By Beth Lema
On December 12th, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the day we dedicate to Jesus’ mother Mary, the St. Elizabeth Seton Church Choir presented Mary Remembers, a story of light and hope.
Ever since I can remember as a small child, the time of Advent was a time of great expectation and waiting. As a child these four weeks seemed to go on and on; as an adult the time goes by faster than we would like.
As an adult, the expectation of the season of busyness seems to be filled with baking, shopping, and celebrating, and yet amidst all of the chaos we are invited to take the time to reflect on the true meaning of this time of anticipation and waiting.
St. Elizabeth Seton in her journals referred to Advent as a time to encounter with Jesus and His angels: talking to them, listening to them, and looking for them. “Sometimes I feel so assured that the Guardian Angel is present that I look from my book and can hardly be persuaded I was not touched,” she wrote.
Our Cantata Remembering Mary was just such an encounter, a blessing-filled hour of listening to and singing the glorious story of Mary’s pregnancy and Jesus’s birth as we wait, listen and have patience for the glorious birth of our Savior presented with a modern twist. Our Liturgist Steve Raml worked tirelessly putting together this great cantata with story and song.
The angelic voices of our parish choirs filled our sanctuary. Our choir was joined by our Liturgist emeritus Mike Wieser, who began the concert by singing When the Lord is Revealed, a beautiful musical piece composed by our own Paul Yoder.
As the story began, Mary was being interviewed by Dr. Luke. How must she have felt as she told this story through her own eyes. Her emotions and feelings touched our human souls.
We identified with her emotions and feelings, and the glorious voices rendered songs that fit the story, and we began to anticipate the true meaning of Christmas.
To add to the event, we also encountered Heavenly Angels and Shepherds. And then The Hallelujah Chorus rang out and all in the church stood and rejoiced singing together. May we never forget that feeling of pure joy as we stood and sang. We were touched by the angels that day, graced by the many talents of our Liturgist, Singers and Musicians.
Just as St. Elizabeth Seton said…we were talking to them, listening to them and looking for them. The Angels were Making their Rounds this Advent at St. Elizabeth Seton.
Listen to some of the Hallelujah Chorus in the video below: