Advent IV

Just in from Sunday morning church. Went to St. Stephen's with maybe eighty or so others.....the church was so empty, we practically each had a whole pew to ourselves! Sunday is a commandment and Christmas is a holy day of obligation, so I don't know why people think they can kill two birds with one stone and just go tonight.

I've decided to coin a new term: Medium Mass. Now, "low Mass" is when the service is just said, there is no music, nothing is chanted, there is no incense, and there is virtually no "ceremonial;" "high Mass" includes organ, choir, cantor, incense, all of the liturgical movements, vestments, and ceremonial, and people leave having been inspired by a "special" and glorious religious experience (yeah, yeah, you priests be quiet.....I'm trying to explain to the Great Unwashed Masses, uh, er, I mean, Protestants, the differences between high and low, and they don't understand the glory and mysteries of the Mass, even the low ones). Under my new definition of "Medium Mass," the service is somewhere in between low and high: there is music for the congregation to sing such as opening, closing, and offertory hymns, some of the Mass setting such as the Gloria and Sanctus is sung, but the priest doesn't chant anything and no incense is used.

The university chaplain was our celebrant and homilist this morning. The choir doesn't do the early service, so this Mass was just cantored.

Processional hymn was Morning Song (The King shall come when morning dawns), offertory was Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (Savior of the nations come), and the recessional was Besancon (People look east the time is near). There was supposed to be some kind of congregational responsorial marching hymn at communion with a Wilcocks antiphon "I will praise your name for forever," but, as usual, no one but the cantoress sang it. This morning's psalm used an antiphon setting by the parish's organist-choirmaster.

The Mass setting was a hodge-podge of the de Victoria "O Magnum Mysterium" setting of the Gospel alleluia, Proulx Mass for the City setting of the Sanctus and consecration statements, and the Gregorian Agnus Dei. Since the organ is still broken, the organist was playing a little electronic keyboard and kept using the "piano" with weird blends of other instruments. Fortunately for midnight Mass tonight, they are importing an additional harpist and the Washington Symphonic Brass to help out with the accompaniments.

The priest talked about Advent and Christmas Eve in his homily, but it was rather preaching to the choir to tell the eighty people in the pews that they should go to both services. The most interesting thing the priest had to say is that they were having strawberries and champagne after midnight Mass tonight!

Now it's time to see what I have to cook still for tonight's dinner. Ciao!