Part 2

Homilies

Canticle: Benedictus Dominus DeusMusic: Sleepers, Wake!

One of the most powerful hymns I have ever experienced is the Advent hymn, "Sleepers, Wake!" It was written and composed by a pastor in Westphalia during an epidemic rage in which over 1,300 of his parishioners took ill and died.

As he stood by his flock, watching them collapse to the epidemic one after the other, he wrote "Sleepers, Wake!" It is nothing short of a wake-up call in the face of death: a summons to prepare for our death, and to be ready for the advent, the coming of Christ.

Listen to these words:

Sleepers, wake! A voice astounds us, the shout of rampart guards surround us: "Awake, Jerusalem, arise!" Midnight's peace their cry has broken, their urgent summons clearly spoken: "The time has come, O maidens wise…