Posted on 12/16/2016 5:02:29 PM PST by Salvation
"O Antiphons" for the Week before Christmas
Introduction: Most familiar today from the Advent hymn, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," the seven traditional "O Antiphons" are actually more than a thousand years old. They have long been used at the very end of Advent (Dec. 17-23) in the liturgical prayer of the Church, as Antiphons for the "Magnificat" sung or recited during Vespers (the Evening Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours). Since the Second Vatican Council, they have also been adapted (slightly reworded and rearranged) for the "Alleluia Verse" of the Mass (the short scriptural text or paraphrase that immediately precedes the Gospel reading). Each Antiphon invokes the coming of the Messiah, beginning with a biblical title and closing with a specific petition.
The following chart provides a comparative overview of the Latin versions and English translations of the texts used in the Liturgy of the Hours and the Lectionary for Mass, as well as the lyrics from the Advent hymn and some references to a few scriptural passages upon which these texts were based. In the traditional arrangement, when viewed from Christmas Eve backward, the first letters of the Latin texts (Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia) spell out the phrase ero cras ("I come tomorrow").
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Antiphon for the Magnificat during |
Alleluia Verse, |
Latin & English Lyrics, |
Biblical Texts |
|
Dec. 17: O Wisdom, O holy Word of God, |
Dec. 17: O Wisdom of our God Most High, |
Veni, O Sapientia, quae hic disponis omnia, (2) O Come, Thou Wisdom, from on high, |
Wisdom 8:1 Isaiah 11:2-3; 28:29 Proverbs 8:1-36 John 1:1-5 |
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Dec. 18: O Sacred Lord of ancient Israel, |
Dec. 18: O Leader of the House of Israel, |
Veni, Veni, Adonai, qui populo in Sinai (3) O Come, O Come, Thou Lord of might, |
Exodus 3:2 Isaiah 33:22; 63:11-12 Micah 6:4 Acts 7:30-31 |
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Dec. 19: O Flower of Jesse’s stem, |
Dec. 19: O Root of Jesse’s stem, |
Veni, O Iesse virgula, ex hostis tuos ungula, (4) O Come, Thou Rod of Jesse's stem, |
Isaiah 11:1, 10 Isaiah 52:15 Romans 15:12 |
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Dec. 20: O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel, |
Dec. 20: O Key of David, |
Veni, Clavis Davidica, regna reclude caelica, (5) O Come, Thou Key of David, come, |
Revelation 3:7 Isaiah 22:22 Jeremiah 13:13; 51:19 Matthew 4:16; 16:19 Luke 1:79 |
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Dec. 21: O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: |
Dec. 24, Morning Mass: O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: |
Veni, Veni O Oriens, solare nos adveniens, (6) O Come, Thou Dayspring from on high, |
Isaiah 9:1; 58:8; 60:18-20 Malachi 4:2 Luke 1:78-79 John 8:12 Revelation 22:16 |
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Dec. 22: O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart; |
Dec. 22 & 23: O King of all nations and keystone of the Church: |
Veni, Veni, Rex Gentium, Veni, Redemptor omnium, (7) O Come, Desire of the nations, bind |
Isaiah 2:4; 11:10 Psalm 47:8; Jeremiah 10:7 Daniel 7:14; Haggai 2:8 Romans 15:12 Ephesians 2:14, 20 |
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Dec. 23: O Emmanuel, king and lawgiver, |
Dec. 21: O Emmanuel, our King, and Giver of Law: |
Veni, Veni, Emmanuel captivum solve Israel, (1) O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, |
Isaiah 7:14 Matthew 1:23 1 Timothy 4:9 |
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. |
. |
Refrain: |
Psalm 14:7 Phil 4:4 |
Note that the first verse of the popular hymn is actually the last of the traditional "O Antiphons" (for Dec. 23!), while the other verses of the hymn (in the order printed in most hymnals) correspond to the Antiphons for Dec. 17 to Dec. 22.
Note also that the refrain of the hymn has awkward phrasing in English:
Thank you for posting this.
If we attend Daily Mass we will here these as the Gospel Acclamation beginning on December 17th.
O Antiphons Ping!
You are welcome.
OOPS!
If we attend Daily Mass we will hear these as the Gospel Acclamation beginning on December 17th.
About the "Great O's" ("O Antiphons") [Ecumenical]
Advent "O" antiphons begin: Pray Vespers with the Church!
"O Antiphons" for the Week before Christmas (Dec. 17-23) [Ecumenical]
Praising the Names of Jesus: The Antiphons of Advent
The O Antiphons
Ego Cras (Anagram of the Messianic Titles of Christ in the "O" Antiphons)
Praying with the "O" Antiphons
The 'O' Antiphons -- Prayer Activity for Families
O Antiphons -- Scriptural Detail of these Advent prayers
The Great Advent Antiphons
What are the “O Antiphons”?
Ero Cras = Tomorrow I come.
I’m not a Roman Catholic, but my prayer this Advent has been for a new thing, a fresh understanding of His coming. Thank you for these links.
Today is the feast of Josep Manyanet y Vives who was born to a large and pious family. He was dedicated to Our Lady at age 5 by his mother. Educated by the Piarist Fathers in Barbastro, Spain, and then in seminaries at Lleida and Urgell in Spain. He founded the Congregation of the Sons of the Holy Family in 1864 and the Missionary Daughters of the Holy Family of Nazareth in 1874. Both were dedicated to serving the Christian family, teaching, and parish ministry. He wrote books and pamphlets encouraging devotion to the Holy Family, to help the spiritual formation of the members of his congregations, to help families in trouble, and about school management. He also founded the magazine La Sagrada Familia.
Those using the Jesse Tree should continue from today until Christmas by using symbols based on the “O” antiphons (see Jesse Tree Instructions).
O Wisdom
Divine Wisdom clothes itself in the nature of a man. It conceals itself in the weakness of a child. It chooses for itself infancy, poverty, obedience, subjection, obscurity. "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the prudence of the prudent I will reject. . . . Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God, by the foolishness of our preaching, to save them that believe. For both the Jews require signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews, indeed, a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness; but unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. . . . But the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong. And the base things of the world and the things that are contemptible, hath God chosen, and the things that are not, that He might bring to naught the things that are" (I Cor. 1:19 ff.).
Excerpted from The Light of the World by Benedict Baur, O.S.B.
1st O Antiphon:
O Wisdom, who came from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly,
COME
To teach us the way of prudence.
From Catholic Culture
O Lord and Ruler
Thou art He "who didst appear to Moses in the burning bush." "I have seen the affliction of My people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of the rigor of them that are over the works. And knowing their sorrow, I am come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, into a land that floweth with milk and honey" (Exod. 3:7 f.). Thus spoke the Lord to Moses from the bush which burned but was not consumed, which is a figure of God's condescension to assume the weakness of human nature. The human nature of Christ is united to the burning divine nature, and yet it is not consumed.
As Moses approached the burning bush, so we approach the divine Savior in the form of a child in the crib, or in the form of the consecrated host, and falling down we adore Him. "Put off the shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. . . . I am who am" (Exod. 3:5, 14).
O Adonai, almighty God! Mighty in the weakness of a child, and in the helplessness of the Crucified! Thou, almighty God, mighty in the wonders that Thou hast worked! Mighty in guiding, sustaining, and developing Thy Church! "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18).
"Come with an outstretched arm to redeem us." This is the cry of the Church for the second coming of Christ on the last day. The return of the Savior brings us plentiful redemption. "Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you" (Matt. 25-34).
Excerpted from The Light of the World by Benedict Baur, O.S.B.
2nd O Antiphon:
And leader of the house of Israel, who Appeared to Moses in the bush's flaming fire, And gave to him the Law on Sinai,
COME
To redeem us with outstretched arm.
Today is the feast of St. Dominic of Silos, an abbot who lived in Spain in the 11th century.
O Key of David
"Come, lead the captives from their prison." With the key of His almighty power, the Redeemer has opened the prison in which poor, sinful man was languishing in darkness and in the shadow of death.
Key of David, come and deliver the captives from their prison. The Church wishes that by the practice of virtue we should free ourselves from sin and unfaithfulness. She asks God that He may spare us from punishment, deliver us from His wrath, from an evil death, and from hell. The Church prays that God may free us from a heart that clings to the world, from a spirit that is pleased with worldliness, from a human respect that degrades us. She urges us to return kindness and affection for scorn, love and compassion for persecution. Our Holy Mother the Church prays that we may be delivered from ourselves, from our self-love, and from all our secret sins. She prays that God may detach our hearts from all that can bind them to earth, for he who has been freed from the things of the earth is free with the freedom of Christ.
Key of David, come and deliver the captives from their prison. By Thy coming free us from all that separates us from God. Bring us freedom and redemption; incline us to surrender ourselves completely to God. So all pray for each, and each for all.
Excerpted from The Light of the World by Benedict Baur, O.S.B.
4th O Antiphon:
O Key of David, And scepter of the house of Israel,
Thou openest and no man dare shut,
Thou shuttest and no man dare open,
COME
Lead from prison, the fettered one,
The dweller in darkness and the shadow of death.
O Radiant Dawn
O eternal Sun, come and enlighten us, for where Thou art not, there is darkness, death, and wickedness. "Come and enlighten all who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death."
"But now [you are] light in the Lord" (Eph. 5:18). In the Church the light has now appeared to us on the first Christmas night, on the day of our baptism, daily in the Mass and at the time of Holy Communion, and in the many inspirations and promptings of grace. How thankful we should be for this light, which is Christ.
But we have yet to reach the full measure of the stature of Christ. Alas! we let ourselves be burdened by earthly sorrow, we are distracted by the excitement of the moment, and our spiritual growth is hampered by our attachment to the things of this world. Fervently we should repeat that plea of Holy Mother the Church. "0 dawning Sun of righteousness, come and enlighten us, who yet sit in the darkness of suffering, of human reasoning, and of self-love."
The light of Christ will be revealed perfectly only when we meet Him at the time of His second coming. Then we shall be brought into the light of glory, and we shall "shine as the sun in the kingdom of the Father" (Matt. 13:48). "Sown in corruption we shall rise in incorruption" (I Cor. 15:42). May the day of enlightenment come soon!
Excerpted from The Light of the World by Benedict Baur, O.S.B.
5th O Antiphon:
O Dawn, splendor of eternal light,
And sun of justice,
COME
and shine on those seated in darkness,
And in the shadow of death.
O King of the Gentiles
"Come and save man, whom Thou hast made out of dust." What is man? He is but a particle of dust, an insignificant creature who has further separated himself from God through sin. He has been cut off from the fountain of truth and banished from God to darkness and misery. Still in the ruins there dwells a spirit that possesses a capacity for truth. In these ashes there is yet a spark that may be fanned to life to burn with the brilliance of divine life. But only God can revive this flame. For this reason the Church cries out, "Come and save man, whom Thou hast made out of dust." Save him who is so weak, so miserable and helpless. Remember his nothingness. Consider the many enemies who lay snares to rob him of divine life and to entice him into sin. Think of his obscured knowledge and his proneness to evil, of his tendency to error, and his weakness in the face of temptation. Guard him from the enticements of the world; shelter him from the poison of erroneous teaching; deliver him from the devil and his angels.
During these days before Christmas, the Church contemplates the overwhelming misery of unregenerated mankind. She cries out, "Come and save man, whom Thou hast made out of dust."
Jesus is King of all nations. "The kings of the earth stood up and the princes met together against the Lord and against His Christ. Let us break their bonds asunder, and let us cast away their yoke from us. He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall deride them. Then shall He speak to them in His anger and trouble them in His rage. But I am appointed king by Him over Sion, His holy mountain. ... The Lord hath said to Me; Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me and I will give Thee the Gentiles for Thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for Thy possession" (Ps. 2:2-8). Well may Herod seek the life of the newborn king. Indeed, many kings and tribes and nations in the course of time shall deprecate the divine King, Christ. But to Him has been given all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28: i8). Before Him every knee shall bend, and every tongue shall confess that He is the Lord (Phil. 2:10f.).
The more the mighty condemn the kingship of Christ, the more shall He be exalted by the Father.
Now He comes to us in the form of a lovely child. One day in the presence of the Roman governor He will assert His right to kingship. But after this one public confession of His royal origin He withdraws again into the obscurity which He had freely chosen. For the present He is satisfied with this manifestation of His royal dignity. The day will come, however, when He will manifest it with power and majesty as He comes again on the clouds of heaven. Before all nations God will declare: "I have anointed Him King of Sion. My holy mountain." All men shall pay Him homage as king; all nations shall acclaim Him the King of Glory.
Excerpted from The Light of the World by Benedict Baur, O.S.B.
6th O Antiphon:
And their desired one,
Cornerstone,
Who makest two into one,
COME
Save man,
Whom thou didst fashion out of slime.
7th O Antiphon:
O Emmanuel, God with us, our King and law-giver,
The awaited of the peoples,
And their Savior,
COME
To save us,
O Lord our God.
Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!
Gaude! Gaude! Emmanuel nascetur pro te Israel!
The “O Antiphons” are the antiphons recited or chanted preceding the
Vespers Gospel Canticle (the Magnificat) used in the Divine Office in
the seven days (December 17-23) immediately preceding the Solemnity of
Christmas.
Dec. 19:
O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum,
quem gentes deprecabuntur:
veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.
O Flower of Jesse’s stem, you have been raised up
as a sign for all peoples; kings stand silent in your
presence; the nations bow down in worship before
you. Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our
aid.
O Antiphons -- A Devotional Meditation
"O Antiphons" for the Week before Christmas
About the "Great O's" ("O Antiphons") [Ecumenical]
Advent "O" antiphons begin: Pray Vespers with the Church!
"O Antiphons" for the Week before Christmas (Dec. 17-23) [Ecumenical]
Praising the Names of Jesus: The Antiphons of Advent
Ego Cras (Anagram of the Messianic Titles of Christ in the "O" Antiphons)
Praying with the "O" Antiphons
The 'O' Antiphons -- Prayer Activity for Families
Thanks, Coleus, for positing all those links.
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