"'Alleluia,' says the devout Abbot Rupert, 'is like a stranger amidst our other words. Its mysterious beauty is as though a drop of heaven's overflowing joy had fallen down on our earth. The patriarchs and prophets relished it, and then the Holy Ghost put it on the lips of the apostles, from whom it flowed even to us. It signifies the eternal feast of the angels and saints, which consists in their endless praise of God, and in ceaselessly singing their ever new admiration of the beauty of the God on whose Face they are to gaze for everlasting ages. This moral life of ours can in no wise attain such bliss as this. But, to know where it is to be found, and to have a foretaste of it by the happiness of hope, and to hunger and thirst for what we thus taste, this is the perfection of saints here below. For this reason, the word Alleluia has not been translated; it has been left in its original Hebrew, as a stranger to tell us that there is a joy in his native land, which could not dwell in ours: he has come among us to signify, rather than to express that joy.' (Dom Prosper Gueranger, Volume: Septuagesima, "Saturday before Septuagesima Sunday: Suspension of the 'Alleluia'")."
How appropriate it is that this joyous word is what leads us into the proclamation of the Gospel - the Good News of Christ! This word, "given by heaven," as Gueranger notes, is what begins those words given us by the very Son of God become man - Jesus Christ. Here we are able to again see such a close connection between the earthly and heavenly realm, which is what occurs at the the Holy Mass. At the Gloria we saw that connection as we sang that song of praise with them. It occurs here again (in reality it occurs throughout the whole Mass, I simply mean at these points it is more evident) for we use the words of the angels to laud the God coming to us through the proclamation of His word.
We must look to the Feast of feasts in order to truly understand this part of the Mass, and that is Easter Sunday. Liturgically speaking, the Alleluia is closely associated with Easter. Throughout the Easter Season, the word, "alleluia" is never lacking. It is used at the end of every antiphon; it is sung with extra joy. We must see here the importance it carries in the Mass. At every Mass the Death and Resurrection of Christ are brought before us. True, we say the Mass is the Sacrifice of Cavalry made resent, and this is true, but the Sacrifice would have little value apart from the Resurrection. As St. Paul says, "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:14)." As Paul later says, Christ has been raised though (1 Corinthians 15:20), and it is on account of this that the preaching of the Gospel is indeed efficacious. Therefore, we rejoice in the fact the the Gospel is about to be preached to us, for in it we will encounter the Risen Christ!
Now the Alleluia is traditionally done in a manner similar to the Responsorial Psalm, meaning that the word "Alleluia" (or a line of Alleluias) is intoned by the cantor, and then picked up and repeated by the people. In this we see a deep symbolism. The quote I began with spoke of Alleluia being a word given by the Holy Spirit from Heaven. The Alleluia is sung first by the cantor alone in order to symbolize the giving of this great word, which means "Praise God!" to men. From there, we put it on our lips, in order to glorify The Lord. But we can also, through this, see a symbol of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ deigned to send us the Holy Spirit after His Ascension into Heaven, and the Holy Spirit has taught us to praise God in this way, fulfilling the words of Christ, "The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things (John 14:26)."
Following the repetition of the Alleluia by the people, the cantor sings a verse, generally from the Scriptures. It is designed to open our ears and center our minds on a specific theme through which we may praise God. On feasts and solemnities, it is often geared towards the occasion, such as the Alleluia verse of the Mass during the Night on Christmas, "I proclaim to you good news of great joy: today a Savior is born for us, Christ the Lord (Daily Roman Missal, Midwest Theological Forum, 2011)." Other times, it is geared toward a theme we may find in the Gospel, such as today's Alleluia verse, "I have chosen you from the world, says the Lord, to go and bear fruit that will remain (Ibid.)." With the parable of the landowner of the vineyard and the evil tenants, we can see the comparison that we are are tenants who have been chosen by the Lord to go and bear fruit in His vineyard. Lastly, the verse may simply be a prayer that we may be attentive to the Word of the Lord. For example, the Alleluia verse for Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time is, "Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son (Ibid.)."
This verse is then followed by a repetition of the Alleluia by all. The verse has centered our minds to hear the Gospel, and therefore we cannot help but rejoice at the words we are about to hear. For this reason we stand at the Alleluia; standing was in ancient times considered a way in which to praise God in joy, as opposed to kneeling in penance. In Eastertime, there was no kneeling in the Liturgy, for the season was one of great joy. However, a difference has now appeared which relates kneeling not only with penance but with adoration, and thus we kneel for the Eucharistic Prayer and during Communion. The traditional posture of standing to show joy, though, remains at the Alleluia and the Gospel, because we are about to hear the Good News, the very words of our Lord!
There is one, however, one variation to the use of the Alleluia. During Lent the word "Alleluia," is not spoken. It is a word of joy and Lent is a time of mourning and sorrow on account of our sins, so we do not place this heavenly word on our lips. Therefore, a verse of praise to Jesus is used instead. Any of the following formulas may be used:
"Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory!
Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
Praise and honor to you, Lord Jesus!
Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!"
This verse, traditionally known as the Tract, is much simpler and plainer in melody, for it does not carry the joy of the Alleluia. They are words of earth through which we praise God, but they lack the intrinsic beauty the Alleluia brings to our minds. It is on account of the necessity of rejoicing in the Gospel, however, that the Church calls for the use of these verses rather than suspending this part of the Mass during Lent, as She does with the Gloria. The Gospel we are about to hear deserves all the reverence which can be given by us poor mortals!
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