(I don't think this is too late as Christmas is
not over till the Feast of Purification. And some of you in the northern hemisphere will be walking through snow...)
I saw this at Dr Drolesky's site (Christorchaos)
Father Perez also told us the story of a Vietnamese parishioner of his who went to a Novus Ordo Mass offered in Vietnamese on Christmas that ended with the song "Jingle Bells" being sung in Vietnamese as the "recessional hymn." As Father Perez said to us, "Oh, 'Jingle Bells' is more much spiritual in Vietnamese, you understand." "Jingle Bells" for Christmas Mass? Please tell me that this has anything to do with the patrimony of the Roman Catholic Church at any point in her history. Please.
Now I think of it, I can find tremendous symbolism in Jingle Bells. You know, if you can find Catholic truth in
The 12 days of Christmas and in a pack of playing cards you can find it in
Jingle Bells. I'm being tongue in cheek, but not quite...
Anyway, just for fun- hope no-one minds...
Chorus
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!
O what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!
O what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh. The bells suggest the proclamation of the gospel.
All the way, suggests that the Gospel will be proclaimed everywhere and throughout all time. The one-horse open sleigh must be the Church, open to all, drawn by one God, Saviour, Pope etc.
Oh what fun it is -a reminder not to be dour, but to rejoice in the Lord.
Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh,
Over the fields we go, laughing all the way.
Bells on bob-tails ring, making spirits bright,
What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight.The snow, as in Narnia represents the power of evil, the world held in the grip of sin. Only in the sleigh (Church) can one travel safely through the snow. The first verse is a thrilling portrait of the confident pre-conciliar Church.
Dashing through the snow - what energy,what confidence!
Over the fields we go- a suggestion of the Church passing rapidly from one land to another, from one mission field to another.
Laughing all the way- joy in the Lord again.
Bells on bob-tails ring. We have explained the bells- the bob-tails suggest tonsure, sacrifice, the consecrated life of the clergy.
Making spirits bright- what a beautiful description of the church's mission to sanctify souls!
The sleighing song must be the Church's liturgy sung in the darkness of this world (tonight)
A day or two ago, I thought I'd take a ride
And soon Miss Fanny Bright, was seated by my side;
The horse was lean and lank, misfortune seemed his lot;
He got into a drifted bank and we got upsotNow the post-conciliar revolution.
A day or two ago- symbolises a few decades ago.
I thought I'd take a ride. The confident progress is replaced by a hesitant private judgment.
Soon- it all happens very suddenly. Who is Miss Fanny Bright and what does she represent? Her name is Bright, but we feel that this is not the same brightness as in the first verse, more of a facile optimism. Never mind the name Fanny, but there is a hint of that illicit relation which in the Bible symbolises
Apostasy.
Miss- we are missing the mark,missing something. Miss is also a truncated form of Missa (Mass). Miss Fanny Bright is Modernism.
The horse (Pope) is now malnourished.
Misfortune (note the chime of Miss)
seemed his lot.
Seemed because the church is indefectible- it can only
seem to fail. The snow represents the sinful world, so the symbolism of the sleigh becoming upset in a snow-bank is obvious.
A day or two ago, the story I must tell
I went out on the snow, and on my back I fell;
A gent was riding by, in a one-horse open sleigh
He laughed as there I sprawling lie but quickly drove away Once again, in the post-conciliar history of the Church. If the snow is the sinful world, the symbolism of falling is obvious. And what does the smug prelate do for the poor soul?
He laughs! What a devastating portrait of those post-conciliar clergy who care nothing for the conversion of sinners or the salvation of souls!
Now the ground is white, go it while you're young
Take the girls tonight, and sing this sleighing song;
Just get a bob-tailed bay, two-forty as his speed
Hitch him to an open sleigh and crack! you'll take the lead! This seems to refer to the future Restoration of the Church. It seems to call for young men,and consecrated nuns to devote themselves to prayer, the Mass and to sacrifice, and promises that under these conditions the Church will flourish once more!
