ADVENT I

 

Creator of the stars of night,
Thy people’s everlasting light,
Jesu, Redeemer, save us all,
And hear Thy servants when they call.

Thou, grieving that the ancient curse
Should doom to death a universe,
Hast found the medicine, full of grace,
To save and heal a ruined race.

Thou came, the Bridegroom of the bride,
As drew the world to evening-tide;
Proceeding from a virgin shrine,
The spotless Victim all divine.

At Whose dread Name, majestic now,
All knees must bend, all hearts must bow;
And things celestial Thee shall own,
And things terrestrial, Lord alone.

O Thou Whose coming is with dread
To judge and doom the quick and dead,
Preserve us, while we dwell below,
From every insult of the foe.

To God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit, Three in One,
Laud, honor, might, and glory be
From age to age eternally.


Latin Hymn, 7th century
Conditor alme siderum
Translated by John Mason Neale

This is the vespers (evening) hymn sung every night during Advent, the season that precedes Christmas. I look forward to singing it in my private devotions every year.

The problem for me with Advent is that I practically miss it. Yes, I know when it begins (the Sunday closest to St. Andrew’s Day, November 30. What I mean is that I miss the spirit of Advent. Everything is in a mad, headlong dash to Christmas. It’s like that 1950s novelty song: “I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas.” Advent needs to be a time of reflection on the great mystery we are about to celebrate, the Word made flesh.

One of the things I like about this hymn is the opening emphasis on Jesus as the “creator of the stars of night.” There is a tendency for people to think of only the Father as the creator, but this is not true. We read in the Gospel of John (1:3): “All things came into being through him [the Word], and without him not one thing came into being.” And we confess in the Nicene Creed that we believe in “one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God . . . through him all things were made.”  And so it is when we see the baby Jesus, as Dr. O.P Kretzmann wrote, “The mystery of the small hands which once had set the stars in firmament.”

This Advent is a time to meditate on this mystery. Make some time for that meditation. Make some silence to hear the Holy Word. Make some room for the One who didn’t even have a decent room in which to be born.

Jesu, Redeemer, save us all,
And hear Thy servants when they call.

May the Lord bless you on your journey and greet you on your arrival

Wayne


Apologies to those who have already read this in The Good Life.


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