Silent, joyful night
Annette Calderon plays guitar and sings during Mass at Sacred Heart Parish in Comanche in 2024. (NTC file photo/Juan Guajardo)
This reflection is one of eight written by musicians from across our diocese as part of Songs of the Seasons, a series celebrating the beauty and meaning of Christmas music. Follow along the series [here]!
Eighth Day in the Christmas Octave: A perspective on Christmas music from Annette Calderon, director of youth ministry, choir member at St. Stephen Parish, Weatherford and Sacred Heart Parish in Comanche
My love for music started as a toddler when my grandpa would teach me the words and melodies of his favorite songs — the rancheras from back in the day. He would teach me, and we would sing together.
In seventh grade, I started to learn guitar because at church, the Spanish choir was offering lessons, so I stepped into learning how to play the guitar, and I instantly fell in love with it because it's just a beautiful instrument. I mean, every instrument is beautiful in its way, but I love the way that you can make the rhythm and create chords. You can use bar chords and others too; you don’t have to just use simple chord structures. You can add to them, and it's just different. You can finger pick, you can strum, it's just so much in a guitar, and you can use it as a drum in some cases.
After learning guitar, I started singing at our parish choir or working with the music ministry during high school. In our high school band, I was also able to play clarinet like my sister before me and later, I also learned to play a xylophone-based guitar and electric guitar for our jazz band because our music teacher was just awesome. She'd make sure that, you know, we had an introduction to every type of instrument we wanted to learn.
Favorite Christmas hymn
Where I grew up, we would take part in the Acostado del Nino, so on Christmas Eve, we would have padrinos up at the front of the church, swaying baby Jesus, play “Silent Night.”
I remember first singing it for our parish in English, and then for our Spanish community, it would be bilingual, and they loved it. Fellow parishioners would come to ask me about the song and its meaning, and I would walk them through the lyrics and the emotion of the song. We would wonder about the importance of silence, especially during Advent as God comes into the world — not in a big, extravagant way. No, He became a baby — in the simplest form. He could have come any other way he desired, right? But instead, He chose to do it in this way.
Humility in the hymn
Listening to “Silent Night” brings back a lot of memories of my community gathering as one, praising Jesus, with the reverence and simplicity of knowing that Christ is here.
The beauty of its lyrics makes the Incarnation feel closer to our hearts and draws us into the humility of Jesus coming into the world, of God becoming man, and also, of the peace brought by His birth. It's just simple. It's humble. And it's like, well, why can't we do that in our own hearts, too? In our own lives? I feel like it's attainable.
A favorite childhood Christmas hymn
I’ve loved “Los Peces en el Rio” since my abuelo introduced it to me. The imagery in the song as it begins – with the Virgin brushing her hair. For me, it’s like peeking behind a curtain and seeing her there as the sun hits her in such a beautiful way, and she – she’s stunning.
I remember a curiosity about the fish and how out of all creation, even the animals knew God had entered the world. They have the sense of it, that there’s been a change, and that knowing heightens the emotion behind beholding the Nativity and the birth of Our Lord. While the world is quiet in those moments, our hearts are raucous with peaceful joy.
Editor's Note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity by the editor.
By Annette Calderon, director of youth ministry, choir member at St. Stephen Parish, Weatherford