December 26, 2024
December 29th – Holy Family
I pray that this Christmas Season has started beautifully for each of you – it certainly has for my family, since David and I have never been able to spend a Christmas Eve with each other in our 37 Christmases together, and this Christmas he was able to meet my Grace Family and attend a Midnight Mass where I directed choir and Brass Quintet from the organ bench. Christmas is inherently and culturally about family, and it was a blessing to finally not ignore or have to deny my God-given family at Church – thanks be to God!
This coming Sunday finds us with the holy family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and even though the Revised Common Lectionary doesn’t call this Sunday “Holy Family”, I love that the readings are still focused on the growing Jesus and his oh-so-faith-filled parents who said “yes” to the Holy One, and how that faithfulness informs and inspires the life of our families.
My choral selections for this Sunday are profoundly meaningful to me, ravishingly beautiful, and they focus our attention on the Holy Family. Our Choral Anthem is an arrangement of the Polish Carol “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly”made by Mack Wilberg for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. This simple but exquisite setting includes a “4-3 suspension” on each downbeat of every measure, giving a delicious tension and release that lends poignancy to the important syllables which are placed on those beats. It’s a beautiful challenge for the organist and joy for the choir to sing. Wilberg alters the ending of the melody slightly to keep us on our toes, and he reiterates the closing words of the second verse “Christ was born for you” to beautiful effect. As we ponder the miracle of Christ’s Incarnation, we also recall that Christ would have been born a helpless babe and crucified for just one of us – God SO loved the world and each of us.
When I first encountered this beautiful setting, I was practicing my organ part late at night in a darkened Church – as organists so often do – and a couple came in to pray and light candles at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe not far from the organ console. I recognized them, having seen them in a funeral consultation earlier that day, but they were engulfed by grief after losing their son to suicide the previous day. The words “Christ was born for you” rang in my ears and flooded my eyes, as I realized that vibrant young child of God had forgotten that Christ was born to save HIM – and would have done it all JUST for him. I chose to play this setting as part of the Prelude at his Funeral, since it was Christmastide, and this music has always choked me up a bit, knowing how many of us can forget how immeasurably precious we are to the Holy One.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has created this video set in a prison with a message of redemption that also captures the profound meaning of this ancient Polish Carol. I pray it is meaningful to you as well.
Our Communion Music is a reprise of Morten Lauridsen’s “O Magnum Mysterium” in its solo voice and piano setting which we sang on Christmas Eve. This transcendent work was commissioned by Marshall Rutter, a great champion of choral music, in honor of his wife, Terry Knowles, who served as Los Angeles Master Chorale’s Executive Director and was a member of the chorus. Marshall recently passed away and his obituary tells of his heart-full work for the cause of choral music.
Terry Knowles’ sister, Barbara, sang next to me in Orpheus Chamber Singers when this work was commissioned, and we sang it on our Christmas Concert very shortly after its premiere. Terry and Marshall attended our performance, and when the solo version was published, I asked them both to autograph my copy of the score. Choirs everywhere have fallen in love with Lauridsen’s “sound world” and his great sensitivity to texts. I have always felt that the third “verse” of the choral setting at Beata Virgo [blessed is the Virgin] needed to “erupt” with electric bass and dramatic percussion, and Lauridsen basically incorporates that feel into the piano accompaniment of this solo setting. The translation of this ancient text is:
O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament,
that animals should see their new-born Lord, lying in a manger!
Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear Christ the Lord.
Alleluia!
As we ponder the Great Mystery of Christ’s Incarnation, may we find constant hope in the reckless love that caused the Holy One to sacrifice everything for our salvation! Christ the Babe was born for me, and you, and every person we encounter – may our words and actions always reflect that knowledge.
I pray that this season of Christmas strengthens our faith and our daily resolve to let Christ be born in us each day.
With a grateful heart,
Kenton Kravig