On December 26, 2015, the Communion and Liberation Choir of New York gathered to sing our yearly Advent Lessons and Carols at Visitation Academy, to express our gratitude to the cloistered nuns for giving us their chapel to practice in year after year. Following the concert, we had a dinner together, followed by walking around Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, singing carols. I would like to share some of what we saw because, as our choir director said, it is something that –even after 20 years— “never gets old.”

Maria, who just moved here from Italy, spoke of how dear the experience of the choir has become to her. She shared that she often gets distracted during the Christmas season. Yet, when she comes to practice every Tuesday, she is given songs that help her say the words and prayers that are so much a part of who she is and that help her live Christmas’ true meaning.

Peter, a freshman in college, reflected on how he has seen professional choirs sing the same songs that we sing. He was amazed to see that even though there are very few professional musicians in our choir, all our small and limited voices come together to make something that surpasses our own merit. As Jonathan, a professional musician and one of the first choir members points out, “the uniting factor is the desire to learn and convey more deeply the fact of Christ's incarnation as we journey through the Advent Christmas season each year: [It] is the meaning of these words, [ ] the meaning of this beautiful Fact for us and for the whole world. In this little group in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn is carried the meaning for the whole world, not unlike in that little city of Bethlehem so many years ago, I suspect.”

I could not help but think that what was happening before my eyes at the dinner was something so great that I wanted to share it with everyone I met. In fact, because sharing was the only reasonable thing to do, Chris suggested we go carol around the block.

Maestro Chris Vath, our director, recounts what happened: “Going caroling in Bay Ridge, I had the expectation of something new: what will it be? It was the 30-something worker who told the choristers, “You guys just made my night!” as she was coming home from work at 9:30 pm. It was the young couple walking on the street who heard us and said, “Should we follow them?” and changed direction and followed us caroling down the street. The Muslim family who heard us caroling, came out to listen, and was jumping up and down with joy; and the cloistered nuns who allow us to use their monastery to practice, and are constantly moved by our singing, and have followed us through the years. Looking for something new, we always find it.”

For Elvira, a doctor who has been in the choir for many years, the “caroling resembled the way of the cross: people opened their doors, looked out, and listened with wonder and clapped with enthusiasm.” She exclaimed, “What other explanation if not that it was His Beauty calling on people in the periphery?”

Although I have been in choir since I was twelve years old, I currently live in Boston and therefore, not able to sing this Christmas season. Yet, I was so grateful to be invited to be a part of the concert for the nuns and attend the dinner. The words that are given to us to sing with our mostly fragile voices all proclaim the Truth that has met us, is born every day, and is present when we gather together to sing. The choir, the people, and the prayers we sing, have become so much a part of who I am. Thus, in the same way we need to sing these songs to remind us of the same Love that was born in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, in the same way all of our voices (whether professional or not) come together to show us more than what we would see alone. I need these friends to help me see His birth happening. His Love did happen in that Muslim family, in a woman on her way home from work, and in a young couple who chose to follow us for a bit. I need this place to show me these things, which on my own, I regularly miss.