among the gifts under my tree:
The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History
Eats, Shoots, & Leaves
Surprised by Canon LawMore Catholic than the Pope
The Age of Consent
I have been told that the bio of Archbishop Sheen is on order.
I also was given a wonderful and warm winter coat, much tea, a gift certificate to amazon.com, and many hugs and kisses.
Midnight Mass was as usual wonderful, and we the choir didn't flub too many notes. Our new piece for this year was an arrangement of "In Deepest Night" in four part harmony. I wish that we had been able to sing it a capella, but with only 1 1/2 hours rehearsal per week and not starting on Christmas music until Novenber it becomes difficult to get to that level of competence. But we sang out in joy and praise anyhow.
Today for Sunday Mass we went to our other parish (the one where we aren't in the choir) and had the treat of singing "Once in Royal David's City" which is one of my favorite Christmas carols - especially these lines:
Christian children all must be
mild, obedient, good as he.
Once again, my favorite gripe - Why o why don't we sing all the verses of these beautiful hymns? If we had sung this at Communion (and why not?) the 6 verses would not have been unduly lengthy. Of course, the OCP hymnals only included the first 3 verses........
Once in Royal David's City
Once in royal David's city
stood a lowly cattle shed,
where a mother laid her baby
in a manger for his bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little child.
He came down to earth from heaven,
who is God and Lord of all,
and his shelter was a stable,
and his cradle was a stall;
with the poor, the scorned, the lowly,
lived on earth our Savior holy.
And, through all his wondrous childhood,
he would honor and obey,
love and watch the lowly maiden
in whose gentle arms he lay:
Christian children all must be
mild, obedient, good as he.
For he is our childhood's pattern,
day by day like us he grew;
he was little, weak and helpless,
tears and smiles like us he knew.
and he feeleth for our sadness,
and he shareth in our gladness.
And our eyes at last shall see him,
through his own redeeming love;
for that Child who seemed so helpless
is our Lord in heaven above;
and he leads his children on
to the place where he is gone.
Not in that poor lowly stable,
with the oxen standing round,
we shall see him; but in heaven,
set at God's right hand on high;
when like stars his children crowned,
all in white shall wait around.
Hi Alicia,
I keep getting emails from TownHallBooks.com tantalizing me with book discount offers and "The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History" is right there at the top of the ones I've been considering. You'll have to let me know how it is. For Christmas books gifts I received the "Sermons of the Curé of Ars" and a huge 2 binder set of Saints' life stories -- both from my mother-in-law (who knows I enjoy Catholic works)
Merry Christmas (green, but at least white the day after...)
--
Scott