Reflection on Today’s O Antiphon: December 17

O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: come and teach us the way of prudence.

Life today is situated in the midst of choices. There are just so many choices and decisions to make each day. Margaret Silf wrote, “Decisions, decisions—not just a half dozen, but scores, even hundreds of them, every day. The range of choices we face in daily life seems to grow exponentially and so does the accompanying stress.”

Choices demand wisdom. Whether we must make personal or global choices, there is such great need for wisdom, not mere human but supernatural wisdom. We need the guidance from on high.

In the Bible, wisdom is a personification of God. In Proverbs, in Sirach, in the Wisdom of Solomon, wisdom is portrayed as alive and as coming forth from God. We need God’s wisdom not only for our survival but specially for guidance in our choices. Wisdom will help us in discerning important matters for our lives today. 

Jesus is the Wisdom of God. Let us invite him as we make decisions so that he can share with us the gift of prudence in our actions and words. Let us bring to the Lord those things that need to be decided today with God’s help.

Reflection on Today’s O Antiphon: December 18

O Adonai (Lord) and leader of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flames of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: come and redeem us with outstretched arm.

It is easy to feel uncomfortable with the titles that convey the idea of dominance or control or that express separation or tension between persons. The title “Lord” is like this. If there is a lord or master, there must be a servant or someone inferior under him.

In Jesus, we have a different kind of Lord. He does not cause division, separation, or domination to emerge. In him the God who is above us now becomes so close to us. The God who is beyond history is now inserted in all our events and experiences. It is a great paradox and yet this is the desire of God, to bring people close to his heart.

There are many lords in people’s lives today, what command people to act. Our lives are cluttered by material things, emotional baggage, psychological garbage, and others that enslave and oppress us.

This antiphon reminds us that Christmas is about the true Lord of all, the one Thomas will later on proclaim: My Lord and my God! But he is a Lord who bows down to reach us in love. Let us allow the Lord Jesus to envelop us in his tight embrace so that we may be reunited with the Father in the Spirit.

Reflection on Today’s O Antiphon: December 19

 “O Root (stump) of Jesse, who stands as a sign among the people, before whom kings shall shut their mouths, to whom the nations shall make supplication: come to deliver us, and tarry not.”

What is a stump of wood good for? It is almost dead, useless, except for chopping and burning. However, this symbol from the plant kingdom teaches us many things about hope. Even a stump or a root brings forth a new shoot. Seemingly dead outside, there is life within!

This Christmastime, it will be good to recall the relationships we thought were dead, but later on came to surprise us with a surge of new life.  Were you reunited with a long lost friend? Was there a reconciliation with someone whom you thought was impossible to forgive? Has there been recently a letter, a text message, an FB message from a person whom you thought no longer cared? These are all cause for hope because they are like small fresh shoots on the dead brown stump of Jesse.

As Christians, we need to remember that appearance and reality are often different and so we must keep our hopes high and try to fan it into flame when it is most challenged. Death and destruction do not have the final say. God will find a way for us. In Jesus, God’s life has triumphed and will shine luminously forever.  Let us pray for what seems to be dead stumps in our life today and expect the Lord to cause a bud to sprout one day.

Reflection on Today’s O Antiphon: December 20

 “O Key of David and scepter of the house of Israel; who open and none can shut; who shut and none can open: come and lead to freedom the prisoner who sits in darkness and the shadow of death.”

St. Anthony of Padua must be the busiest saint in heaven, looking for the things we lost, and most of these must be the simple key! If keys are that important, why do we often lose them?

Keys are crucial but they are very small and so, negligible. When we misplace them, we suffer much frustration. So much time is wasted looking for it and our whole day’s timetable of activities is then affected. But when we have the right key and it works, we have access to important things in life. 

The image of the key is most clearly reflective of the power of Jesus.  Jesus is the key to our liberation.  He unlocks, he opens, he releases, by the power of his word and by his personal presence.

When Jesus met needy people, did he not unlock something closed and stuck for a long time in their bodies and spirits? Like the woman bent double for 18 years, was there not a “clinking sound” as Jesus commanded her to stand erect (see Lk 13: 10-17)? As Jesus forgave the sinful woman anointing his feet, she must have heard a “clink” in her heart and her tears flowed. When the lepers were walking away to show themselves to the priests, surely they heard an interior “clink” again as their bodies regenerated and became whole. When the demoniac was freed from evil spirits, the “clink” must have been almost audible as the demons transferred to a herd of pigs nearby.

As Jesus walked on this earth, rusty locks flung open, shut doors spread out, and shuttered souls found release.

Jesus is the key to a new order as he brings something different, radical, and unique. While he opens doors, people can now come out of their shame, pain, fear, and self-loathing. He ushers them into a path of confidence, peace, and light.

What aspect of your life do you need Jesus to unlock? Be ready to receive a flood of his blessings!

Reflection on Today’s O Antiphon: December 21

O Rising Dawn, splendor of eternal Light and Sun of Justice: come and illuminate those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.

How long is the night? For many people today, the night is very long! And how we pray that it is over. We go through sleepless nights because of problems that wouldn’t give our minds rest. Sick people spend the night awake because of the pain and the medications they take. Some people are deprived of sleep because of stress and pressures.

In the night, there is fear; there is helplessness; there is darkness. So, with dawn comes a renewed appreciation. We welcome the first pale streaks in the sky, the first sounds of awakening people in the house and animals in the farm. Dawn is beautiful. It is a sign that the night has passed and we are in the threshold of a new day. Isn’t the sky so peaceful and serene at dawn?

We also experience the dawn in a larger sense. A new job, an approved project, an exam successfully passed, the excitement over a new book, a film or a favorite dish, or renewed health, a second chance in life—these are signs of dawn in daily life.

As Christmas draws near, all our anticipation is gathered up in this antiphon prayer. We pray that we may be rescued from darkness. What does it mean that God comes to us as the breaking dawn? Perhaps, it is that he visits us and supplies our need for reassurance, that we are loved, that we are important, that we belong to him alone.

Where do we now need the light of dawn to shine in our lives? Who are the people we want to lead to that light?

Reflection on Today’s O Antiphon: December 22

 “O King of the nations and their Desire, the Cornerstone who binds into one: come and save mankind, whom you fashioned from clay.”

There are few kings left in the world. Monarchies are not as appreciated as in the past.  Like what we do to the title “Lord,” we are not too accommodating to the idea of a “king.” We resist the idea of one who reigns over us to control us and force us to do things we do not want to do. We cringe at the thought of a monopoly of power and domination by one man or clan.

In the Bible originally, the king was a source of unity. The biblical world was always at war and so, there needed to be someone who could bring people as one and who could turn differences into gifts for each other. Today we still need a king who will unite us amidst our squabbles, divisions, jealousies, and competitions.

When Pilate questioned Jesus about his kingship, he was really asking Jesus about whose side he was on. Jesus resisted this question because he did not like labels; he shunned earthly notions of power that divide and subjugate.

Jesus is king but as one who comes as the ransom, the servant, the co-sufferer. With Jesus, we know that God is for us and he is here as the source of unity and not division, agreement and not control.

Jesus the King seeks to serve and not to dominate, and to draw people, not conquer them. All the world’s most vulnerable people can feel at home in his presence and can identify with his life. Let us pray that we will fall under the kingship of Christ, and thus be united to him and to people around us.

Reflection on Today’s O Antiphon: December 23

 “O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the hope of all nations and their Savior: come and save us, O Lord our God!”

We come to the final antiphon, O Emmanuel! God is with us! As we pray today, we ask the Lord to walk with us. We do not need an abstract God, an angry God, a distant God. We need a God who wears a human skin, and so is close to us as our pillow.

Jesus is the God who wears a human skin, who wears our humanity underneath his own skin. Many things make us afraid. The future threatens us. We need someone who will promise to be there for us, no matter what happens.

Today, be sensitive to the experience of a loving God. May God the Emmanuel be the fulfillment of every longing. May he come, not in abrupt or dramatic fashion but in subtle ways. When he comes to walk with us this way, let us develop alertness to his quiet presence and be attuned to his silent and hidden manner of drawing near to us.

(from the book Where is the Child, by Fr. R.Marcos, 2015; please acknowledge source)

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