This week we are counting down as the great feast of Christmas approaches, as its light begins to blot out the lights of the individual days as planets are blotted out when they appear too close to the Sun. The great “O Antiphons” at Vespers are worth celebrating even if Vespers itself is not part of you daily routine. They count down the last seven days before Christmas and tie together the seven threads of hope, longing, and doctrine that find their culmination and final union in the moment of incarnation. Jesus is the Word and Wisdom of God. As Isaiah says, “On him the spirit of the Lord rests, a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and power.”
O Wisdom, you come forth from the mouth of the Most High.
You fill the universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner
O come to teach us the way of truth.
O Adonai and leader of Israel,
You appeared to Moses in a burning bush, and you gave him the Law on Sinai.
O come and save us with your mighty power.
O stock of Jesse, who stands as a sign for the nations:
Before whom kings fall silent; whom the people acclaim.
Come, come to deliver us, do not delay any more.
O key of David and scepter of Israel,
You who open and nobody then can close, Who closes and nobody then can open:
Come and lead the captive from prison; free those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.
O Rising Sun,
You are the splendor of eternal light and the sun of justice:
Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death
O King of the peoples,
Whom they long for, the cornerstone, who make the two into one:
Come and save man, whom you made from clay.
O Emmanuel,
You are our king and our judge, the One whom the peoples await and their Savior,
O come and save us, Lord our God.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!