Patrick Comerford
We have passed the half-way into the Season of Advent, and the countdown to Christmas continues gathered pace. The week began with the Third Sunday of Advent (Advent III, 15 December 2024), also known as Gaudete Sunday.
Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Matthew 21: 23-27 (NRSVA):
23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’ 24 Jesus said to them, ‘I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ And they argued with one another, ‘If we say, “From heaven”, he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?” 26 But if we say, “Of human origin”, we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.’ 27 So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And he said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
‘Gaudete’ was recorded by Steeleye Span on ‘Below the Salt’ in 1972 and was a Christmas hit in 1973Today’s Reflection:
We are two-thirds of the way through Advent, and yesterday was the Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday (16 December 2024), a day when the readings and prayers recall Saint John the Baptist.
In the Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 21: 23-27), Jesus speaks once again about Saint John the Baptist and his authority to baptise and teach.
The liturgical colour on Gaudete Sunay is rose or pink, adding a note of joyful anticipation, and we lit the third, pink-coloured candle on the Advent Wreath. In many churches and cathedrals yesterday, naturally, choirs sang Gaudete! gaudete! Christus est natus, an Advent carol that reached No 14 in the charts in England with Steeleye Span over 50 years ago, becoming a Christmas hit in 1973.
This song was popular in the early 1970s, and I first heard it around the same time as I was introduced to English folk rock while I was in the English Midlands and writing for the Lichfield Mercury.
It was Track 7 on the album Below the Salt, recorded in May and June 1972. The notes on the record sleeve say:
Mist takes the morning path to wreath the willows –
Rejoice, rejoice –
small birds sing as the early rising monk takes to his sandals –
Christ is born of the Virgin Mary –
cloistered, the Benedictine dawn threads timelessly the needle’s eye –
rejoice.
Steeleye Span was formed in 1969, and they often performed as the opening act for Jethro Tull. A year after recording Below the Salt, it came as a surprise to many when they had a Christmas hit single with Gaudete, when it made No 14 in the British charts in 1973.
The guitarist Bob Johnson, who died a year ago (15 December 2023), had heard the song when he attended a folk-carol service with his father-in-law in Cambridge, and brought it to the attention of the rest of the band.
This a capella motet, sung entirely in Latin, is neither representative of Steeleye Span’s repertoire nor of the album. Yet this was their first big breakthrough and it brought them onto Top of the Pops for the first time.
It is one of only three top 50 British hits to be sung in Latin. The others are two recordings of Pie Jesu from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem by Sarah Brightman and Paul Miles-Kingston in 1986, and by the then 12-year-old Charlotte Church in 1998.
Gaudete may have been composed in the 16th century, but may date from the late mediaeval period. The song was published in Piae Cantiones, a collection of Finnish and Swedish sacred songs published in 1582.
The Latin text is a typical mediaeval song of praise, following the standard pattern for the time – a uniform series of four-line stanzas, each preceded by a two-line refrain (in the early English carol this was known as the burden).
The reference in verse 3, which puzzled many fans at the time, is to the eastern gate of the city in Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 44: 2). The gate is a traditional symbol of the Virgin Mary.
Since the mid-1970s, despite the change in their line-up and the loss of names like Maddy Prior and Gay and Terry Woods at different times, Steeleye Span often include Gaudete as a concert encore, and it was published in 1992 in the New Oxford Book of Carols.
Present – The Very Best of Steeleye Span(2002), their 17th studio album, contained new recordings of previously released songs, including Gaudete as Track 6 on Disc 2.
The original is here: Gaudete by Steeleye Span.
A more recent recording is available here from the ‘World Tour’ 35th Anniversary DVD.
There are other arrangements by Michel McGlynn, recorded by Anuna, and an arrangement by Bob Chilcott which is part of the Advent and Christmas repertoire of the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.
Let us rejoice in good memories, let us rejoice that Christmas is coming, and in the midst of the present gloom let us rejoice that the coming of Christ holds out the promise of hope, the promise of his Kingdom, the promise that even in darkness the light of Christ shines on us all.
Gaudete, gaudete! Christus est natus
Ex Maria virginae, gaudete!
Tempus adest gratiæ
Hoc quod optabamus,
Carmina lætiticiæ
Devote reddamus.
Gaudete, gaudete! Christus est natus
Ex Maria virginae, gaudete!
Deus homo factus est
Natura mirante,
Mundus renovatus est
A Christo regnante.
Gaudete, gaudete! Christus est natus
Ex Maria virginae, gaudete!
Ezechielis porta
Clausa pertransitur,
Unde Lux est orta
Salus invenitur.
Gaudete, gaudete! Christus est natus
Ex Maria virginae, gaudete!
Ergo nostra contio
Psallat jam in lustro;
Benedicat Domino:
Salus Regi nostro.
Gaudete, gaudete! Christus est natus
Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.
Rejoice, rejoice! Christ is born
of the Virgin Mary, rejoice!
The time of grace has come
that we have desired;
let us devoutly return
joyful verses.
Rejoice, rejoice! Christ is born
of the Virgin Mary, rejoice!
God has become man,
and nature marvels;
the world has been renewed
by Christ who is King.
Rejoice, rejoice! Christ is born
of the Virgin Mary, rejoice!
The closed gate of Ezekiel
has been passed through;
whence the light is born,
salvation is found.
Rejoice, rejoice! Christ is born
of the Virgin Mary, rejoice!
Therefore let our gathering
now sing in brightness,
let it give praise to the Lord:
Greetings to our King.
Rejoice, rejoice! Christ is born
of the Virgin Mary, rejoice!
Today’s Prayers (Monday 16 December 2024):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Joy – Advent’. This theme was introduced yesterday with Reflections by the Revd Sonja Hunter, Priest at All Saints’ Anglican Church in Samoa, Diocese of Polynesia.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 16 December 2024) invites us to pray:
We thank you Father God for your love which has drawn us closer to you through Jesus Christ our Redeemer. We thank you that through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can hear your voice and be guided on the best path for our lives as you have promised.
The Collect:
O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
We give you thanks, O Lord, for these heavenly gifts;
kindle in us the fire of your Spirit
that when your Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns now and for ever.
Additional Collect:
God for whom we watch and wait,
you sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of your Son:
give us courage to speak the truth,
to hunger for justice,
and to suffer for the cause of right,
with Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflection
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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