Advent Music and Mary Waiting

During Advent, I like to listen to Advent music. It's not that I don't like Christmas music, or have any objections to anyone else listening to it. I even sing along with it while shopping. (Now I know you will never go shopping with me.) It's just that there is some really great Advent music, and if you don't listen to it in Avent, when will you?

That there is a great deal of Advent music would probably come as a surprise to most people. So, over the next few weeks I will occasionally post videos of some of my favorites. The first one is Maria Walks Amid the Thorn sung by Choralation.



Maria walks amid the thorn,
Kyrie eleison.
Maria walks amid the thorn,
Which seven years
No leaf hath born.
Jesus and Maria.

What in her heart doth Mary bear?
Kyrie eleison.
A little child doth Mary bear
Beneath her heart,
He nestles there.
Jesus and Maria.

And as the two are passing near,
Kyrie eleison.
Lo, roses on the thorn appear!
Lo, roses on the thorn appear!
Jesus and Maria.

Kyrie eleison is Greek for Lord, have mercy.

I first came across this song in a book called Around the Year with the Trapp Family, written by Maria Von Trapp of The Sound of Music fame. In it, she tells about the religious traditions of her family.

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Here is another painting of Mary while pregnant--perhaps even in labor. It was painted in 1359 by Vitale da Bologna, and is called Madonna nell'attesta del parto (Mary in waiting for the birth). If you click once on the picture, you can see a larger view. If you click twice, it will go back the normal size.

It appears that part of the wall on which it was painted is tearing away. You can see that there is a little seedling on the table beside her, a sign of new life. She seems to be staring intently at the new growth. There are three little holes in the planter. I'm not entirely sure, but when there are three of anything, it usually signifies the Trinity. In her lap, indeed, in the very spot where Jesus will soon appear, there is a book. In medieval art when there is a book in a picture with Mary, it is a Bible, and if it is closed, it is the Old Testament. The time of Old Covenant has closed, and the New Covenant will become visible at any moment. In the lower left hand corner, there is something that might be a little dog, but on looking at it closely, I believe it to be a demon, anxious to devour the new baby. Above the picture itself it says, Anno MDCXIX, which is year 1619. I'm not sure what that could mean. Vitale died in 1369.

The more closely we look at these old paintings, the more we see. They give us a lot to think about, a lot to wonder about. They help us to meditate on the miraculous moment that is at hand, and help us to wait along with the mother of Jesus.

AMDG