Ding Dong Merrily on High

Leave a reply

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

1 Reply

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

Leave a reply

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.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Leave a reply

On the Eve of our Lord’s Birth

Yes one is coming who will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea, who will heal all our ills, who will carry us back to the source of our original worth. Great is the might but more wonderful is the mercy in that the One who could help us willed to come to our assistance! Today Scripture says you shall know that the Lord will come.

Well then, I know how great is the tribulation you endure for Christ. If only your consolation through him may be great. To offer you worldly consolation I neither wish nor am I allowed. ( 2 Cor 1 5-6 ) Consolation of that kind is cheap and does no good and we must fear even more that it is a hindrance to true and salutary consolation. So then the One who is the delight and glory of the angels has himself become our salvation and consolation.

As we are about to celebrate the ineffable mystery of the Lord’s birth we are rightly bidden to be prepared in all holiness. The Holy of holies is present; Present is the one who said, Be holy for I the Lord your God am holy.

This is the right time then for perfect holiness to be pointed out to you – an inner washing is enjoined on us, a spiritual purifying is required. As the Lord says. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. For this we live to this have we been called, for this day has today dawned upon us. Once it was night when no one could work. It was night throughout the whole world before the rising of the true light before the birth of Christ.

The herald of the day then is also the one who cries out, be sober, be vigilant. ( John 12:32 ) The night is far gone the day is near. Let us cast off the world of darkness and put on the armor of light !

Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this word which the Lord has brought to pass and revealed to us. It is the house of bread and it is good for us to be there. We live in Christ and Christ lives in us. He is drawing all things to himself , he who is over all, God Blessed forever. Amen.

St Bernard of Clairvaux