Veni Veni Emmanuel

Something for the weekend.  Veni, Veni Emmanuel.  The words of this magnificent hymn are from the 9th century and the melody is from 15th century France. 

It is Advent, so we are all hearing a lot of O Come, O Come Emmanuel, usually in English, at Mass, a song I have always loved.  The version above is from Casting Crowns, a Christian Rock group that my daughter is fond of.  I was stunned last year when I came across this, as I like it, and I usually refer to the music she enjoys as “animal killing music”!

I’ve always enjoyed the version of O Come, O Come Emmanuel done by Phillips, Craig  & Dean.  I could almost imagine a band of Jewish Zealots singing this before the birth of Christ.  The gentleman below in the video is using the song to teach American Sign Language.

Finally, few versions of O Come, O Come Emmanuel are more powerful than in the one in the video below.  I posted it last year and the year before but it definitely deserves to be repeated each year.