Sunday of Nativity
“When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons”
In this contemporary icon Nativity (2015), Ukrainian artist Danylo Movchan takes a minimalist approach to the traditional depiction of the nativity. From the usually crowded scene that compacts the Holy Family, ox and ass, shepherds, angels, and wisemen (at the very least!), all that remains is the cave, the Christ-child, and a beam of heavenly light breaking forth to signal the silent miracle. The child is wrapped in swaddling cloths, which could as well be a burial shroud; and in the darkness of the cave, is enveloped in a square of golden light that slices through the inky darkness as though intruding from another dimension.
For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.
—The Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 62:1)
Sunday after Christmas
Texts for this Week
Prayer
Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, kindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Hodie, Christus Natus Est — Today Christ is Born
In the old Gregorian ordo, the Hodie serves as the antiphon of the Magnificat on the Vespers of Christmas Day:
Today is Christ born
today the Savior has appeared;
today the Angels sing,
the Archangels rejoice;
today the righteous rejoice, saying:
Glory to God in the highest. Alleluia!
The repetition of hodie stresses the immediacy of the feast: the distance between here and now and that manger in Bethlehem is collapsed by the festal anamnesis: TODAY Christ is born: TODAY the Savior has appeared, etc.
The rich, original Gregorian melody is haunting in its simplicity and famous in its own “rite,” but featured here is a video of the especially moving is a polyphonic arrangement from the Dutch Renaissance composer, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. (The performing group — interestingly — is not an ensemble, but a quintet of YouTube singers, who formed an ad hoc virtual choir before it was cool.)
