On a recent Talking Catholic podcast with members of the Diocese’s Pastoral Department, I was asked about the music of the Advent season and my favorite Advent song.
I spoke about how this music – like the season itself – is joyful yet penitential and looks forward to the Second Coming (death and end times) while also pointing us forward to our annual celebration of the Incarnation – the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord – (birth and new beginnings)! During the Advent season, we do not sing the “Glory to God” on Sundays as we do the rest of the year (except for Lent), yet we do not drop our use of the acclamation “Alleluia!” (as we do in Lent).
Regarding my favorite Advent song, I mentioned on the podcast that I don’t have one. Later, pondering this question further, I considered “favorites” of the past, which I have also kept as regulars in my repertoire over the years. These include: “Beyond the Moon and Stars” (D. Schutte); “In the Day of the Lord” (M.D. Ridge); “There is Longing” (A. Quigley); “Soon and Very Soon” (A. Crouch), and some traditional or contemporary version of either “The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns” (J. Brownlie and R. DeBruyn) or “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
I think I can’t land on a favorite this year because, even in general, my “favorite song” is an ever-changing experience or expression of what music I am currently relating to, bringing back a memory or causing a certain feeling. It seems to change with each passing season, whether it’s a liturgical season, a calendar season or a “season” of my life.
This Advent, I have not reflected on music enough, as I normally would have when I was in full-time parish ministry. A number of factors play into this right now. But thus far this Advent, amidst even the Christian radio stations diving into “Christmas” music seemingly earlier than usual, I believe I calm down a bit and re-center myself when I hear some version of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” A sigh of relief … someone remembered that we’re still in the Advent season. And so, I continue exploring this beloved song further.
I’m sure most Catholic parishes, if not most Christian churches, use this song at least once, perhaps on the First Sunday of Advent as a “must have” reminder to all that it is indeed Advent, or maybe on the Third Sunday, where the refrain “Rejoice!” echoes the Entrance Antiphon for this day, also known as Gaudete Sunday.
The verses of this hymn have been used dating back to the early Church, each verse a Biblical allusion to Christ. A recent Catholic Star Herald column by Michael Canaris went into the history of these antiphons: Within the liturgy, each verse is sung at vespers from Dec. 17-23, and sung as the “Alleluia” verse for weekday Masses from Dec. 17-24. They are known as the “O” Antiphons: O Wisdom (Sapientia), O Lord / O Leader (Adonai), O Root of Jesse (Radix Jesse), O Key of David (Clavis David), O Dayspring / O Dawn (Oriens), O King of Nations (Rex Gentium) and O God-with-Us (Emmanuel).
Interestingly, the last of the “O” Antiphons is the first verse of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” and only recently (speaking within our 2,000-year Church history) has this hymn seemed to become standard repertoire for the entire season of Advent.
I hope your parish music ministry finds a way to place one of the many musical versions of these “O” Antiphon texts in your Sunday liturgy so that all the verses can be sung at some point, especially for those of us who may not be praying them daily from Dec. 17-24.
As I write this and reflect on the “O” Antiphons, I’m realizing that more important to me this year is the intention that follows the opening invocation. This year, the verbs seem more necessary in my prayer than the nouns: Wisdom … teach us; Lord … rescue us; Root of Jesse … come to save; Key of David … free the prisoners; Dayspring … shine; King of Nations … come and save, Emmanuel … come to save.
I don’t think it is coincidence that in three of the seven antiphons, we ask God specifically to save us. I’d argue another two antiphons ask for deliverance. Either way, it sounds like it’s for us to ponder from what or from whom we’re asking God to “save us” this Advent.
It’s a good thing that Saturday is Dec. 17. Perfect timing for further reflection. Maybe I do have a favorite song this Advent.
Mike Bedics is the director of Worship and Christian Initiation for the Diocese of Camden.
More Online
Listen to the Talking Catholic podcast in which Mike Bedics and the Diocese’s Pastoral Department discuss Advent and how one can detach from the secular holiday season and instead focus on faith. Visit talking.catholicstarherald.org.
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