DOUGLASTON — Eighth grader Alyssa Matthews said she was proud to see how months of practice with the St. Clare Catholic Academy Children’s Choir paid off at the diocese’s Festival of Lessons and Carols on Dec. 18.
She said she believes their performance helped audience members reflect on the true meaning of Christmas — “coming together and being with your family.”
St. Clare of Rosedale’s choir joined the Diocesan Choir to perform nine bible lessons and Christmas carols at the Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston.
Interwoven with song, each of the nine lessons was taken from readings from the books of Genesis, Isaiah, and the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, leading them through the stories of Creation to Christ’s birth. The lessons were also read in different languages, including Kreyòl, Italian, and Malayalam, something Father Alonzo Cox, director of liturgy for the diocese, said shows the diversity of the local Church.
“It’s a reflection of who we are as a diocese,” Father Cox said. “We are a diocese that reflects so many different cultures, and tonight was an opportunity for us to give a small reflection of who we are as a ‘Diocese of Immigrants.’ ”
Father Cox, who helped organize the event, said the evening was a time for everyone to come together for reflection.
“Being able to gather as a community to celebrate the birth of Jesus, to be able to gather as a diocese, to be able to come together to really give witness to who we are as disciples of the Lord and to celebrate the season,” he said.
Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Chappetto led the event, reading each lesson to the audience, which he said brought him into the spirit of Christmas.
“My favorite song from tonight was ‘The Work of Christmas’ because it talked about when Christmas is over, what do we do?” Bishop Chappetto said. “It really told us that we need to continue the work of Christmas in the way we all treat each other.”
At the conclusion of the event, the Diocesan Choir went to the front of the church to encourage everyone to sing, a surprise for the audience and a first for the choir, according to one of its singers, Sachara Valmè.
“It was amazing, it really felt the warmth and love of Christmas,” Valmè said. “And we love the support of all the people from the different parishes that come out [and] the parents who got to see their children perform.”