What are the unspoken phrases of the Lenten season?

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

Have you heard what's missing?

Both the Gloria and the Gospel Alleluia (and any other alleluias) are not used at Mass during Lent.

Their absence is a reminder that Lent is a penitential season, when we travel through a desert of 40 days of prayer. In keeping with that sense of a penance, we liturgically sacrifice during our celebration of the Eucharist.

	L e n t

Since the Gloria and the Alleluia - sometimes called the angelic and cherubic hymns, respectively - express both our joy in God's glory and our realization of the salvation Christ has won for us, they are something we refrain from during Lent.

The Gloria is usually sung at Sunday Mass and on all solemnities (even during Lent, for such feasts as the Annunciation, which falls after Easter this year). The Gloria dates to the first years of the church, but was not originally used at Mass. Instead, it was part of Morning Prayer. It was first said in Greek and only later (around the fourth century) translated into Latin.

The Gloria first came into use for the Mass as part of Christmas liturgies around the same time (fourth century). Its introduction comes from the angels' words in Luke's nativity story. The Gloria is now known as the Greater Doxology of the Mass. Doxology literally means "words of praise." (The Lesser Doxology is what we call the "Glory Be.")

The Alleluia is older than the Gloria and comes from ancient Jewish prayer. It is more properly the "Hallelujah," roughly translated as "praise be to you, God (Yahweh)."

The core of "alleluia" is the Jewish hallel, meaning "praise." The Hallel can be found in many psalms, some of which are called "Hallel psalms" (including the final psalms, 146-150), and in psalms used for the Jewish feasts of Passover and Pentecost.

Early Christians, seeing a link between the Jewish Passover and Jesus' passing over from death to life, naturally incorporated Jewish Passover praise - including the Hallel as "alleluia" - into their own liturgies.

The Alleluia appears in the Book of Revelation, written toward the end of the first century. It was also prominent in the earliest Christian liturgies and The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that the Alleluia was used not only to express praise for God and the Lord, Jesus, but also as the deepest profession of Christian faith, "a primitive credo."

And what does that primitive creed, or profession of faith, express? Our joy over the resurrection victory won by Christ. As St. Augustine said, "We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!"

With this one word - Alleluia - we acknowledge the power of Christ's resurrection breaking into and transforming all creation. With the Gloria, we acknowledge the fullness of the salvation which God's love and power won for us through Christ.

However, during Lent, we are again in the process of learning about Easter anew. So, since the proper Easter greeting is "He is risen, Alleluia," we wait to use it - and the Gloria - until we have again walked the entire Lenten road with Jesus.

Next: Rice bowls and alms giving

(Sources: The Catholic Encyclopedia; The Hebrew Lexicon at www.crosswalk.com; The New Question Box; The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary; New Dictionary of the Liturgy; Modern Catholic Dictionary; and The New Dictionary of Sacramental Worship.)