Dear friends in Christ, “Gloria in Excelsis Deo” is heaven’s response to the glorious birth of Jesus. If the angels can wait until that holy night to sing it, I suppose the rest of us can also wait too. Needless to say, when Christ was born, Luke tells us that a host of angels appeared to some shepherds to announce the glorious birth of the Saviour: “And suddenly there appeared with the angel a great multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: “Glory to God In the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favour rests!” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’” (Lk. 2:13-15) Likewise, as we journey through this season of Advent, a period of (twofold) preparation for the coming of Christ (that is, Christ who came as man 2000 years ago, and Christ who will come again in Glory at the Last Day), we remain in penitential mood and prepare our hearts to receive Him in the spirit of repentance. Hence, the “Gloria” begins to make sense from the vigil of Christmas (which was the night the host of angels first sang it), and not in this season of Advent (when we prepare to welcome Jesus). However, when there is a Solemnity at Advent (for example, the Immaculate Conception), the Gloria can be said/chanted; as rightly stated in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) #53: “It is sung or said on Sundays outside the Seasons of Advent and Lent, on solemnities and feasts, and at special celebrations of a more solemn character.”
Fr. Chinaka Justin Mbaeri, OSJ
Paroquia Nossa Senhora de Fatima, Vila Sabrina, São Paulo, Brazil
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