WHY no “Gloria” song in Advent?

Do you know that we don’t sing or read Gloria (Glory be to God on high) during the Mass in Advent? Do you know why? Just as the Church refrains from the Gloria during Lent, she does the same during Advent, which is another great season of preparation for a greater mystery – the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. This is because Advent is a penitential season of the Church, just like Lent. Even though the Church sings “Alleluia” during Advent, she gives us this penitential season to call us to the same conversion that St. John the Baptist called the Jews as they awaited the arrival of the Messiah. Because the Gloria is a prayer/song of joy, it is suppressed during Advent and is not heard until the vigil Mass of Christmas Eve. Please don’t sing gloria, the song of the angels, until the appropriate time, the Nativity (and onwards). “Gloria in Excelsis Deo” is heaven’s response to the glorious birth of Jesus. If the angels can wait until that holy night to sing it, I suppose the rest of us can also wait too. When Christ was born, the gospel tells us that a host of angels appeared to some shepherds to announce the glorious birth of the Savior: “And suddenly there appeared with the angel a great multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: “Glory to God In the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” (Lk. 2:13-15) Likewise, as we journey through this season of Advent, a period of preparation for the coming of Christ (that is, Christ who came as man 2000 plus years ago, and Christ who will come again in Glory at the Last Day), we remain in penitential mood and prepare our hearts to receive Him in the spirit of repentance. Hence, the “Gloria” begins to make sense from the vigil of Christmas (which was the night the host of angels first sang it), and not in this season of Advent (when we prepare to welcome Jesus). However, when there is a Solemnity in Advent, the Gloria can be said/chanted.