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 🙌

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- 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).