Category Archives: New Evangelization

Ding Dong Merrily on High

Christmas Songs . VID

Ding dong merrily on high,
In heav’n the bells are ringing:
Ding dong! verily the sky
Is riv’n with angel singing
Gloria Hosanna in excelsis!
Gloria Hosanna in excelsis!

E’en so here below, below,
Let steeple bells be swungen,
And “Io, io, io!”
By priest and people sungen
Gloria Hosanna in excelsis!
Gloria Hosanna in excelsis!

Pray you, dutifully prime
Your matin chime, ye ringers,
May you beautifully rhyme
Your eve’time song, ye singers
Gloria Hosanna in excelsis!
Gloria Hosanna in excelsis!

Tidings of Peace and Joy

on the Lord’s Birthday

Great is this day’s solemn feast of the Lord’s birth dearly beloved. But the short day requires me to shorten my sermon. What wonder if we make our word short, when God the Father has made his Word short. ‘From everlasting to everlasting’ says the prophet, you are God and see he has become an infant a day old.

Why was it necessary that the Lord of majesty so empty himself, so humble himself, so abbreviate himself. Was it not that you might do likewise ? Already he is crying out by his example what later he will proclaim by his words: ‘Learn from me for i am meek and humble of heart.

Consequently i beg and earnestly entreat you not to allow so precious a model to be shown you in vain but be conformed to it and renewed in the spirit of your minds. Be zealous for humility which is the foundation and guardian of the virtues. Pursue it for it alone can save your souls.

Great are the works of the Lord says the prophet. ( Ps 111.110:2 ) Great are all his works. Three of his works proclaim his wonderful dealings with us: our primal creation, our present redemption and our future glorification. How each of this proclaims the greatness of your works o Lord!

Recognize your dignity O human being, recognize the glory of human constitution ! Along with the world you have a body. But you have something more sublime as well. Bound together and united within you are flesh and soul, one of them formed and the other ‘breathed in’. From the soul comes beauty, from the soul comes growth, from the soul clarity of vision and the sound of the voice. Divine love is what this union commends to me. Divine love is what i see written on the very page of my creation.

From the Sermons of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot

Christmas is near

Cathedral Choir . VID

Tomorrow Shall be my Dancing Day

Tomorrow shall be my dancing day;
I would my true love did so chance
To see the legend of my play,
To call my true love to my dance;

Sing, oh! my love,
Oh! my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love

Then was I born of a virgin pure,
Of her I took fleshly substance
Thus was I knit to man’s nature
To call my true love to my dance.

In a manger laid, and wrapped I was
So very poor, this was my chance
Betwixt an ox and a silly poor ass
To call my true love to my dance.

Then afterwards baptized I was;
The Holy Ghost on me did glance,
My Father’s voice heard from above,
To call my true love to my dance.

People look East

Advent Carols . VID

  1. People, look east. The time is near
    Of the crowning of the year.
    Make your house fair as you are able,
    Trim the hearth and set the table.
    People, look east and sing today:
    Love, the guest, is on the way.
  2. Furrows, be glad. Though earth is bare,
    One more seed is planted there:
    Give up your strength the seed to nourish,
    That in course the flower may flourish.
    People, look east and sing today:
    Love, the rose, is on the way.
  3. Birds, though you long have ceased to build,
    Guard the nest that must be filled.
    Even the hour when wings are frozen
    God for fledging time has chosen.
    People, look east and sing today:
    Love, the bird, is on the way.
  4. Stars, keep the watch. When night is dim
    One more light the bowl shall brim,
    Shining beyond the frosty weather,
    Bright as sun and moon together.
    People, look east and sing today:
    Love, the star, is on the way.
  5. Angels, announce with shouts of mirth
    Christ who brings new life to earth.
    Set every peak and valley humming
    With the word, the Lord is coming.
    People, look east and sing today:
    Love, the Lord, is on the way.