Adeste Fideles

Come, thou long expected Jesus

Veni, Veni, Emmanuel

In the Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
but His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
worshiped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

+++

May you find joy in the love of God. God bless you.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Stille Nacht - Silent Night

Fr. Josef Mohr wrote a Christmas poem back in 1816. Two years later, on Christmas Eve, he asked the organist at the parish where he was serving to put the words to music for the midnight Mass that same evening. His friend Franz Gruber came through for him and "Silent Night" was born. The carol grew steadily in popularity and has been sung ever since.

100 years ago this evening, to the consternation of their chains of command, German and British soldiers sang this and other Christmas songs to each other in unofficial, locally-called truces at various points along the front. It was the first Christmas of World War I. [1, 2, 3]

Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming

God's peace to you, dear visitor, and may His Spirit rest upon you in your labors. For myself, while I love attempting to meditate on the things of God, my obligations are elsewhere and I won't be regularly blogging here for a long while still. Pray for me; I'll pray for you. And strive always to remember His mercy and abide in His love.

Once in Royal David's City

What Child is This?

I Wonder as I Wander

In Dulci Jubilo

On the Feast of Stephen

Good King Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen,
when the snow lay roundabout, deep and crisp and even.

Brightly shone the moon that night, though the frost was cruel,
when a poor man came in sight, gathering winter fuel.

"Hither, page, and stand by me, if thou know'st it, telling:
yonder peasant, who is he? Where and what his dwelling?"

"Sire, he lives a good league hence, underneath the mountain,
right against the forest fence, by St. Agnes fountain."

"Bring me flesh and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither.
Thou and I will see him dine, when we bear them thither. "

Page and monarch, forth they went, forth they went together,
through rude wind´s wild lament and the bitter weather.

"Sire, the night is darker now and the wind blows stronger.
Fails my heart, I know not how; I can go no longer."

"Mark my footsteps, good my page, tread thou in them boldly.
Thou shalt find the winter´s rage freeze thy blood less coldly."

In his master´s steps he trod, where the snow lay dinted.
Heat was in the very sod, which the saint had printed.

Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing,
ye who now will bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing.

+++
Walk in thy King's footsteps, Christian reader, and do not fear the winter's rage.

Tua Bethlem Dref

Here is a Christmas song that deserves to be better known, from the movie A Child's Christmas in Wales:

On to Bethlehem town;
Join the crowd and travel down;
Down the road that leads us to the cradle.
Come all who are able.
Come, come to the stable with
Hearts full of joy as we kneel and pray
Come and see the child,
With his mother Mary mild.
Come along and worship at the cradle.

There we'll see the boy;
Hearts aglow with boundless joy;
In the everlasting word.
We will bow before for Him
Come, come and adore Him
Bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
On to Bethlehem town;
Join the crowd and travel down.
Down the road that leads us to the cradle.

Click on the notes to the left for sheet music thoughtfully provided by Cypress Films. Click here for a rendition of the song in the original Welsh. Nadolig Llawen!

The entire world thrills with hope

Merry twelfth day of Christmas

Minuit, chrétiens, c'est l'heure solennelle,
Où l'Homme-Dieu descendit jusqu'à nous
Pour effacer la tache originelle
Et de Son Père arrêter le courroux.
Le monde entier tressaille d'espérance
En cette nuit qui lui donne un Sauveur.

Peuple à genoux, attends ta délivrance.
Noël, Noël, voici le Rédempteur,
Noël, Noël, voici le Rédempteur!

De notre foi que la lumière ardente
Nous guide tous au berceau de l'Enfant,
Comme autrefois une étoile brillante
Y conduisit les trois chefs d'Orient,
Le Roi des rois né dans la dépendance
En lui confond toute humaine grandeur

Le Rédempteur a brisé toute entrave:
La terre est libre, et le ciel est ouvert.
Il voit un frère où n'était qu'un esclave,
L'amour unit ceux qu'enchaînait le fer.
Qui Lui dira notre reconnaissance?
C'est pour nous tous qu'Il naît,
Qu'Il souffre et meurt.

Peuple debout! Chante ta délivrance,
Noël, Noël, chantons le Rédempteur,
Noël, Noël, chantons le Rédempteur!


Midnight, Christians, 'tis the solemn hour,
When the Man-God descended upon us
To erase the stain of original sin
And His Father's wrath, to stop.
The entire world thrills with hope
On this night that gives it a Saviour.

Fall on your knees, people, Await your deliverance.
Noel! Noel! Comes the Redeemer,
Noel! Noel! Comes the Redeemer!

By our Faith which the guiding Light
That brings us all to the Child's cradle
As before when a bright star
Brought the Kings of the Orient
The King of Kings borne in a humble stable:
Masters of today, proud of your might
Of your conceit, is what God preaches about.
Bow your head to the Saviour.

The Redeemer has overcome every obstacle:
The Earth is free, and Heaven is open.
He sees a brother where there was only a slave.
Love unites those who surround the fire.
Who will tell Him of our gratitude?
It's for all of us that He is born,
That He suffers and dies.

People stand up! Sing of your deliverance,
Noel, Noel, sing of the Redeemer,
Noel, Noel, sing of the Redeemer!

Adeste Fideles

(O come all ye faithful)



Hat tip to Fr. Nicholas Schofield.

Happy tenth day of Christmas.

Christmas Day

When the angels went away from them to heaven,
the shepherds said to one another,
“Let us go, then, to Bethlehem
to see this thing that has taken place,
which the Lord has made known to us.”
So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.

Luke 2:15-20

+++

O Jesu mi dulcissime, adoro te in stabulo commorantem	O my sweetest Jesus, I worship you resting in the stable.
O puer dilectissime, adoro te in praesepio jacentem.	O most beloved child, I worship you lying in the manger.
O Christe, rex piissime, adore te in faeno cubantem in caelo regnantem.	O Christ, most kindly King, I worship you sleeping in the hay and reigning in heaven.
O mira Dei pietas, O singularis caritas, Christus datus est, Jesus natus est, datus est a Patre, natus est de virgine matre.	O marvelous kindness of God, O matchless love. Christ is given, Jesus is born, given by the Father, born of the virgin mother.
O divina ergo proles, te colimus hic homines ut veneremur caelites.	O divine Offspring, we men worship you here that we may revere you in heaven.

- Giovanni Gabrieli (1556-1612)

Merry Christmas

A merry (and blessed) Christmas to You

from The Prologue from Ohrid

HOMILY
on the birth of the Lord, the Son of God

I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world (John 16:28).

The only-begotten Son of God, brethren, begotten in eternity of the Father without a mother, was born in time of a mother without a father. That first begetting is an unfathomable mystery of the Holy Trinity in eternity, and the second is the unfathomable mystery of God's power and love for mankind in time. The greatest mystery in time corresponds to the greatest mystery in eternity. Without entering into this greatest mystery with the small taper of our understanding, let us be content, brethren, with the knowledge that our salvation had its origin not from man or from earth, but from the greatest heights of the divine invisible world. So great is God's mercy, and so great is the dignity of man, that the Son of God Himself came down from eternity into time, from heaven to earth, from the throne of glory to the shepherd's cave, solely to save mankind, to cleanse men from sin and to return them to Paradise. I came forth from the Father, where I had everything, and am come into the world, which cannot give Me anything. The Lord was born in a cave to show that the whole world is one dark cave, which He alone can illumine. The Lord was born in Bethlehem -- and Bethlehem means "the House of Bread" -- to show that He is the only Bread of Life worthy of true men.

O Lord Jesus, the Pre-eternal Son of the Living God and the Son of the Virgin Mary, enlighten us and nourish us with Thyself.

To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.