This beautiful icon was written by Aidan Hart. Seldom is the Holy Family pictured as it is here with Christ as a young man. (Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version.)
The feast of the Holy Family falls on the Sunday in the Octave of Christmas - December 27 this year. My parish celebrated sung Evening Prayer for the feast and our cantor, Ellen Oak, wrote a set of beautiful lyrics for our Evening Hymn which we sang to the tune of the Tallis Canon. With Ellen's permission, I'm happy to share these words with you.
All praise to you, our God this night,
For all the blessings of the Light.
Keep us, O keep us as we sing
Beneath the shadow of your wing.
We thank you, God, for family
In every way it comes to be.
In fam'ly life your love made flesh
Unfolds the myst'ry of the creche.
With Mary, true to her deep call,
With Joseph, guardian of us all,
With Jesus, brothers, sisters we
Are drawn to you as family.
Praise God who gives each blessing birth,
Praise Jesus Christ of heav'n and earth,
Praise Spirit making new and free,
Praise to the Holy Trinity.
- Ellen Oak (2008)
Is Ellen Oak the same Ellen Oak who created the one woman performance about Hildegard von Bingen?
ReplyDeleteThe very one, Meredith!
ReplyDeleteCP,
ReplyDeleteThis may be a silly question, but why 12 days?
CC: Not a silly question. Historically, the celebration of Epiphany, from eastern Christian roots, predates the celebration of Christmas, a feast with western Christian roots. Eastern churches celebrate both as do western churches (including the Roman Catholic Church) but in the eastern churches Epiphany overshadows Christmas as Christmas overshadows Epiphany in the western tradition. Both feasts celebrate the same reality: the revelation of God's Word made flesh in Jesus Christ.
ReplyDeleteJanuary 6 is the traditional date for Epiphany and it comes 12 days after Christmas - thus the 12 days of Christmas. However, in many churches (including the Roman Catholic) Epiphany is not celebrated on the fixed January 6th date. This year, it is celebrated on this coming Sunday, January 3.
Beautiful! What a great blessing for your parish.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I asked!
ReplyDeleteI once asked a question saying, "This may be a stupid question..." and was told that the only stupid question was the one not asked! We all can learn from others' questions and the answers to them.
ReplyDeleteRosemary