Music has a special way of tapping into the meaning of the Advent and Christmas seasons, says Alex Schindler.
Schindler is a Twin Cities-based Catholic worship leader, liturgical musician and singer-songwriter.
“Music unlocks a part of us that words alone cannot,” she told “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley. “It finds a way to take the exterior and the interior and bring them together, where you can have songs that, through either the melody or the text, they just take you to a deeper level of entering into that joy of Christmas or the waiting of Advent — the hope and the light of the seasons we’re in right now.”
Schindler said she has a special appreciation for “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” for Advent.
“I just think it is a really beautiful meditation on different titles of Christ and … I just love getting drawn into that ancient text,” she said.
She also referenced how the “O Antiphons” draw her “into that part of the liturgy just a little bit deeper.” The O Antiphons have been part of the Church’s Advent celebrations since roughly the eighth century, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
To hear Schindler perform an original song she wrote as well as one of her favorite Christmas songs, listen to the full episode of “Practicing Catholic” when it debuts at 9 p.m. Dec. 22 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM, or when it repeats at 1 p.m. Dec. 23 and 2 p.m. Dec. 24.
Links to Schindler’s music can also be found on her website, alexschindler.com.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest “Practicing Catholic” show also includes St. Paul-based musician and recording artist Luke Spehar; and St. Paul-based pianist and composer Steven C. Anderson.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at https://anchor.fm/practicing-catholic-show.
