Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

20 Second Sunday of Advent
Communion. Our prayer is not in vain. The Lord gives His blessing: a
joyous animation runs through the melody with these words. What copious
blessings has the Lord poured upon this earth, and what a plentitude
of grace has He again placed in our souls in Holy Communion as
seed for eternity! Wherever this seed falls upon rich soil, in souls who
recognize that the one thing necessary is to do the will of God, there it
bears rich fruit.
In the Blessed Virgin, however, this Communion finds its finest
realization. Hitherto our earth had brought forth but thorns and thistles.
We are, as Adam of St. Victor sang in the twelfth century, a thornhedge,
lacerated by the thorns of sin; but Mary knows nothing of thorns. She
is so richly blessed that the angel can greet her as "full of grace." The
heart of this ancilla Domini was fertile soil, moistened by the dew of
heaven. Soon she will present us with the most beautiful flowerlet, the
ripest and most luscious fruit which has ever graced the face of the earth,
a fruit so precious that mankind, generation after generation, will never
weary of calling out to her: "Blessed art thou amongst women, and
blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus!"
The first phrase has a range of a ninth; with (benigni)-tdtem it lets
the blessings drop gently from above. The second phrase, which treats
of the fruits of the earth, does not extend above the dominant of the
mode (a). Both phrases descend in a gentle line to low c and begin the
following member with an interval of a fourth. A fluent and bright rendition
should characterize the whole piece.
This melody is sung also on the feast of St. Ignatius (July 31).
"Lift up your heads;" in Holy Communion "your redemption is at hand."
SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Today the Introit, Gradual, and Communion speak of Sion, i.e., of
Jerusalem. The Alleluia-verse also alludes to this. For at Rome the principal
service was held in the Church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, close
to the Lateran. Formerly it was a royal palace; now it shelters a most
venerable relic of the holy cross. Our present Sion is the Catholic Church.
It is also our individual soul, and likewise the church building in which
we look for the Redeemer today. Here it is that we are being prepared
for the heavenly Sion.
INTROIT (Is. 30:30)
1. Populus Sion, ecce Dominus 1. People of Sion, behold the
veniet ad salvandas gentes: 2. et Lord shall come to save the nations: