Christus Natus Est -- Christ Has Been Born!
At my parish we celebrated four Masses on Christmas Eve and four on Christmas Day. Our choirs had been preparing for quite a while and the singing, the decoration of the church and the congregations gathering dressed-up and focused on the feast was a beautiful experience.
This is two days after and I am safely and quietly ensconced in Ottawa at my sister's home, so I have the leisure to update this blog. With Boxing Day as a statutory holiday here in Canada, many have at least some time this week to be together.
The principal Christmas feasts are Christmas itself and Epiphany. In some European cultures, in fact, Epiphany is the feast with the greater amount celebration and gift-giving associated with it. The word "Epiphany" literally means a "showing". The wise men experience a showing or revelation of God present in the world. They see by God's intervention what others may not see in an apparently ordinary infant. For Christians, it is that God is revealed, shown to us, that His presence is not a secret that allows us to experience the gift of a world made whole in Him.
The celebrating is our response. It is a joyful freeing of our inhibitions, a time when we allow one another to be generous and kind. If you have been shopping on Boxing Day these may not be the thoughts that leap immediately to mind.
The Christmas carol as a musical form then, is meant to communicate joy and to most especially to be accessible, i.e., we can all sing them. They are not virtuoso pieces but ones meant to have meaningful melodies and words that stay with us. In the English language in North America, a disproportionate number of carols come from either the English or German choral traditions. These old hymn books in fact collected hymns that come from a variety of places and countries.
Even in a largely secularized world it is clear that even the melodies resonate still with many. In the airport on Christmas Day afternoon I heard many a carol playing over the terminal's sound system.
Despite the fact that stores will be taking down their Christmas decorations by next week Christmas season continues for two weeks until we have celebrated the Baptism of the Lord.
This is two days after and I am safely and quietly ensconced in Ottawa at my sister's home, so I have the leisure to update this blog. With Boxing Day as a statutory holiday here in Canada, many have at least some time this week to be together.
The principal Christmas feasts are Christmas itself and Epiphany. In some European cultures, in fact, Epiphany is the feast with the greater amount celebration and gift-giving associated with it. The word "Epiphany" literally means a "showing". The wise men experience a showing or revelation of God present in the world. They see by God's intervention what others may not see in an apparently ordinary infant. For Christians, it is that God is revealed, shown to us, that His presence is not a secret that allows us to experience the gift of a world made whole in Him. The celebrating is our response. It is a joyful freeing of our inhibitions, a time when we allow one another to be generous and kind. If you have been shopping on Boxing Day these may not be the thoughts that leap immediately to mind.
The Christmas carol as a musical form then, is meant to communicate joy and to most especially to be accessible, i.e., we can all sing them. They are not virtuoso pieces but ones meant to have meaningful melodies and words that stay with us. In the English language in North America, a disproportionate number of carols come from either the English or German choral traditions. These old hymn books in fact collected hymns that come from a variety of places and countries. Even in a largely secularized world it is clear that even the melodies resonate still with many. In the airport on Christmas Day afternoon I heard many a carol playing over the terminal's sound system.
Despite the fact that stores will be taking down their Christmas decorations by next week Christmas season continues for two weeks until we have celebrated the Baptism of the Lord.
