As we enter the last week of Advent, the Church gives us these beautiful antiphons in the Divine Office for vespers before the Magnificat. These antiphons go back to the 8th century. They focus on different aspects of Messianic prophecies regarding Jesus in the Bible. You will also hear in the Gospel Alleluia simplified versions of these sane antiphons for each corresponding day.
We know that our faith begins and ends with Jesus, the Word made Flesh, God with us (Matthew 1:23) who is the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). All of our hope stems from the mystery of the incarnation, God dwelling among us as one of us. This is what gives us our light and strength to share the love of God with others. Then through the resurrection we have a greater hope that not only will Jesus restore peace and justice in the world when he returns as King, but he has already defeated death. So just as he assumed human nature and was born a child, so too, our humanity now united with his will come to share in the resurrection.
This coming week I invite you to meditate on the mystery of the hope we have in Jesus. He is the hope of the world, hope of the nations, hope of all who suffer - but also my hope, your hope.
The mystery of God becoming man is something the Church has pondered, wondered, celebrated and contemplated in awe for 2000 years. God became a helpless infant to share in our struggles, to be in solidarity with our suffering, to teach us humility and show us also our dignity. Through the birth of Jesus, he mysteriously and concretely united himself to each one of us in personal, unique and intimate way. As a priest said to me many years ago “even if you were the only person on earth, Jesus would still have been born for you, and died for you. That’s how much he loves you and how important you are to him.”
Through the mystery of Christmas, God has united himself to us so intimately that all of our struggles, suffering, worries, stresses, happiness, joys and hope are now also shared with him. United to him, even these things are now redemptive in the sense that they can become part of our sanctification and salvation. God did not become human to remove or abolish suffering - he experienced it and transformed it.
No matter what you are going through this year - family problems, financial stress, loss of your job, problems with your children, a relationship break up, mental health struggles, physical health issues or loneliness. God loves you so much that he chose to become human, born in a little middle eastern town, was rejected, unwanted, lived as a refugee, misunderstood all his life, persecuted and crucified - all so you could be united with him in heaven. This is the glorious mystery that many of the Church Fathers used to repeat - God became what we are, so we can become what he is. He not only restores and raises up our fallen nature, but he elevates and glorifies it.
God is not distant. Nor is God absent from our lives. God cares about you and is always calling you into relationship, deeper union and intimacy with him. As Catholics we have physical reminders of this in the Sacraments - signs instituted by Jesus himself to leave us reminders of his love, presence and power. The Church and especially the Sacraments are an extension or a prolongation of the Incarnation itself. God dwells with us and among us (Revelation 21:3). This is the meaning of the prophecy of Immanuel “God is with us” in Isaiah 7:14, and is fulfilled in the little town of Bethlehem (House of bread) in an animal trough (Luke 2:7) where the Bread of Life (John 6:35), the Word of God became flesh (John 1:14) who would save us from our sins (Matthew 1:21).
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- December 17 (ref.. Isaiah 11:2-3, Isaiah 28:29, Sirach 24:5, Wisdom 8:1, Isaiah 40:14, Proverbs 1:20; 8; 9, I Corinthians 1:30, Revelation 22:20)
O Sapiéntia, quæ ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens á fine usque ad finem fórtiter,
suavitérque dispónens ómnia:
veni ad docéndum nos viam prudéntiæ.
O Wisdom, O holy Word of God,
you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care:
Come and show your people the way to salvation
- December 18 (ref.. Isaiah 11:4-5, Isaiah 33:22, Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:6, Judith 16:16, Exodus 8:3, I Chronicles 17:7, Exodus 3:2, Acts 7:30, Exodus 6:3, Exodus 6:6)
O Adonai, et dux domus Israël,
qui Moyse in igne flammæ rubi apparuísti,
et ei in Sina legem dedísti:
veni ad rediméndum nos in bráchio exténto.
O Sacred Lord of ancient Israel,
who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush,
who gave him the holy law on Sinai mountain:
Come, stretch out your mighty hand to set us free.
- December 19 (ref.. Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 11:10, Romans 15:12, Isaiah 52:15, Psalm 39:18, Hebrews 10:37, Revelation 5:5)
O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populôrum,
super quem continébunt reges os suum,
quem gentes deprecabúntur:
veni ad liberándum nos, jam noli tardâre.
O Flower of Jesse’s stem,
you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples;
kings stand silent in your presence;
the nations bow down in worship before you.
Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.
- December 20 (ref.. Isaiah 22:22, Isaiah 42:7, Isaiah 9:2, Apocalypse 3:7, Genesis 49:10, Luke 1:79)
O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israël,
qui áperis, et nemo claudit:
claudis, et nemo áperuit:
veni, et educ vinctum de domo cárceris,
sedéntem in ténebris, et umbra mortis.
O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel,
controlling at your will the gate of heaven:
Come, break down the prison walls of death
for those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death;
and lead your captive people into freedom.
- December 21 (ref.. Isaiah 9:2, Luke 1:78-79, Malachi 4:2, Zechariah 6:12, Wisdom 7:26)
O Óriens, splendor lucis ætérnæ, et sol justitiæ:
veni, et illúmina sédentes in ténebris, et umbra mortis.
O Radiant Dawn,
splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:
come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the
shadow of death.
- December 22 (ref.. Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 2:4, Haggai 2:8, Ephesians 2:14, 19-20, Jeremiah 10:7, Ephesians 2:14, Genesis 2:7, Revelation 15:3, Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 28:16, Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17, Acts 4:11, I Peter 2:6, Haggai 2:8)
O Rex Géntium, et desiderâtus eârum,
lapísque angulâris, qui facis útraque unum:
veni, et salva hóminem, quem de limo formásti.
O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart;
O Keystone of the mighty arch of man:
Come and save the creature you fashioned from the dust.
- December 23 (ref.. Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, Isaiah 8:8, Isaiah 33:22, Isaiah 37:10, Genesis 49:10, Haggai 2:7)
O Emmánuél, Rex et légifer noster,
expéctátio Géntium, et Salvâtor eârum:
veni ad salvandum nos, Dómine, Deus noster.
O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver,
the Desire of all Nations, and their Saviour:
Come and save us,
O Lord our God.
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