Oct 2 Thu
Why do we sing the Alleluia in the Mass?
After the second reading (if there is any), the acclamation before the Gospel or Alleluia follows. Unlike the responsorial psalm, it is not related to the preceding reading but to the Gospel, which follows. It serves as the assembled faithful’s greeting of welcome to the Lord who is about to speak to them and as an expression of their faith through song. The whole congregation stands up to sing or recite it.
The word “Alleluia” is an ancient Jewish expression of joy; it means “Praise the Lord.” It was incorporated into the liturgy of the Church at a very early date and passed from religion into everyday life. Sailors, when they recognized another ship, used to greet each other with a shout of Alleluia. In the year 429, when the Christian Bretons fought the Saxons, they used Alleluia as their war cry. St Jerome heard the farm laborers of Bethlehem sing it while ploughing.
The Alleluia was at first sung at Rome only once a year—on Easter Sunday. There was a proverb current in Rome in the fifth century: “God grant that I may hear the Alleluia!” This wish is similar to that which we make on New Year’s Eve, that we shall again be gathered and reunited as a family at the beginning of the next year. After Easter Sunday, the Alleluia was heard during the fifty days of the Easter season.
Nowadays, the Alleluia is sung in every liturgical season outside Lent. It is usually begun by the cantor or choir, and then it may be repeated by all. It ends with a renewed Alleluia acclamation from the congregation.
The Alleluia is the song of people set free by God, our loving Father, people redeemed by the blood of Christ. This triumphal acclamation is linked to the cheerfulness of Easter.
“Cheerfulness is a necessary consequence of our divine filiation, of knowing that our Father God loves us with a love of predilection, that He holds us up and helps us and forgives us.
“Remember this and never forget it: even if it should seem at times that everything around you is collapsing, in fact, nothing is collapsing at all, because God does not lose battles.”
During Lent, instead of Alleluia, an acclamation is made before and after the verse before the Gospel. One of these is:
• Praise and honor to you, Lord Jesus Christ!
In the early liturgy, the singing of the Alleluia was extended with a long vocalization executed on the final vowel, resembling the joyful modulations of country people who, without using words, hum a tune on one isolated syllable. This was called the jubilus. In the West, words were soon placed instead of this vocalization. The texts that followed the official verses were called “Sequences.” Only four of these most beautiful Sequences remain: For Easter, an exultant dialogue between the cantor and the congregation, for Pentecost, for the feast of the Body and Blood of our Lord, and for the celebration of our Lady of Sorrows.