My favorite time of the Advent season has arrived! Time to say “Oh!” again as we pray the ancient “O Antiphons” the week before celebrating the Incarnation. I look forward to this week perhaps as much as the Twelve Days of Christmas. The week before December 25th, during the Liturgy of the Hours, we contemplate and reflect upon the ancient names for the Messiah intoned in the hymn, “O Come O Come Emmanuel”: O Wisdom, O Adonai, O Flower of Jesse, O Key of David, O Radiant Dawn, O King of All Nations, and O Emmanuel.
To me, the “Oh” sounds like the dawning of a spiritual insight– the “aha” moment when the reconciliation of opposites makes perfect sense. For several thousand years before the appearance of Jesus, ancient people of faith were calling out these names, longing for liberation from the captivity of the human condition. Throughout the ages, the past, present, and future meld together in a flash of light, whether felt or ignored, changing the trajectory of history.
Starting with the Big Bang, the first Incarnation took place, and “Wisdom walked on the land.” Adonai gave us the divine law of love in the form of a burning bush. The prophet Jesse’s family roots would bring forth the House of David, the sacred key that would unlock the doors of ignorance and could never be shut. An inextinguishable Light, called “Radiant Dawn” or “Dayspring,” would beckon all to its luminous warmth. And then, the Messiah would come, not in secular power or glory, but disguised as a helpless infant, a hidden King of All Nations, to become “Emmanuel,” God with us, the timeless cornerstone of history.
Last year, I was encouraged to write my own O Antiphons and did so with great relish. In the spirit of repurposing (my Christmas theme this year), I will repost each one with a few embellishments in the next seven days.
May all of us enter the final week of Advent with faith, hope, and love, three virtues the world needs more than ever right now.
Seeking Wisdom 