The longing desire for God - expressed in the power of “Oh!”

As we enter into the final week of Advent, I wanted to remind you about the beautiful and powerful “O Antiphons” that the Liturgy gives to us during this time. These Antiphons are poetic scriptural prophecies about the Messiah and highlight important typological symbolism prophesied about Christ in the Old Testament. 

Just as Jesus taught the disciples on the way to Emmaus about how all of the Prophets and Moses spoke about him before they could recognise him in the “breaking of the bread”(Luke 24:30-35) - so too does Jesus still reveal himself to us today through the Liturgy (Luke 24:26-27). 

Traditionally these O Antiphons are prayed in the Divine Office before the Magnificat during Evening Prayer/Vespers from 17-23 December. You may notice that there is a simplified version of these that are part of the Gospel Acclaimation during Mass from the same period of 17-23 December. 

It can be a good custom to take one of these each day to meditate on, so the Holy Spirit can help you enter into the deeper meaning of the final week of Advent. As I recently highlighted to you all in previous post, one of the prophecies about Jesus is as the “Desire of the Nations” and the link between the season of Advent and the yearning of the Patriarchs and Prophets in the Old Testament for the Messiah.

Think about how we use the term “Oh” in everyday life… it is often used as a form of exacerbation as well as exclamation! Oh my goodness! Oh yes! Oh well… oh that’s ok… Oh wow!! This helps to highlight the felt sense we are meant to feel and experience in praying the “Oh” Antiphons. As you pray them and hear them, meditating on them and feeling the expectation of the desire for salvation - listen to what the Lord is speaking to your heart through them. 

Which Messianic title and invocation speaks the most to you today?  What do you feel the Holy Spirit revealing to you in these words passages? 

• Do you feel yourself feeling excited and yearning for the Coming of the Lord with a burning desire?
• Or do you have a faint ache in your heart that starts to awaken hopefully? 

So this final week, intensify your own desire and yearning for Christ - learn how to pray to him according to his Messianic titles and discover a new depth to your understanding of who Jesus the Christ is for you, and for all who believe in him 🙌

—-

- O Sapientia/O Wisdom (December 17) 

O Wisdom (Sirach 24:3), You came forth from the mouth of the Most High (Sirach 24:3), and reaching from beginning to end You ordered all things mightily and sweetly (Wisdom 8:1). * Come, and teach us the way of prudence (Isaiah 40:14).

- O Adonai/O Lord and Ruler (December 18) 

O Adonai (Exod 3:14) and Ruler of the house of Israel (Matt 2:6; Micah 5:1; 2 Sam 5:2), You appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush (Exod 3:2) and on Mount Sinai gave him Your Law (Exod 20). 

* Come, and with an outstretched arm redeem us (Jeremiah 32:21).

- O Radix Jesse/O Root of Jesse (December 19) 

O Root of Jesse, (Isaiah 11:1) You stand for the ensign of mankind (Isaiah 11:10); before You kings shall keep silence and to You all nations shall have recourse (Isaiah 52:15). 

* Come, save us, and do not delay (Habakkuk 2:3).

- O Clavis David/O Key of David (December 20) 

O Key of David, (Isaiah 22:22; Revelation 3:7)  and Scepter of the house of Israel (Numbers 24:17): You open and no man closes; you close and no man opens (Isaiah 22:22). 

* Come, and deliver him from the chains of prison who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death (Ps 107:10).

- O Oriens/O Rising Dawn or Morning Star (December 21) 

O Rising Dawn, (Jer 23:5; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12), Radiance of the Light eternal (Habakkuk 3:4; Wisdom 7:26; Hebrews 1:3) and Sun of Justice (Malachi 3:20): 

* Come, and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death (Ps 107:10; Lk 1:78).

- O Rex Gentium/O King of the Nations (December 22) 

O King of the Gentiles (Jeremiah 10:7; Haggai 2:7), and the Desired of all, You are the Cornerstone that binds two into one (Isaiah 28:16; Matthew 21:42; Ephesians 2:20). 

* Come, and save man whom You fashioned out of clay (Genesis 2:7).

- O Emmanuel/O God-with-us (December 23) 

O Emmanuel (Isaiah 7:14; 8:8; Luke 1:31-33), our King and Lawgiver (Genesis 49:10; cf. Ezekiel 21:32), the Expected of the nations and their Savior (Isa 33:22): 

* Come, and save us, O Lord our God.

The power of Christ’s Coming, still available now

Advent is now here, the annual Liturgical season where we focus on the Coming of the Lord - historically he came 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, and he will one day gloriously come again at the end of time. Both of these are part of the twofold Coming of Christ which is the essence of Advent. 

In the lead up to Christmas with all the carols, advent calendars, nativity scenes, and gift buying we can easily fall into a form of indifferentism that forgets or fails to recognise the powerful cosmic significance of what the birth of Christ meant, and continues to mean. In the Office of Readings for today, there is a Pastoral Letter from St Charles Borromeo who beautifully encourages us to understand the importance of Advent it’s mystagogical value.  

Advent is the Latin term for Coming, and this refers to the Coming of Christ. Christ is the Greek term for what the Bible falls the Messiah - the Anointed and Chosen one. The Messiah is a long awaited, deeply yearned and longed for, future coming leader of Israel and figure that is prophesied throughout the Old Testament. This figure is referred to as the “Branch of David” who will rule with righteousness and integrity, as we heard in the 1st Reading for the First Sunday of Advent (Jeremiah 33:14-16). Even more powerfully, the Messiah is referred to by the Prophet Haggai as the “Desire of the Nations” who will be directly connected to the Glory of the Lord filling the Temple (Haggai  2:1-9). 

From the above, we can only imagine just how eagerly awaited and longed after was this prophesied Messiah - the Christ. As St Charles Borromeo reminds us, all the Patriarchs and Prophets all yearned and waited for the Coming of this Messiah. But it was the righteous Simeon who got to finally see and welcome the prophesied Christ into the Temple (Luke 2:25-28). Simeon on behalf of all Israel was able to receive, welcome and bless the arrival of the Desire of the Nations into the Temple of the Lord. Holding the infant Messiah in his arms and offering him to the Lord, Simeon joyfully declares the baby as the Light of the Gentiles and the Glory of Israel (Luke 22:29-32). He had waited his entire life for this wonderful moment, and in that very moment, all the Patriarchs and Prophets rejoiced together with him, as he the servant of the Lord sees the Salvation of the Lord revealed in the Temple and manifested in the flesh of the infant Jesus. This moment fulfilled the prophecy of Haggai about the Glory of the Lord filling the Temple, because the infant Jesus is himself the Glory of God, full of grace and truth (John 1:14-18) who now is manifested and fills the Temple. As the Only Son of the Father, he is the visible image of the invisible Father, and thus in his own flesh he reveals the Glory and face of the Father, for he is our salvation (John1:14, John 1:18, Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:15, John 14:9-10, Luke 22:30)

The Coming of Christ both heralded and brought us into the Final Days of the Eschaton. The Final and Eternal Word of the Father who is the ultimate fulfilment of revelation that began with the Patriarchs and Prophets (Hebrews 1:1-3). The Son who is the Word of the Father, is the Word made Flesh (John 1:14) for our salvation in these latter days of the Lord. The End Times began with the Coming of the Lord, and will be fulfilled at the final Coming of the Lord in glory. The Mystery of the birth of the Messiah, is the moment of arrival that revealed the goodness and kindness of God made manifest (Titus 3:5). 

Just as the Patriarchs and Prophets prepared Israel for the Coming of the Messiah, so too must we prepare ourselves to receive Christ in our heart. Our preparation to welcome and receive Christ is not just for his Final Coming at the End of Time - it is also to receive him now through faith at every moment we live, and especially tangible through the power he communicates to us through the Sacraments. His Coming is always available to us when we know where to look, and when we know how to welcome and receive him. 

This Advent, may we truly learn to yearn and ache for the Coming of Christ, just as the Patriarchs and Prophets did. May we joyfully receive Christ like Simeon did, whenever we receive the Eucharist in Holy Communion so that we can learn how to “depart in peace” (Luke 2:29). The more we can recognise and appreciate the ways Christ still Comes to us everyday, then the better we can prepare and long for his Final Coming without fear or worry. We will not be taken unaware or distracted by the “cares of life” (Luke 31:34) as we heard in the Gospel on Sunday for Advent. 

Instead, we should always and at all times call out from the depths of our heart “Come Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 2:22), so that the Desire of the Nations, will also become the deepest desire of your heart - the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Redeemer who came and who is to come. Let us learn to always call out to Jesus in faith and love, “Maranatha, Come!” (1 Corinthians 16:22). 

Christ the King… the feast of the laity?

The Solemnity of Christ the King was first instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI in his encyclical Quas Primas. He explains his rationale behind this feast, as a means to help restore peace in the common good of society by recognising the ultimate true source of peace - The Prince of Peace himself. 

During the liturgical reforms of Pope St Paul VI in 1969, the feast was moved from the originally designated last Sunday of October - to the last Sunday of the Liturgical year … ie, the Sunday before Advent. It was also slightly renamed to Christ the King of the Universe, emphasising more on the eschatological aspect of the Kingship of Christ rather than the previously emphasised Social Reign of Christ the King. 

Whichever emphasis you focus on, the one commonality that is often overlooked in this is the doctrine of the necessity of the laity in evangelising the culture, promoting the Kingship of Christ in the world and in their own lives. By living under the Lordship of Jesus the King of all hearts, we first put ourselves under the Divine Law of Christ through baptism and living according to Hos teachings. Then as the leaven in the world, the laity manifest the Kingdom of Christ through their witness and their actions, and purify the culture around them so that it confirms to Natural Law - the Common Good, and eventually to Divine Law and the Gospel. 

So while many people love to boldly proclaim “Christ is King!” on social media and their profiles, and berate the secular world about not submitting to Christ the King - but have they first submitted to it? Not submission in mere speaking of the lips… but in their intellect, reason and will - in their hearts?  

Pope Pius XI says it is the duty of ALL Catholics, not just the hierarchy. This is something we all too easily forget. We often moan that the Popes & Bishops have gone “soft and weak”, regularly calling them cowards. But it is not their job to evangelise society and the world - it is the duty of all the faithful and the baptised. 

The more that we personally submit and confirm to Christ, the more he becomes King of our hearts. That way He shines through is no matter where we are, every step we take as a follower of Christ is a step we are claiming for the Kingdom of God - this is what evangelisation and witness to the faith are supposed to be. The more Christ reigns in us, and sees the peace he gives us that the world cannot give - then the world will hunger & yearn for Him and His peace. 

When our personal private lives are rightly ordered and sanctified, this has an overflow effect in society. Society then becomes ordered towards the Common Good and people are better predisposed to receive the Gospel, to come under the Kingship of Christ and in obedience to Christ serve all others around them with the Charity of Christ. This takes each and everyone of us to live out our faith seriously, passionately and authentically. Many of us living in “western” society’s are now entering into a post Christian age. There is so much illiteracy of the faith among believers, that is it any wonder that we are now living in a new organised world?

The Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes rightly states that often the cause of atheism or denial of the faith is not due to the bad intentions or will of the unbelievers - but rather the failure of Christians and Catholics to authentically live their faith without hypocrisy or hardness of heart. I’m my own experience I have found this to be so true. Most people who say “I grew up Catholic .. but..” will go on to say how their parents or other family members lived double lives, or disowned their children in the name of God. 

They have been so hurt and rejected, it’s no wonder they reject the idea of God and Christianity. But when I ask these people to explain to me who they understand God and Jesus to be - it is always something different from who Jesus reveals Himself to be in the Gospels! They’ve never been given an encounter with the love and mercy of Jesus who reveals to us the Face of the Loving Father. 

When we have experienced the love and mercy of Christ ourselves, that encounter with Jesus changes us. It conforms us to him, so that His image begins to reshape us and transforms us. He begins to reign in our hearts so that He truly becomes the King of hearts - but not any generic heart. YOUR heart, MY heart. Each and every person is loved uniquely by Him and was created by Him for that beautiful intimacy and freedom He calls us all to, and that He offers us through His Church. The like Our Lady when she went to visit her cousin St Elizabeth - our life too will become a Eucharistic Procession, bringing Jesus to those around us, so that like St John the Baptist in the womb - they too can leap for joy in the presence of Jesus! 

Only Jesus can bring peace to the world, peace to our hearts. The more that the Kingdom of Jesus is established deep in our hearts and lives, the more the Kingdom is spread in the world and in the hearts of all those seeking for peace but unable to find it. But Jesus himself is our peace (Ephesians 2:14). 

If you want to truly see the world acknowledge Christ as King, if you desire peace in the world - then live your faith! Understand what you believe and why, then live it! Let people know by your way of life that Jesus is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. This means He has to be enthroned in your heart, into the centre of all you have and are. When Christ reigns in your heart, when His Kingdom is within you (Luke 17:21) then it will spill over around you and into the lives of others. You too will become not just a witness of Christ, but an Ambassador of Christ! (2 Corinthians 5:20) 

If you proclaim “Christ is King!” then enthrone him today in your heart! Seek first His Kingdom and everything else will flow from that and be added as the Lord wills (Matthew 6:33). Open wide your gates to the King of Glory and let His reign begin anew (Psalm 23:7-9), He is the King of all people’s and our King forever (Jeremiah 10:6-7). 

May the words of the Collect (Opening Prayer) for the Mass of Christ King of the Universe today, truly become our own prayer from our heart as well: 

Almighty ever-living God,
whose will is to restore all things
in your beloved Son, the King of the universe,
grant, we pray,
that the whole creation, set free from slavery,
may render your majesty service
and ceaselessly proclaim your praise.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

The Carmelite twofold Vocation, and personal mission

St Thérèse of Lisieux said that her vocation was to be love in the heart of the Church, and she believed her mission in heaven will be to help souls to love God. She chose to be a Victim of Divine Love and a Little Flower in the Garden of God to bring souls to blossom in the garden where they are planted.

St Teresa of Avila felt called to support the Church through personal holiness and through her reforms to provide dedicated, devoted and loyal friends to Jesus who would intimately love him through prayer. Teaching others to spend time with God in prayer, as intimate friends on the Way of Perfection was her mission. 

St John of the Cross taught the unconditional necessity of the way of Nada, of the purification and transformation of the Will in Love to arrive on the summit of Mount Carmel. He taught silence and renunciation as the key to union with the Beloved who Wounds us with Love and the guides us through Darkness and Faith to Transformative Union. 

St Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein) believed that it is the vocation of all Carmelites to intercede for others and like the Prophet Elijah to stand before the Presence of the Lord who lives. She taught that the Mystical Marriage and Bridal Union can only occur though the Science of the Cross.  

St Elizabeth of the Trinity said that Carmelites are called to become another Mediatrix together with Christ so he can continue the work of salvation through their humanity. She also believed her mission in heaven would be to draw souls into interior recollection with the Blessed Trinity. 

St Teresa of the Andes believed that the life of a Carmelite should be no other than of continually contemplating, adoring and loving God.  She wanted to be totally immersed in the Ocean of God so that she was captured by the Divine Fisherman, trusting in him as her Captain and Friend, so that others may learn to also fall madly in love with God. 

St Titus Brandsma believed his mission was to help reawaken in people the wonderful reality of mysticism, and what it means for us that we have the Indwelling of God within us as the ground of our being. The Virgin Mary is our examplar and guide in the mystical life of union with God, who teaches us to relive the mystery of the Incarnation in our own bodies. To be Carmelite for him, is to be completely Marian to the point of conceiving God and teaching others how to live this mystical transformative union. 

For myself as a Carmelite hermit, I see my own personal mission to be an example and witness for all those who feel unwanted or that don’t have a place in the Church. To follow the Holy Spirit to the places and people where others do not or would not go, living on the peripheries and bringing the Gospel to the dark places even when I myself feel lost in the dark. That even in the face of all my weaknesses and sins that there is always hope! So that I can help others not to fall into despair, but to trust that the Lord has a plan for each and everyone of them no matter how much they struggle or want to give up. If the Lord can work through me and change me, then he can do it for anyone!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, synthesis of the Gospel

After receiving some negative tragic news last night in my family with my mum being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer -  I decided today to lift my spirits and read Pope Francis’ new encyclical on the Sacred Heart, called “Delixit nos”. I am so very glad I did! 

It is an impressive systematic summary of the meaning, symbolism and spiritual development of devotion to the Sacred Heart. I have not finished it all yet, but I cannot recommend it highly enough. 

https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/20241024-enciclica-dilexit-nos.html

I have spent time all afternoon today making these picture quotes of the encyclical, to help highlight the parts I found especially touching or beautiful. I am only up to section 156 out of a total of 220 sections. I hope they help reinvigorate and inspire your devotion to and understanding of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 🙏

Pope Francis reiterates throughout that devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in based in scripture, it is Trinitarian, historical, spiritually transformative and as much relevant today than ever because it is a synthesis of the Gospel. The Sacred Heart of Christ burning with love for us and the Father, seeks us out and offers us a personal encounter with Himself - Love incarnate, so that our hearts will be made whole and transformed with Jesus in the furnace of His Divine Love. 

This is the best Encyclical that Pope Francis has published so far in his Pontificate