Seasons that prepare us for great feast days. Advent also includes an element of penance in the sense of preparing, quieting, and disciplining our hearts for the full joy of Christmas.
Alma Redemptoris Mater
O Loving Mother of our Redeemer
The Marian antiphon sung during Advent and Christmas season.
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.
O loving Mother of our Redeemer, gate of heaven, star of the sea,
Hasten to aid thy fallen people who strive to rise once more.
Thou who brought forth thy holy Creator, all creation wond'ring,
Yet remainest ever Virgin, taking from Gabriel's lips
that joyful "Hail!": be merciful to us sinners.
Christmas Flower collection begins
Help the Altar Society beautifully adorn the church with flowers to celebrate the birth of Our Lord! They will be collecting donations for Christmas Flowers after Mass.
Online: Visit giving.parishsoft.com/App/Giving/acchtx, and select "Christmas Flowers" in the dropdown menu.
By Mail: Send to PO Box 214, Houston TX 77001. Write "Christmas Flowers" in the memo line of the check.
Advent Music
J. S. Bach, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Sleepers Awake) BWV 140
At Annunciation, our Sacred Music director, Catherine Schaefer, plays Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme during Advent. It is considered Advent music because its text and themes directly relate to the season's themes of preparation and the second coming of Christ. The cantata's central theme is the biblical Parable of the Ten Virgins, which connects to Advent's focus on being spiritually ready for the arrival of the bridegroom, Jesus.
Text is taken from canticasacra.org
This may be the best-known of all of Bach’s cantatas. Written for the 27th Sunday after Trinity (which is rarely observed, since it requires that the date of Easter be as early as possible), the text to Wachet auf develops the eschatological themes inspired by both the Gospel and Epistle reading for that Sunday.
The Epistle for Trinity 27 is 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11, in which St. Paul urges his readers to be watchful and sober-minded, anticipating Christ’s return with the knowledge that “the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.”
The Gospel reading — St. Matthew 25: 1-13 is the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, with its imagery of a coming Bridegroom and the command: “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”
The opening chorus to Wachet auf uses a text by Philipp Nicolai, which — in paraphrased form — is the first verse of our Advent hymn, “Wake, awake, for night is flying.”
Wake up, the voice calls us
of the watchmen high up on the battlements,
wake up, you city of Jerusalem!
This hour is called midnight;
they call us with a clear voice:
where are you, wise virgins?
Get up, the bridegroom comes;
Stand up, take your lamps!
Alleluia!
Make yourselves ready
for the wedding,
you must go to meet him!
Two of the movements in this cantata are duets between bass and soprano, representing the Bridegroom and the Bride, or Jesus and the Soul, in a musical exchange reminiscent of the Song of Songs. In the second of these duets, the two lovers sing, “Nothing shall divide our love.” Then the Bride sings, “I want to graze on heaven’s roses with you,” and the Bridegroom responds, “You will graze on heaven’s roses with me.” They conclude their song affirming: “There will be fullness of joy, there will be delight.”
The text for the entire cantata can be found here.