Communicating the Joy of Christmas

If you have been singing “O Come O Come Emmanuel” in church this Advent season and ever wondered what it was all about, the Diocese of Worcester is ready to help.
The hymn is a compilation of the O Antiphons which accompany the Magnificat canticle at evening prayer for December 17–23 and the Church has been singing them since the eighth century, as noted by Father Larry Rice, CSP, on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website, usccb.org.
This year, the Communications Ministry of the Diocese of Worcester has brought a modern twist to this ancient hymn by creating a daily email service that sends subscribers the O Antiphon of the day with a brief reflection penned by Bishop McManus and various department representatives of the diocese.     
The service is being made available using Flocknote email by parishes which subscribe to the service through the Communications Ministry and choose to use the resource.
If individuals would like to receive the email directly, they can text the word ANTIPHON to 84576 to send the Advent O Antiphons straight to their inbox each day.
Other online resources available this year include a livestream of Midnight Mass from St. Paul Cathedral at worcesterdiocese.org. That Mass will also be archived for later viewing on Christmas Day. The diocese is also providing a searchable listing by zip code of more than 300 Masses being celebrated on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in parishes throughout the diocese. To access the list, simply visit worcesterdiocese.org/christmas-masses-2017.