Mary journeys...

My friend Catherine Q-E, Priest and Chaplain, commissioned some tee-shirts for her campus ministry. They were supposed to say “Many journeys,” but they came back with a misprint: “Mary journeys.” She made these available free of charge for interested persons, one of them being me.

My friend Nora, Fellow-Laborer in Christ, prepared Advent baskets for the parish. On this Fourth Sunday of Advent, I took one. The concept is that the little icons of Mary and Joseph journey with us for the week, and we journal about it in the little notebook (blue, of course). In this spirit, I hope to likewise write here in the Music Box about my journeys this week and on through the Twelve Days.

We beseech thee, Almighty God, to purify our consciences by thy daily visitation, that when thy Son our Lord cometh he may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. [Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Advent]

Advent IV is the neglected child, last and overlooked in the rush toward Christmas. We have its Collect for only a few days – on Monday, it is displaced by the Feast of St. Thomas, so we have it only today, Tuesday, and for Wednesday Matins.

This Sunday was neglected in my work, as well. A busy and frustrating week was altogether focused on Monday's impending funeral with its bulletin, the Christmas Eve bulletins, and (on Friday) the bulletin for the First Sunday after Christmas Day, with due attention in the meantime to Wednesday's choral rehearsals. Until Saturday, I gave not the slightest thought to preparations for Advent IV. Or rather, I thought of it, and worried about it, but did not make it to the Bench. And even on Saturday, most of my work was on organ music for the funeral and Christmas Eve. My total preparation for today's Holy Eucharists: perhaps one hour, most of it on the prelude improvisations.

This is shameful.

But the Fourth Sunday of Advent is a crucial part of the journey which we dare not neglect. We are not there yet. Oh how truly are we not there yet. The wolf does not dwell with the lamb. They torture, hurt, and destroy on God's holy mountain. The earth is not filled with the glory of God. We have read and seen of the killing of more Holy Innocents. The duplicity of our Congressmen and Senators and President would make King Herod blush with shame.

The Collect reminds us that for now, the Journey is interior. It is hidden from the world.

But Mary and Joseph, and the One who is as yet known by faith and not by sight, they journey with us.

And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. (St. Luke 1:45)

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Some may be interested in comparing my prelude improvisations on Veni Emmanuel at the two services. Their preparation was shared; I had the same plan for them – variations, in A minor. Here is the one played on the organ. The artwork is from a fine Spanish-language blog that I found in searching for images. “Misericordiam Tuam” is a Priest in Argentina, and appears to be a young man deeply devoted to Our Lord and the Mother of God. My Spanish is not very good, but I linked to the blog as one of his ten followers, and I will try to read some of his material. Upon first encounter, it is terrific. The art for the second recording (below) is from a Flickr site by a German photographer, Harald Henkel. Again, it is very fine, with over 6,000 photographs.

The Internet is filled with garbage. I gather that the largest single category of material is pornography. Increasingly, the Net is being subverted for commercial purposes and data-harvesting, which I consider almost as bad. But among all the rubbish, there is much good – so much that one could hardly do more than sample it over a long lifetime, with more added every day. Where else could I encounter these two people and their ideas, both of them thousands of miles away from me?

I think that I played better at the piano earlier, at the middle service. Here is that version. At about the four-minute mark, a young mother and her small child, carried in her arms, lit the four Candles. It was a moment filled with grace, and I sought to react to that in my playing.

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To my delight, I found when I opened the little blue notebook to write today's entry that this Advent Basket was previously visited by Claire, a Chorister and the Daughter of my friend Jean. In her little-girl handwriting, Claire recounted her week with Mary and Joseph, a week that involved much Baking of Cookies. It is for the sharing of such experiences that Nora intended these baskets. I am the last for this year, but perhaps my words may please someone next Advent.

From the sermon of my friend Raisin, Priest and Campus Minister: a quote from Meister Eckhart

We are all meant to be mothers of God. What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine Son takes place unceasingly but does not take place within myself? And, what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace? What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and my culture? Then, then, is the fullness of time: When the Son of God is begotten in us.