Continuing an 800-year-old Polish tradition, parishioners at St. Stanislaus Kostka parish, Greenpoint gather in church Monday to Saturday at 6:30 in the morning during Advent to prepare for the coming of the Messiah by celebrating the Roraty Mass.
This celebration of thanksgiving to Mary is done before dawn so the church can be in complete darkness when it starts. Participants then illuminate the church with candles lit from the fire of the Roraty candle. At the end of the Mass, parishioners step out of the church into the daylight.
“When there was no Jesus on Earth, there was darkness, then Jesus was born and there was light,” said Father Jan Szylar, C.M., explaining the significance of the candlelight ceremony.
On Friday evenings, the parish celebrates a special Roraty Mass for children at six o’clock. The children come with candle lanterns decorated to honor Mary.
Before the Mass, Father Szylar refreshes the children’s minds on the significance of the Mass.
The name “roraty” come from the Latin “rorate coeli” meaning “heaven, drop dew.” It is a joyous Advent tradition that honors the Mother of God in the preparation for Christmas.
Father Szylar said the celebration is “full of hope of the coming of the Messiah.”
He also said this is a way for Polish-American parishioners to stay in spiritual contact with their homeland. They join a spiritual community when they continue this tradition that has no territorial boundaries, he explained.
In continuing this tradition, parishioners also pass it on to the next generation. In this way, the youngest St. Stanislaus parishioners understand their national and religious heritage.
At the end of the liturgy, Father Szylar makes sure the children know their sacrifice of time to come to the Mass is for Jesus. The children arrived at Mass with paper stars on which they wrote good deeds they did during Advent. He then told them that these deeds would be rewarded in heaven. For now, he also had a couple of prizes to raffle off from the submissions of stars.
Among the prizes was the honor of bringing a Baby Jesus into the home to pray. Father Szylar encouraged the winner to invite a friend to share a prayer. He also asked all the children present to invite a friend for Mass the following week.[hr] Antonina Zielinska, a reporter for The Tablet, is a native of Poland. She covered World Youth Day in Spain this past summer for The Tablet.
