Christmas 2024: Listening to what we sing at Christmas!! (25 December 2024)

A reflection for Christmas, inspired by the Prologue of St John and some selected Christmas carols (The First Noel; Adeste Fideles; O Holy Night). Written and spoken by Kieran J. O'Mahony OSA.

www.tarsus.ie and www.tarsusscriptureschool.ie

Gentle piano music to close the meditation

Transcript

John’s Lane
D08 F8NW

25 December 2024

Welcome
Welcome again everybody and a very happy Christmas to you all. Christmas is time even when those who do not normally sing feel tempted to break into song. The tunes are attractive and well-known and no-one is afraid to join the singing of O Come All Ye Faithful or Silent Night or whatever your favourite carol might be. 

Topic
The place of music at Christmas could a study in itself. Better than any sermon, the carols do three things: they tell the story, they  teach amazingly pure Christian doctrine and they proclaim the Good News. 

Steps
Of course, Christmas carols can become a kind of musical wallpaper, present nearly everywhere, elevator music, as it was put in American Beauty. But it is worth stopping and just listening to what is being said. A popular carol such as The First Noel tells the whole story very comprehensively. We hear of the crib, the baby, the angels, shepherds, the Magi. And it invites us along: 

So let us all with one accord 
sing praises to our heavenly Lord. 

And it is not just the story. Adeste fideles offers arrestingly pure Christian doctrine. We hear words which echo the Creed we say every Sunday

God of God, light of light,
 Very God, begotten, not created:

Every Sunday we pray something very similar: 

God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;

These words come from the Nicene Creed, from the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. That took place in the year 325 and so next year 2025 is the seventeenth centenary of the Nicene Creed. In turn, the words of the creed are directly inspired by the opening prologue of the Gospel according to John, where we read: 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  (John 1:1-4)…And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.  (John 1:14)

There is even more. O Holy Night, the Cantique de Noel, is a popular song this time of year. We can all join in parts of it but the whole song is a challenge because of the vocal range. It really needs a good soloist. There is an interesting story behind this Christmas canticle.  

In 1843, in the village of Roquemaure, in the south of France, the stained glass windows of the church had just been renovated. To mark the occasion, the parish priest asked a local poet, Placide Cappeau, to compose a canticle. The result was “O holy night”, now heard all over the world. This is a little more than ironic, because Cappeau was an atheist and strongly anti-clerical, but evidently flattered to have been asked. The music was composed by Adolphe Adam, who was a Catholic and a very prolific composer in his day.  

Like other Christmas carols, O Holy Night tells the story and the doctrine. 

O Holy night! The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth

But in the third verse, it goes on the proclaim the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, in the following stirring words: 

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is Peace
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother
And in His name, all oppression shall cease.

Suddenly, in the middle of a cosy Christmas celebration, we hear the social calling of Christianity: to love one another, to make peace, to set free. The English translation appeared shortly afterwards in the US and this third verse resonated powerfully with the abolitionists, who wanted an end to slavery. With powerful words and an energetic tune, it is no surprise that O Holy Night became known as the Marseillaise religeuse. The title in French is even strong: Minuit, Chretiens! 

Certainly O Holy Night tells the story, it  teach amazingly pure Christian doctrine and it proclaims the Good News, the social Gospel.

Conclusion

Christmas is a joyful feast and the music is very much part of it. We celebrate how much God loves us, by coming close to us in a single, fragile life, and speaking words of love to us from the inside out. In the words of St John, God so loved the world. It remains a source of wonder, of course, captured in the words of a poet confrère of mine. At the end of his marvellous poem called Christmas, Pádraig Daly OSA concludes: 

And how can we, 
Loving so little, 
Fettered by knowledge, 
Believe in such excessive love? 

Something to reflect on! Amen! 

Wishing you every blessing for 2025, the Jubilee Year.