THE CHRISTMAS season is by no means over. Or rather, the commercial Christmas season is over but the liturgical season continues until the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin on February 2. Please don’t let your observance of Christmas be desupernaturalized by following the schedule determined by the retail world, which has no interest in Christmas once the gift-buying frenzy has passed.

Here is a wonderful version of “Maria Wiegenlied” or “Mary’s Lullaby” sung by the soprano Kathleen Battle. An English translation of the German song:

Amid the roses Mary sits and rocks her Jesus-Child
While amid the treetops sighs the breeze so warm and mild
And soft and sweetly sings a bird upon the bough
Ah, Baby, dear one
Slumber now

Happy is Thy laughter; holy is Thy silent rest
Lay Thy head in slumber fondly on Thy mother’s breast
Ah, Baby, dear one
Slumber now

Adoration of the Shepherds, Fra Filippo Lippi; 1406

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