Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

The Masses For Sundays And
Feastdays According To The
Liturgical Seasons
(Proprium de Tempore)
FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
INTROIT (Ps. 24: 1, 3)
1. Ad te levavi animam meam: 1. To thee have I lifted up my
Deus meus in te confido, non eru- soul: in thee, O my God, I put my
bescam: 2. neque irrideant me in- trust, let me not be ashamed: 2.
imici mei: 3. etenim universi qui neither let mine enemies laugh at me:
te exspectant, non confundentur. 3. for none of them that wait on thee
Ps. Vias tuas, Domine, demonstra shall be confounded. Ps. Show, O
mihi: * et semitas tuas edoce me. Lord, thy ways to me: * and teach
me thy paths.
"Lift up (levate) your heads, because your redemption is at hand."
Thus the Lord consoles us in the Gospel for today, which, in the main,
is intensely serious. He wishes to come as our Redeemer on Christmas
night, and for this the Advent season, now beginning, is to prepare us.
He wants to free our soul from the foes that press it from every side,
from enemies who think they can already rejoice at our defeat. Although
we may often have looked up (levavi) to some vain thing, considering
its attainment our life's ambition, there has always come a time when
we realized the nothingness of it all, realized that God alone can be our
ideal, our goal. Only when we take cognizance of His ways (vias tuas,
Domine) and walk accordingly, can we find true happiness. God alone
can guard the beauty and nobility of our soul against its every enemy.
At the beginning of the liturgical year our soul strives, therefore, to
elevate itself, definitely and decisively, to Him who by His incarnation
becomes its God (Deus meus) and who wishes to be intimately united
with it in Holy Communion. For this reason Deus meus sounds almost
jubilant. For this reason, too, strong accents are placed over in te confido;
and non erubescam and neque irrdieant sound more like a song of
victory than a suppliant petition.
"Lift up your heads, for your redemption is at hand." Some time it
will come, the perfected redemption, when the Son of Man will come in