O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,

the hope of the nations and their Saviour:

Come and save us, O Lord our God.

As the days and now hours until Christmas draw near our prayers seem even more urgent. Come and save us, O Lord our God! The hymn O Come O Come Emmanuel, which draws entirely upon these O Antiphons begins by saying,  ransom captive Israel. Often I believe Christians have taken this idea of God’s paying a ransom of his son in the wrong way.  Too many times we have allowed ourselves to see God and the devil on an equal playing field and wonder what kind of God would demand the death of his son as expiation for our sins.  A better explanation of the ransom idea is that God indeed sent his son to rescue us from the power of sin and death, but that once the trade has taken place there is a surprise awaiting those same powers.  Christ is infinitely more powerful than the forces of evil and they have no power to hold him.

The second part of this final O Antiphon is found once again in Isaiah,

The Lord himself will give you this sign: the Virgin  shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

Matthew goes on in his Gospel to remind us that the name Emmanuel means,  God is with us. Christmas is a time to remember that Christ is indeed with us and that we are never left to battle the forces of sin and death alone.  We have, as one of us,  a savior who has triumphed over every power that holds us captive.

O King of the nations, and their desire,

the cornerstone making both one:

Come and save the human race,

which you fashioned from clay.

We begin and end each liturgical year with our focus on Christ the King.  The appearance of the Magi with their gifts are reminders to us that even as a baby, Christ is our true king. Fr. Bob Barron has suggested that there is a contrast of kings in the Christmas story. There is Herod, the tyrant and worldly king, and there is Christ, the savior of the world and prince of peace. Barron reminds us the Christmas is the time when we must make the choice of which king we will follow. Christ is certainly a different sort of king in that his power and armies are not at the service of death and destruction, but are rather bring forth the power of grace and forgiveness. Isaiah’s words have much to teach us in this regard,

He shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. (Isaiah 2:4)

The celebration of Christmas and these final days of Advent should allow us to look for the areas of our life needing peace.  For many of us, this time of the year brings a hectic pace and the reminder of strained relationships with family members and friends.  Today we have the opportunity to invite God into these areas by following Christ, the king of the nations. Let us invite him to rule our hearts and bring them his peace.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shown. (Isaiah 9:1)

O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;

you open and no one can shut;

you shut and no one can open:

Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,

those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

The further we go with the O Antiphons, the more it strikes me that perhaps what God is trying to show us through his Son and the prophecies about Him is that we should expect the unexpected. Today’s antiphon brings us back to reflecting upon David, the king. My own thoughts today bring me to the story in the first book of Samuel, when David was anointed as King of Israel.

Samuel was sent to Jesse to anoint one of his sons as king. Surprising everyone, the youngest of his sons, David, a shepherd, was chosen. David was a man with many faults, but nonetheless he was God’s chosen one. Isaiah gives us these words to ponder,

I will place the Key of the House of David on His shoulder; when he opens, no one will shut, when he shuts, no one will open. (Isaiah 22:22)

The message that is clear to me in this antiphon is that even when we want to judge others as not living up to the standards that God has set, it may be that God judges otherwise.

Today I am doing something a bit different for the Sabbath Sunday post. Usually I post something from the past, but today I am posting something new, so that I will not break up these reflections on the O Antiphons. I still invite you to share a past post from your blog and to take a well deserved break from blogging. Please be sure to post your name and URL below and leave a comment if you would like.

O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;

before you kings will shut their mouths,

to you the nations will make their prayer:

Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.

Today we are reminded as we were a few days ago in the daily Gospel reading from the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, that Jesus is connected to David’s family line. One thing that always strikes me about Matthew’s geneology is that of the people in it we know about, many of them are not who you would expect to find. There are prostitutes, murderers, adulterers, and all sorts of “interesting” people. But there is also the reminder that there is never a time to be without hope. The prophet Isaiah’s words were a reminder to the people that the Messiah would come,

But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. (Isaiah 11:1)

Roots are important in living a life of faith. They are the continual source of the things that give life to our faith, and we know that even when a tree is cut down, if the roots are good, life will once again spring forth. These final days of Advent remind us to look to our roots. We are reminded that when we sin and as a result kill off some of our faith not to lose our hope for salvation but to return to God who is our source of forgiveness and hope.

O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,

who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush

and gave him the law on Sinai:

Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

Today’s antiphon reminds us of Christ’s connection to the people of Israel and the covenant of old. We are often very quick as Christians to bypass much of the Old Testament, skipping straight to the Gospels. The key to understanding the New Testament, however, is often found in the Old. Matthew’s Gospel, for instance, is very clearly putting forth Christ as the new Moses. If we do not know the story of Exodus, we miss much of what Matthew was trying to communicate to us as Christians.

Today we proclaim that the same God who gave Moses the law for the people in the burning bush is found in the child who is born in Bethlehem. Isaiah’s prophecy makes it clear that he will bring justice by putting the law into practice.

But He shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.” (Isaiah 11:4-5)

Today’s preparation should call us to prepare for Christ’s birth by being living examples of God’s law and as such, people who seek ways to assist those in need.

O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,

reaching from one end to the other mightily,

and sweetly ordering all things:

Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Today we enter the octave before Christmas and our final preparations of Advent. Traditionally this is a time when we begin the singing of the “O Antiphons”. Many modern Christians probably know these antiphons best from the popular song, O Come O Come Emmanuel. Each one of the antiphons highlights both a title for Christ and a related passage from the book of Isaiah that have traditionally been seen by Christians as pointing to Jesus. I hope to spend some time looking at each of these titles and what they might mean for our preparations in these last days of Advent.

Today’s antiphon is O Wisdom! We hear from the prophet Isaiah,

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord. (Isaiah 11:2-3)

For those of us who have received the sacrament of Confirmation (or Chrismation in the East), this passage may look familiar.  It describes the same Spirit that descended upon Christ at his baptism in the Jordan and has come to rest upon us through our baptism and anointing at confirmation.  St. Ambrose once said it this way,

Recall then that you have received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear in God’s presence. Guard what you have received. God the Father has marked you with his sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed his pledge, the Spirit, in your hearts.

We would be wise to begin these final days of Advent by taking his words to heart.