O Emmanuel ! King of Peace! Thou enterest today the city of Thy predilection, the city in which Thou hast placed Thy Temple - Jerusalem. A few years hence, the same city will give Thee Thy Cross and Thy Sepulchre: nay, the day will come on which Thou wilt set up Thy Judgement-Seat within sight of her walls.
But today Thou enterest the city of David and Solomon unnoticed and unknown. It lies on Thy road to Bethlehem. Thy Blessed Mother and Joseph, her spouse, would not lose the opportunity of visiting the Temple, there to offer to the Lord their prayers and adoration.
They enter; and then, for the first time, is accomplished the prophecy of Aggeus, that great shall be the glory of this last house more than of the first; for this second Temple has now standing within it an Ark of the Covenant more precious than was that which Moses built; and within this Ark, which is Mary, is contained the God whose presence makes her the Holiest of Sanctuaries.
The Lawgiver Himself is in this Blessed Ark, and not merely, as in that of old, the Tablet of Stone on which the Law was graven. The visit paid, our living Ark descends the steps of the Temple, and sets out once more for Bethlehem, where other prophecies are to be fulfilled.
We adore Thee, O Emmanuel ! in this Thy journey, and we reverence the fidelity wherewith Thou fulfillest all that the Prophets have written of Thee; for Thou wouldst give to Thy people the certainty of Thy being the Messias, by showing them that all the marks, whereby He was to be known, are to be found in Thee.
And, now, the hour is near; all is ready for Thy Birth; come then, and save us; come, that Thou mayst not only be called our Emmanuel, but our Jesus, that is, He that saves us.
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal (1945 Edition),
unless otherwise stated. Illustrations, unless otherwise stated, from UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY (from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, 1952 Edition), who reproduce them with the kind permission of ST. BONAVENTURE PRESS
Fourth Sunday of Advent.
Station at the Church of The Twelve Apostles.
Indulgence of 15 years and 15 Quarantines.
Privileged Sunday of the Second-Class.
Semi-Double.
Violet Vestments.
John preaching the Baptism of Penance.
Like the whole Liturgy of this Season, the purpose of the Mass for the Fourth Sunday of Advent is to prepare us for the twofold coming of Christ: His coming in mercy at Christmas; and in justice at the end of the world.
Allusion is made to the first coming in the Introit; while the Collect, Gradual, and Alleluia, can be applied to either of the two.
In this Mass, we meet once again with the three great figures that are before the mind of the Church throughout Advent: Isaias; Saint John the Baptist; and Our Lady. The Prophet Isaias foretells of Saint John the Baptist that he will be: "A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight His paths . . . and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."
And "the word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert. And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the Baptism of Penance for the remission of sins" (Gospel).
"John," Saint Gregory explains, "told those who hurried in crowds to be Baptised: "Ye brood of vipers, who hath told you to flee from the wrath to come ?" Now the wrath to come is the final chastisement, which the sinner will not be able to escape unless he have recourse now to the lamentations of Penance.
The friend of the Bridegroom warns us to bring forth not fruits merely of Penance but worthy fruits. These words are a call to each man's conscience, bidding him to lay up by means of Penance a treasure of good works, the greater in proportions to the ravage of sin which caused it (Third Nocturn).
The Baroque Ceiling of the Basilica of Santi Apostoli, Rome, Italy.
And Saint Leo says: "God Himself teaches us by the Prophet Isaias: I will lead the blind in a way that they know not, and I will turn the darkness before them into light and I will not forsake them."
The Apostle, Saint John, makes clear to us the way in which this Mystery is fulfilled when he says: "And we know that the Son of God is come. And He hath given us understanding, that we may know the true God and may be in His true Son" (Second Nocturn).
The Liturgy continues: Because of the great love that God has manifested towards us, He has sent on Earth His only-begotten Son to be born of the Virgin Mary. Also, in the Communion sentence, the Church recalls to us the Prophecy of Isaias: "Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son: And His name shall be called Emmanuel."
And, again, in the Offertory, she combines in a single salutation the words addressed to Our Lady by the Archangel and by Saint Elizabeth. Saint Gregory writes: "Gabriel, whose name means "Strength of God", is sent to Mary, since he comes to announce the Messias, whose will it is, to appear in humiliation and abasement, in order to subdue all the powers of the air.
"It was fitting that He should be heralded by Gabriel, the "Strength of God"; He, who was to come as the Lord of Might, the All-Powerful and Unconquerable in battle, to crush the powers of the air in universal defeat" (Sermon 35).
In the Collect, just as we are reminded of the display of Our Lord's "Great Might", which will take place at the time of His second coming, when, as Supreme Judge, He will come in the splendour of His Divine Majesty to render to each according to his works, so we find an allusion to this same great power manifested in His first coming. It was as one clothed in His weak and mortal human nature that Our Lord put the Devil to flight.
As we think of Our Lord as nigh at hand in one or other of His "comings", let us say, with the Church: "Come, Lord Jesus, and tarry not."
Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.
Lotti made his career at St Mark's, first as an alto singer (from 1689), then as assistant to the second organist, then as second organist (from 1692), then (from 1704) as first organist, and finally (from 1736) as maestro di cappella, a position he held until his death.
He also wrote music for, and taught at, the Ospedale degli Incurabili, Venice, Italy. In 1717, he was given leave to go to Dresden, Germany, where a number of his Operas were produced, including Giove in Argo, Teofane and Li quattro elementi (all with Librettos by Antonio Maria Luchini). He returned to Venice in 1719 and remained there until his death in 1740.
Lotti wrote in a variety of forms, producing Masses, Cantatas, Madrigals, around thirty Operas, and instrumental music. His Sacred Choral Works are often unaccompanied (a cappella). His work is considered a bridge between the established Baroque and emerging Classical styles.
Text and Illustrations taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, unless otherwise stated.
Artist: Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510). Deutsch: Madonna und zwei Engel English: Madonna and Child with two Angels. Italiano: Madonna con due angeli. Date: 1468 - 1469. Current location: Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte. Source/Photographer: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei.
The Boundless desire for the coming of Christ, which is a feature of the whole of Advent, is expressed in the Liturgy with an impatience which grows greater, the closer we come to Christmas and, so to speak, to the world's end. "The Lord comes from far" (First Vespers, First Sunday of Advent). "The Lord will come" (Introit, Second Sunday of Advent). "The Lord is nigh" (Introit. Third Sunday in Advent). This gradation will be emphasised throughout the whole Season, ever more and more. Thus, on 17 December, begin the Greater Antiphons, which, from their initial letters, are called the "O Antiphons", and which form an impassioned appeal to the Messias, whose prerogatives and glorious titles they make known to us. Dom Guéranger [Editor: He who was the author of "The Liturgical Year"] affirms that those Antiphons contain the "whole marrow" of the Advent Liturgy. On account of their number, Honorius of Autun connects them with The Seven Gifts of The Holy Ghost, with which Our Lord was filled.
17 December: Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 5; Wisdom viii. 1 O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae. O Wisdom,
who camest out of the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from end to end and ordering all things
mightily and sweetly:
come and teach us the way of prudence.
V. Rorate.
"Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant justium . . ."
"Ye heavens, drop down from above, and let the clouds rain down the Just One."
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal (1945 Edition),
unless otherwise stated. Illustrations, unless otherwise stated, from UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY (from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, 1952 Edition), who reproduce them with the kind permission of ST. BONAVENTURE PRESS
It is Mary who gives us Jesus: "Blessed art thou, Mary . . . those things shall be accomplished in thee, which were spoken to thee by the Lord" (Antiphon at the Magnificat).
It is from Bethlehem [Editor: Literally, "the House of Bread"] that the King, the Ruler, shall go forth, who is to bring peace to all the nations (Second Responsory) and who will deliver his people from the power of their enemies (Fourth Responsory).
In a special way, our Souls will share in this deliverance during the Christmas celebrations, which mark the anniversary of the entrance into the world of Christ, the vanquisher of Satan."Grant, we beseech Thee," the Church prays, "that the new birth of Thine only-begotten Son may set us free, whom the old bondage doth hold under the yoke of sin" (Third Mass, Christmas Day).
I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord.
In the same way that Saint John the Baptist prepared the Jews for the coming of the Messias, so he prepares us for the union, closer every year, which Our Lord forms with our Souls at Christmas. "Make straight the way of the Lord," cried the forerunner of Christ. So, let us make straight the way into our hearts, that Our Saviour may enter and give us His Graces of life and freedom.
THE SECOND COMING:
It is to Our Lord's Coming, at the end of the world, that Saint Gregory alludes in his explanation of the Gospel: "John," he says, "the forerunner of the Redeemer, goes before Our Lord in the spirit and power of Elias, who will be the forerunner of Christ as Judge" (Ninth Lesson).
So also in the Introit and Epistle, taken literally, the allusion is Our Lord's Coming for the Judgement. If we feel great joy at the approach of the Christmas Feast, reminding us once more of the lowly Infant in the Manger, how much more should the thought of His Coming, in all the splendour of His power and majesty, fill us with a holy sense of triumph, since, only then, will our redemption be fully accomplished.
Receive, O merciful Father, these Holy Sacrifices (Te igitur).
Saint Paul writes to his Christians: "Rejoice in the Lord always: Again, I say, rejoice . . . The Lord is nigh." As on Mid-Lent Sunday, the Priest may celebrate in Rose-Coloured Vestments. [Permission for this practice, in use at Rome for the Blessing of the Golden Rose on Laetare Sunday (or Mid-Lent Sunday), is granted to all Priests who desire it for the celebration of Mass and Office on that day: Whence the custom has extended to Gaudete Sunday, or Mid-Advent Sunday, since on both days the Church sings of our deliverance by Christ from the bondage of sin.]
Rose is a paler kind of Violet; it expresses some relaxation in Penance, owing to the joy of the Heavenly Jerusalem into which Our Lord will lead us when time shall be no more.
"Rejoice, O Jerusalem, with great joy, for there shall come unto thee a Saviour" (Second Antiphon of Vespers). Let us greatly desire this Coming, which the Apostle tells us is near. We should long, with a holy impatience, that it may quickly come to pass. "Stir up, O Lord, Thy might, [the Apocalypse tells us that the Lord will appear, and with Him millions of Saints, and on His garment He will bear the words: King of Kings and Lord of Lords (First Responsory). The Lord of Hosts will come with great might (Fourth Responsory). His Kingdom will be without end and all nations shall serve Him (Sixth Responsory)], and come to save us." (Alleluia). "Come, Lord, and tarry not." "Per Adventum tuum, libera nos, Domine."
Every Parish Priest says Mass for the people of his Parish.
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.
Gabriel Urbain Fauré (1845 – 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-Century composers.
Among his best-known works are his Pavane, Requiem, Nocturnes for piano, and the songs "Après un Rêve" and "Clair de Lune". Although his best-known and most accessible compositions are generally his earlier ones, Fauré composed many of his most highly-regarded works in his later years, in a harmonically and melodically, much more complex, style.
The following two Paragraphs are from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.
Palestrina was born in the town of Palestrina, near Rome, then part of the Papal States. Documents suggest that he first visited Rome in 1537, when he is listed as a Chorister at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica. He studied with Robin Mallapert and Firmin Lebel. He spent most of his career in the city.
Palestrina came of age as a musician under the influence of the Northern European style of polyphony, which owed its dominance in Italy primarily to two influential Netherlandish composers, Guillaume Dufay and Josquin des Prez, who had spent significant portions of their careers there. Italy had yet to produce anyone of comparable fame or skill in polyphony.
The following Text is on the YouTube Posting by Kate Price (see, above).
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525- 1594) was an Italian composer of the Renaissance. He was the most famous 16th-Century representative of the Roman School of musical composition. Palestrina became famous through his output of sacred music. He had a vast influence on the development of Roman Catholic Church music, and his work can be seen as a summation of Renaissance polyphony.
Alma Redemptoris Mater, or, in English, "Loving Mother of our Saviour," is one of four Liturgical Marian Antiphons (the other three being: Ave Regina Caelorum; Regina Coeli; Salve Regina), and sung at the end of the Office of Compline.
Hermannus Contractus (Herman the Cripple) (1013 - 1054) is said to have composed the Hymn, based on the writings of Saints Fulgentius, Epiphanius, and Irenaeus of Lyon. It is mentioned in "The Prioress's Tale", one of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Formerly, it was recited at Compline only from the First Sunday in Advent until the Feast of the Purification (2 February).
Alma Redemptoris Mater, quae pervia caeli
Porta manes, et stella maris, succurre cadenti,
Surgere qui curat, populo: tu quae genuisti,
Natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem
Virgo prius ac posterius, Gabrielis ab ore
Sumens illud Ave, peccatorum miserere.
Loving Mother of our Saviour, hear thou thy people's cry
The Te Deum (also known as "The Ambrosian Hymn" or "A Song of the Church") is an Early-ChristianHymn of Praise. The title is taken from its opening Latin words, "Te Deum laudamus", rendered as "Thee, O God, we praise".
The Hymn remains in regular use in the Catholic Church, in the Office of Readings, found in the Liturgy of the Hours, and in thanksgiving to God for a special blessing, such as the Election of a Pope, the Consecration of a Bishop, the Canonisation of a Saint, a Religious Profession, the publication of a Treaty of Peace, a Royal Coronation, etc. It is sung either after Mass or the Divine Office, or as a separate Religious Ceremony. The Hymn also remains in use in the Anglican Communion and some Lutheran Churches in similar settings.
A Plenary Indulgence is granted, under the usual conditions, to those who recite it in public on New Year's Eve.
Sung by the Benedictine Monks of the
Abbey of Saint Maurice and Saint Maur,
Clervaux. Luxembourg.
The Te Deum is attributed to two Fathers and Doctors of the Church,
Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine, and is one the most majestic
Chants in the Liturgy of the Church.
It is sung in Traditional Seminaries and Monastic Houses at the Divine Office and for Double Feasts of the First Class, The Nativity, Easter, Corpus Christi, Epiphany, Pentecost and those which have an Octave. The Solemn Te Deum is sung on all occasions of public Church rejoicing
Authorship is traditionally ascribed to Saints Ambrose and Augustine, on the occasion of the latter's Baptism by the former in 387 A.D. It has also been ascribed to Saint Hilary, but Catholic-Forum.com says "it is now accredited to Nicetas, Bishop of Remesiana; (4th-Century)".
The Petitions at the end of the Hymn (beginning "Salvum fac populum tuum") are a selection of Verses from the Book of Psalms, appended subsequently to the original Hymn.
The Hymn follows the outline of the Apostles' Creed, mixing a poetic vision of the Heavenly Liturgy with its declaration of Faith. Calling on the name of God, immediately, the Hymn proceeds to name all those who praise and venerate God; from the hierarchy of Heavenly Creatures, to those Christian Faithful already in Heaven, to the Church spread throughout the world.
The Hymn then returns to its Credal formula, naming Christ and recalling His Birth, Suffering and Death, His Resurrection and Glorification. At this point, the Hymn turns to the subjects declaiming the praise, both the Universal Church and the singer, in particular, asking for mercy on past sins, protection from future sin, and the hoped-for reunification with The Elect.
Te Deum Laudamus:
te Dominum confitemur.
Te aeternum Patrem
omnis terra veneratur.
Tibi omnes Angeli;
tibi caeli et universae Potestates;
Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim
incessabili voce proclamant:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus,
Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt caeli et terra
maiestatis gloriae tuae.
Te gloriosus Apostolorum chorus,
Te Prophetarum laudabilis numerus,
Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus.
Te per orbem terrarum
sancta confitetur Ecclesia,
Patrem immensae maiestatis:
Venerandum tuum verum et unicum Filium;
Sanctum quoque Paraclitum Spiritum.
Tu Rex gloriae, Christe.
Tu Patris sempiternus es Filius.
Tu ad liberandum suscepturus hominem,
non horruisti Virginis uterum.
Tu, devicto mortis aculeo,
aperuisti credentibus regna caelorum.
Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes, in gloria Patris.
Iudex crederis esse venturus.
Te ergo quaesumus, tuis famulis subveni:
quos pretioso sanguine redemisti.
Aeterna fac cum sanctis tuis in gloria numerari.
[added later,
mainly from Psalm Verses:]
Salvum fac populum tuum,
Domine, et benedic hereditati tuae.
Et rege eos, et extolle illos usque in aeternum.
Per singulos dies benedicimus te;
Et laudamus Nomen tuum in saeculum, et in saeculum saeculi.
Dignare, Domine, die isto sine peccato nos custodire.
Miserere nostri Domine, miserere nostri.
Fiat misericordia tua,
Domine, super nos,
quemadmodum speravimus in te.
In te, Domine, speravi:
non confundar in aeternum.
Translation from The Book of Common Prayer.
We praise thee, O God :
we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee :
the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud :
the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim :
continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy :
Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty :
of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles : praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets : praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs : praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world :
doth acknowledge thee;
The Father : of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true : and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost : the Comforter.
Thou art the King of Glory : O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son : of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man :
thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death :
thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God : in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come : to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants :
whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints : in glory everlasting.
[added later, mainly from Psalm verses:]
O Lord, save thy people :
and bless thine heritage.
Govern them : and lift them up for ever.
Day by day : we magnify thee;
And we worship thy Name : ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord : to keep us this day without sin.
Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal (1945 Edition), unless otherwise stated. Illustrations from UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY who reproduce them with the kind permission of ST. BONAVENTURE PRESS The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Feast Day 8 December. Double of the First-Class with an Octave. White Vestments.
The Immaculate Conception.
Having decided from all eternity to make Mary Mother of the Incarnate Word (Epistle), God willed that she should crush the head of the serpent from the moment of her conception.
He covered her "with a Mantle of Holiness" (Introit) and, "preserving her Soul from all stain, He made her a worthy dwelling place for His Son" (Collect).
The Feast of the "Conception" of the Virgin was; from the 8th-Century, celebrated in the East on 9 December; from the 9th-Century in Ireland and 3 May; and in the 11th-Century in England on 8 December.
The Benedictines, with Saint Anselm, and the Franciscans, with Duns Scotus (1308), favoured the Feast of the "Immaculate Conception," which, in 1128, was kept in Anglo-Saxon Monasteries.
In the 15th-Century, Pope Sixtus IV, a Franciscan, erected at the Vatican the Sixtine (Sistine) Chapel in honour of the Conception of the Virgin. And, on 8 December 1854, Pope Pius IX officially proclaimed this great Dogma, making himself the mouthpiece of all the Christian tradition summed up in the words of the Angel: "Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee, Blessed art thou among women" (Gospel). "Thou art all beautiful, O Mary, and the original stain is not in thee" says in truth the Alleluia verse.
Like the Dawn, which announces the day, Mary precedes the Sun of Justice, which will soon illumine the world of Souls. Bringing to us her Son, it is she who first appears in the Liturgical Cycle.
Let us ask God "to heal us and to deliver us from all our sins" (Secret, Postcommunion) in order that, by the Graces which specially belong to the Feast of the "Immaculate", we may become more worthy of receiving Jesus in our hearts when He comes into them on 25 December.
Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.
