Sunday, December 21, 2008

Rorate Cæli

Lat.-"Rorate Cæli desuper, et nubes pluant justum."
Eng.-"Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down the Just One."

~*~

Well we're approaching the last week of Advent and Christmas is coming. To help us understand the Truth and the Goodness of the Incarnation let's turn to the Beauty that sprang from this event.

Rorate Cæli is one of the oldest chants of the Church and it comes right from the Book of Isaiah (45:8) . . . as most things in Advent do. It is a very simple yet elegant chant that always seems to refresh me during this time of year.

I invite you to enjoy a simple angelic chant during these holidays, in between "Chestnuts" and "Sleigh Ride." I hope this helps you slow down a bit during these anxious days of wrapping and going through exam-withdrawl.

You're all in my prayers and God Bless,

~Sam


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjwOzlBsoXo

http://romaaeterna.jp/liber1/lu1868b.html
If you're so moved, I encourage you to just follow the notes as you listen. This is a the language and music of the Catholic Church, it's not here to be confusing, but to be beautiful and simple.


English Translation

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

Be not angry, O Lord, and remember no longer our iniquity : behold the city of thy sanctuary is become a desert, Sion is made a desert. Jerusalem is desolate, the house of our holiness and of thy glory, where our fathers praised thee.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

We have sinned, and we are become as one unclean, and we have all fallen as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast crushed us by the hand of our iniquity.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

See, O Lord, the affliction of thy people, and send him whom thou hast promised to send. Send forth the Lamb, the ruler of the earth, from the rock of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion, that he himself may take off the yoke of our captivity.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

Be comforted, be comforted, my people; thy salvation shall speedily come. Why wilt thou waste away in sadness? why hath sorrow seized thee? I will save thee; fear not: for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just One.

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