Merry Christmas!

Greetings all and I hope you had a pleasant, restful and merry Christmas!

Midnight Mass was excellent as always, the choir singing many old favorites and ending as usual with a fine renedition of the 'Halleluah' chorus from Handel's Messiah. This year was rather significant, with the priest's blessing a recently-refurbished tabernacle which they had discovered in the basement and installed in the center of the church, directly behind the alter (a move prompted by the Holy Father's proclamation of "The Year of the Eucharist", reminding all of the foundation of the Church). A move which surely merits POD recognition by members of St. Blog's Parish.

Speaking of good music -- perhaps it is only in keeping with the spirit of the season, but for several Sundays in December our typical Eucharist hymn (which is drawn from modern fare and usually serves to bolster the premise of Thomas Day's "Why Catholics Can't Sing") has been replaced by "Hidden God, Devoutly I Adore Thee," a translation of the famous hymn Adoro Te Devote by St. Thomas Aquinas.

I've read that there are twenty-five translations, and I'm not sure whether ours is a modern or traditional musical rendering -- but in any case, after being forced to sing (or sit through) the saccharine-sweet "One Bread, One Body", it was a welcome relief to sing so substantial a hymn, and to marvel at the meaning of the words -- allegedly written by the saint at the request of Pope Pius IV for the feast of Corpus Christi in 1264.

I just hope it lasts, although I'm resigned to the possibility that come the transition to "normal time" we'll be returning to more contemporary works.

• Reflections on Eucharist in Light of 'Adoro Te Devote', 1st Advent Sermon of Pontifical Household Preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa.