By the way...

The girls and I did get to sing in the church choir at 10:30 Mass yesterday. It was slick, but only because of rainfall, not because of ice.

We sang "O Come, Divine Messiah" in four-part harmony, as well as "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." The closing hymn was the English chant "Savior of the Nations, Come" and during Communion, we sang the Gregorian chant, "Rorate Caeli" with lyrics taken from Scripture, so beautiful that they wring my heartwith gladness. I can't sing the words "Consolamini, consolamini, popule meus" (Be comforted, be comforted, my people) in that haunting melody without tears coming to my eyes.

Here, from Cantate ey Iulilate Deo a hymnal of Gregorian chant published by Scepter Publishers: "The text of this hymn is frequently used in the Mass and Divine Office during Advent. It is a plea of the Prophets, the Patriarchs, and the entire Church, all of whom long for the coming of the Messiah. As dew comes down from the sky and quenches the dry earth, only to evaporate back, so too will the Messiah come to sae his people and return to heaven. We recall our past offenses and sins and seek forgiveness as we await the birth of Christ for our redemption, a redemption that will bring the waters of life to desolate Jerusalem."

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

Be not angry, O Lord, and remember no longer our iniquity :
behold the city of thy sanctuary is become a desert,
Sion is made a desert. Jerusalem is desolate,
the house of our holiness and of thy glory, where our fathers praised thee.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

We have sinned, and we are become as one unclean,
and we have all fallen as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away
thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast crushed us
by the hand of our iniquity.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

See, O Lord, the affliction of thy people,
and send him whom thou hast promised to send.
Send forth the Lamb, the ruler of the earth,
from the rock of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion,
that he himself may take off the yoke of our captivity.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

Be comforted, be comforted, my people;
thy salvation shall speedily come;
Why wilt thou waste away in sadness?
Why hath sorrow seized thee? I will save thee; fear not:
for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.


Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.

Ne irascaris Domine, ne ultra memineris iniquitatis:
ecce civitas Sancti facta est deserta, Sion deserta facta est:
Ierusalem desolata est: domus sanctificationis tuac et gloriae tuae,
ubi laudaverunt te patres nostri.

Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.

Peccavimus, et facti sumus tamquam immundus nos,
et cecidimus quasi folium universi;
et iniquitates nostrae quasi ventus abstulerunt nos:
abscondisti faciem tuam a nobis,
et allisisti nos in manu iniquitatis nostrae.

Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.

Vide, Domini, afflictionem populi tui,
et mitte quem missurus es,
emitte Agnum dominatorem terrae,
de Petra deserti montem filiae Sion:
ut auferat ipse iugum captivatis nostrae.

Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.

Consolamini, consolamini, popule meus:
cito veniet salus tua:. quare moerore consumeris,
quia innovavit te dolor? Salvabo te, noli timere:
ego enim sum Dominus Deus, tuus, Sanctus Israel,
Redemptor tuus.

Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant iustum.