The word “mob” gets a bad rap, since when large groups of people suddenly coalesce in a public space, unfortunate things often happen. But in the case of a musical or dance or theater flash mob, the result can be lovely.
In a world stripped of the sacred and starved for real beauty, the ongoing phenomenon of flash mobs actually singing sacred music in public venues offers a rare moment of grace.
In a video published Dec. 15, students at a four-year Catholic liberal-arts college brought Christmas carols to a Southern California mall. Here’s the YouTube description:
Bringing the joy of Advent and the promise of Christmas into the marketplace, some 150 Thomas Aquinas College students descended on Ventura’s Pacific View Mall on the first Saturday of December to stage a choral “flash mob.”
After stealthily gathering around the mall’s Christmas central lobby — by the Santa Claus photo center — the students simultaneously burst into song. They began with “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “O Come, All ye Faithful,” and then concluded with a rousing rendition of “Go Tell it on the Mountain.” The mall’s surprised customers and employees seemed to delight in the performance, stopping whatever they were doing to take in the music, to sing along, and to cheer afterward.
Organized by sophomore Giorgio Navarini, the yuletide event is fast becoming a regular College tradition. Last year’s inaugural “mob” was so widely and well received — generating nearly 50,000 views and coverage from EWTN’s World Over — that students were especially enthusiastic about doing it again, preparing in their spare time for weeks in advance
Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of Heaven above!
Glory to God, glory in the highest:
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.
Enjoy …