Glenelg Catholic Parish 30th November 2014 The “O” Antiphons of Advent Anthony Kain PP One of the hymns we sing in Advent is “O come, o come, Emmanuel”. (Emmanuel means ‘God with us). It is based upon the ‘O’ antiphons used in the days before Christmas in Evening Prayer. They give us titles for Jesus, they interpret who he is for us. You might wonder why we need to go into these titles for Jesus but their importance is twofold as they help us know who Jesus is for us. First, each one highlights a title for the Messiah: O Sapientia (O Wisdom), O Adonai (O Lord), O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse), O Clavis David (O Key of David), O Oriens (O Rising Sun), O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations), and O Emmanuel (O God with us). Secondly, each one refers to the prophecy of Isaiah of the coming of the Messiah, the longed for saviour that the Hebrew people awaited. It is our Christian belief that Jesus is that Messiah, a word in Jesus’ language that means Champion, Liberator, Defender, Saviour, Guardian. The ‘o’ antiphons interpret the Messiah word and give us the significance of Jesus coming into our world of humanity. To take one of them - O Sapientia: “O Wisdom”. Isaiah prophesied, “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.” (11:2-3), and “Wonderful is His counsel and great is His wisdom.” (28:29). In our broken world today we live in communion with this Holy Wisdom in our baptism, confirmation and Eucharistic life. There is a theory about the antiphons being a ‘code’ (not quite up there with the Da Vinci Code!). The code theory is that if you start with the last title and take the first letter of each one in Latin - Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia – you get the Latin words ero cras, meaning, “Tomorrow, I will come.” Therefore, Jesus, whose coming we have prepared for in Advent and whom we have addressed in these seven titles, now speaks to us, “Tomorrow, I will come.” The “O Antiphons” not only bring intensity to our Advent preparation, but bring it to a joyful conclusion, as Isaiah will proclaim at Midnight Mass “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light”. We go forward through Advent in hope. Feast Days during the Week Wednesday 3rd — St Francis, Xavier Up Coming Meetings 1 Dec 1.30pm St Vincent De Paul
Transcript
Glenelg Catholic Parish
30th November 2014
The “O” Antiphons of Advent
Anthony Kain PP
One of the hymns we sing in Advent is “O come, o come, Emmanuel”.
(Emmanuel means ‘God with us). It is based upon the ‘O’ antiphons used in the days
before Christmas in Evening Prayer. They give us titles for Jesus, they interpret who he
is for us.
You might wonder why we need to go into these titles for Jesus but their
importance is twofold as they help us know who Jesus is for us.
First, each one highlights a title for the Messiah: O Sapientia (O Wisdom), O Adonai
(O Lord), O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse), O Clavis David (O Key of David), O Oriens
(O Rising Sun), O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations), and O Emmanuel (O God with
us).
Secondly, each one refers to the prophecy of Isaiah of the coming of the Messiah,
the longed for saviour that the Hebrew people awaited. It is our Christian belief that
Jesus is that Messiah, a word in Jesus’ language that means Champion, Liberator,
Defender, Saviour, Guardian. The ‘o’ antiphons interpret the Messiah word and give us
the significance of Jesus coming into our world of humanity.
To take one of them - O Sapientia: “O Wisdom”. Isaiah prophesied, “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.” (11:2-3), and “Wonderful is His counsel and great is His
wisdom.” (28:29). In our broken world today we live in communion with this Holy
Wisdom in our baptism, confirmation and Eucharistic life.
There is a theory about the antiphons being a ‘code’ (not quite up there with the
Da Vinci Code!). The code theory is that if you start with the last title and take the first
letter of each one in Latin - Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia –
you get the Latin words ero cras, meaning, “Tomorrow, I will come.”
Therefore, Jesus, whose coming we have prepared for in Advent and whom we
have addressed in these seven titles, now speaks to us, “Tomorrow, I will come.”
The “O Antiphons” not only bring intensity to our Advent preparation, but
bring it to a joyful conclusion, as Isaiah will proclaim at Midnight Mass “The people
