Here He Comes!
Advent anticipation moved up a notch this week with the start of the “Golden Nights of Advent,” the octave leading up to Christmas Eve. Beginning the evening of December 17, religious communities in monasteries and convents all over the world sing one of the beautiful “O Antiphons” before and after the Magnificat during Vespers each night as they anticipate the dawn of Christ.
Hear “O Sapientia” (O Wisdom) sung in Gregorian chant
Each O antiphon (so-called because they all begin with “O”) invokes Jesus under a different Old Testament title or attribute of God and calls on him to come to us — like this one sung December 23:
“O Emmanuel, God with us, our King and lawgiver, the expected of the nations and their Savior: come to save us, O Lord our God!”
Curiously, when the initial letters of the seven titles of Christ are listed backward in Latin, they spell the words ERO CRAS: “Tomorrow I come.” It is as if Jesus himself is answering the cry of his people that he hurry to them. “Just wait – I will be there!”
Read along with the O antiphons
I am struck by the effect of reading the antiphons before and after the Magnificat, the way they are read in Vespers. The first time I read the antiphon it feels like pleading, yearning for the Lord. It’s easy to join in from the heart. Who doesn’t wait for God’s outstretched arms to save, to deliver, from whatever it is that binds us? Then Mary’s song comes in rejoicing that God has remembered the promises –the very promises that are reflected in the antiphons – so that when I read the antiphon a second time, my heart lifts.
For example, December 20 we sing this:
Antiphon
O Key of David, and scepter of the house of Israel, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens: come, and lead forth the captive who sits in the shadows from his prison.
Magnificat
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for He has looked with favor on His lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and Holy is His Name. He has mercy on those who fear Him in every generation. He has shown the strength of His arm, He has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. He has come to the help of His servant Israel for He has remembered His promise of mercy, the promise He made to our fathers, to Abraham and His children for ever.
Antiphon
O Key of David, and scepter of the house of Israel, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens: come, and lead forth the captive who sits in the shadows from his prison.
The antiphons speak to us today
I am still asking Christ to come, but now I read it full of expectation based on what God did that first Christmas over 2000 years ago. Jesus has come to us and he WILL come again: he has promised and his promise is sure.
The antiphons in song
The O antiphons have been around since before 800 AD. Around 1100, an unknown author turned the antiphons into a Latin poem. In the 1800s the poem was translated into English by the Anglican priest and hymn author John Mason Neale. “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” appeared in the official Church of England hymnbook in 1861 and has been popular ever since.
The melody we are most familiar with, dates to the 15th century. It was originally a processional funeral hymn used by French Franciscan nuns. There is something fitting about using this tune to call on Jesus, “Thou Dayspring,” to “disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight.” It’s start out somberly, full of sorrow – then bursts forth in this chorus–
“Rejoice, rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!”
This is what we are waiting for in Advent; the glory of the incarnation, new life from death. And look – he comes!
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Do you want to pray with the O Antiphons and the carol, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”? This pairs the antiphons with the hymn along with some related Scripture references:
Download the O Antiphons with O Come, O Come, Emmanuel and Scripture references
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Each post in this Advent series features a different Advent or Christmas carol, all of which can be found on Kitty Cleveland’s CD, O Holy Night.
Start from the beginning here:
Next up:
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