O Antiphons – Reflections from Fr. Giles Dimock O.P.

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First Antiphon –
December 17^th: O Sapientia

O, Wisdom, O holy Word of God,[1] you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care.[2]  Come and show your people the way to salvation.[3]

In this ancient antiphon the Church cries out to Christ, as the Wisdom of the Father, the eternal Word proclaimed by John in his prologue,[4] who was with the Father in the beginning of the creation of the world which he continues to govern.  We, the Church cry “Come,” the most primordial of all prayers, because we know we’ve “messed up” the wonderful order of creation with human sin and manipulation and need God’s Wisdom, whose “thoughts are not our thoughts.”[5]  Only he can show us his Son who is the way to Salvation; to saving us from ourselves and leading us to righteousness in thought and action, which the term salvation implies.

[1] Sir. 24:3

[2] Wis. 8:1

[3] Is. 40:3-5

[4] John 1

[5] Is. 55: 8-9

For more visit:  O Antiphons Reflections from Fr. Giles Dimock O.P.

The O Antiphon reflections are from Musings: Liturgical and Charismatic authored by Fr. Giles Dimock, O.P. and published by Discerning Hearts®

You can find the book here

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Second Antiphon –
December 18^th: O Adonai

O Sacred Lord of Ancient Israel[1] who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush,[2] who gave him the holy law on Sinai.  Come stretch out your mighty hand to set us free.[3]

God gave his name Yahweh to Moses, and with that power over him; for to the Hebrew to use one’s name is to have intimacy with that person and thus to have power over him.  Yet God cannot be like the gods of the pagans who are coerced by magical practices and so his name is not to be pronounced but instead “Adonai” or “Lord” is used.  In the fulness of time, the Messiah will come and tell us to pray in his name of Jesus, with all the implications of that.  We pray now that he come again with outstretched arm, that is with power to set us free.  In the words of St. Justin, “He stretched out his arms on the cross,” and was rendered powerless and received from his Father the power of the Spirit to set us free from our sinful selves.

[1] Exod. 6:2

[2] Exod. 3:2

[3] Exod. 6:6

For more visit here:  O Antiphons Reflections from Fr. Giles Dimock O.P.

The O Antiphon reflections are from Musings: Liturgical and Charismatic authored by Fr. Giles Dimock, O.P. and published by Discerning Hearts®

You can find the book here

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:33 — 1.9MB) | Embed

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Third Antiphon –
December 19^th: O Virga Jesse

O Flower of Jesse’s stem, you have been raised as a sign for all peoples;[1] kings stand silent in your presence;[2] The nations bow down in worship before you.  Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.[3]

Here we call on the Lord as the seed, flower or descendant of the root or stock of Jesse, the father of King David.  The Messiah comes from a royal line sprung from his human ancestor Jesse.  He is the sign born of the Virgin, for all the nations to see.  The East portrays the prophecy of Isaiah, “the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son,” with the child enclosed in a circle on his mother’s breast and calls that icon the Virgin of the Sign.  We call on him now to come and help our sinful and weary world.

[1] Is. 11:10

[2] Is. 5:15

[3] Heb. 2:3

For more visit here:  O Antiphons Reflections from Fr. Giles Dimock O.P.

The O Antiphon reflections are from Musings: Liturgical and Charismatic authored by Fr. Giles Dimock, O.P. and published by Discerning Hearts®

You can find the book here

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Fourth Antiphon –
December 20^th: O Clavis David

O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel, controlling at your will the gate of heaven,[1] Come, break down the prison walls of death for those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,[2] and lead your captive people into freedom

The Lord Jesus is invoked here as the Key of David,[3] the one who can open the gate into the kingdom because he is the gate.[4]  He knocks at the door of our hearts[5] leading us out of the darkness of sin into the true freedom of the children of God, which is freedom from sin and the resulting joy and delight.

[1] Is. 22:22

[2] Luke 1:79

[3] Rev. 3:7

[4] cf. John 10:7

[5] Rev. 3:19

For more visit:  O Antiphons Reflections from Fr. Giles Dimock O.P.

The O Antiphon reflections are from Musings: Liturgical and Charismatic authored by Fr. Giles Dimock, O.P. and published by Discerning Hearts®

You can find the book here

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Fifth Antiphon –
December 21^st: O Oriens

O Radiant Dawn,[1] Splendor of Eternal Light,[2] Sun of Justice;[3] Come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.[4]

The Lord here is invoked as the Light of the World[5] coming as the real sol invictus at the end of time calling us out of darkness into his own wonderful light.  The gloom of mid-winter can be seen as the hopelessness of ancient paganism or our own contemporary angst from which we desperately need deliverance.

[1] Zech. 6:12

[2] Heb. 1:3

[3] Mal. 4:2

[4] Luke 1:78

[5] John 8:12

For more visit:  O Antiphons Reflections from Fr. Giles Dimock O.P.

The O Antiphon reflections are from Musings: Liturgical and Charismatic authored by Fr. Giles Dimock, O.P. and published by Discerning Hearts®

You can find the book here

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Sixth Antiphon – December 22^nd: O Rex Gentium

O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart,[1] O Keystone[2] of the mighty arch of man;[3] come and save the creature you fashioned from the dust.[4]

This antiphon rejoices that the Lord is king not just of the Jews but us Gentiles as well, who makes them one people, one temple, in which he is the keystone, the crowning glory that holds all in place.[5]  We beg the Lord to return again to save weak humanity made in Gods’ image but disfigured by sin.

[1] Haggai 2:8

[2] Is. 28:16

[3] Eph. 2:14

[4] Gen. 2:7

[5] Eph. 2:20

For more visit:  O Antiphons Reflections from Fr. Giles Dimock O.P.

The O Antiphon reflections are from Musings: Liturgical and Charismatic authored by Fr. Giles Dimock, O.P. and published by Discerning Hearts®

You can find the book here

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Seventh Antiphon – December 23^nd: O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel,[1] king and lawgiver,[2] desire of the nations,[3] Savior of all people, come and set us free, Lord our God.

We have here a variation on the theme that Jesus, who is Emmanuel – God with us – is present in the Church and in the world as king and lawmaker; yet we need him to come again, we desire him to come and set us free from ourselves through Christ, through his saving birth, life and teaching, death and resurrection and his return in glory, all of which are implicit in our Advent prayer.  Vespers on the 24^th is no longer Advent, but the first Vespers of Christmas, whose special antiphons take up the theme of the Birth of our Savior.

[1] Is. 7:14

[2] Is. 33:22

[3] Gen. 49:10

For more visit:  O Antiphons Reflections from Fr. Giles Dimock O.P.

The O Antiphon reflections are from Musings: Liturgical and Charismatic authored by Fr. Giles Dimock, O.P. and published by Discerning Hearts®

You can find the book here