Farewell

Alleluia cannot always 
Be our song while here below; 
Alleluia our transgressions 
Make us for awhile forgo...

Heralding the approach of the penitential season of Lent, the traditional season of Septuagesima is characterized by a somber atmosphere: violet vestments, Mass texts that bring our attention strongly to the reality of original sin, and perhaps the most felt of all - the absence of the joyful Alleluia.

​The Alleluia, that joyful word expressing our gratitude for the gift of our salvation and our joy at the Resurrection, is traditionally silenced at the end of 1st Vespers for Septuagesima Sunday. Such sorrow is felt at the absence of this dear and constant friend that in some places the tradition of burying the Alleluia until Easter has been revived. Like a true Christian burial, the burial of the Alleluia is marked not by inconsolable sorrow, but by confidence that what is laid in the ground will rise from our lips again. As a Community, we enjoy keeping this "tradition" alive, processing with due solemnity (and suppressed smiles) to the place of burial, knowing that at the end of our Lenten prayer, fasting, and giving, the Alleluia will ring out announcing the Resurrection with a vigor increased by its temporary absence.

Farewell to Alleluia

Alleluia, song of sweetness,
Voice of joy that cannot die;
Alleluia is the anthem
Ever raised by choirs on high;
In the house of God abiding
Thus they sing eternally.
​
Alleluia cannot always
Be our song while here below;
Alleluia our transgressions
Make us for awhile forgo;
For the solemn time is coming
When our tears for sin must flow.