Starting today, December 17th through the 12th, it is a tradition to sing the "O Antiphons". On the Vespers before Christmas they are all sung together. This is where the chant "Veni, Veni Emmanuel" comes from, but you probably know it as "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" from the 19th century translation by John Mason Neale.
U2 decided to borrow the melody for their song "White as Snow", which is my song for Day two of my Christmas Novena. The character singing the song is a dying soldier serving in Afghanistan and apparently the length of the song is the time it takes him to die.
It's not just the melody that makes this a song for Advent, but also the hope of finding "the lamb as white as snow". Traditionally there are four Advents: the coming of Christ in the flesh, the second coming of Christ at the end of the world, the coming of Christ into a person's heart, and the coming of Christ at the hour of death.
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