[Note: Today's post is the first of a series of reflections on the "O Antiphons" sung during the forefeast, or the week prior to, the Nativity of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Huw will also be blogging reflections on the "O Antiphons" (his invitation is here).
The "O Antiphons" are normally seven in number, with the eighth, O Virgo virginum, used according to the Sarum rite. They are sung as refrains to the Magnificat during Matins, on each day of the week prior to the Nativity (16 or 17-23 December). Each antiphon reflects both an aspect of Christ's Person, and ties that to salvation history beginning with the Creation. Given my own personal history with Our Lady, I will be employing the eight antiphons (as will Huw).
If anyone would like to join us in posting their own reflections, we are spreading out the antiphons over the forty-day Nativity Fast according to this schedule:
15 Nov O Sapientia
20 Nov O Adonai
25 Nov O Radix Jesse
30 Nov O Clavis David
5 Dec O Oriens
10 Dec O Rex Gentium
15 Dec O Emmanuel
20 Dec O Virgo virginum
May your Nativity Fast, and the coming Feast, be filled with God's presence and the joy of the Gospel!]
O Sapientia,
quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem fortiter,
suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.
O Wisdom,
who proceeds from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching out mightily from end to end,
and sweetly arranging all things:
come to teach us the way of prudence.
Christ is born to us. Glorify him.
As we look at all of the O Antiphons together, we see that they form a consecutive series of refrains which recount salvation history, from the creation of the world, the calling of Israel, the promise to David, the harrowing of hell, the Resurrection, and the awaiting of his glorious coming. (The Sarum liturgy adds an eighth antiphon, one to the Theotokos, a call to fully stop and contemplate these great mysteries, as our Lady herself did.) These events are reflected in the very Person and life of our Lord, and as such invite us to go further in the struggle of salvation.
It is said that in Christ, "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3 NKJV). Indeed, Paul has already told us, "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist" (Colossians 1:16-17).
This combination of wisdom and creation in our Lord is as ancient as Christianity. And it confronts us here, the first of the "O Antiphons" as we draw close to the feast of the Nativity. What does the antiphon have to say to us here as we turn to face Christ's birth?
Christ is that wisdom that was from the beginning and set creation in order (Proverbs 8.22-31). Christ is that wisdom without which we cannot know God (Proverbs 8.32-36). Christ is the wisdom who cries aloud in the streets and raises his voice in the market (Proverbs 1.20) and he is the invitation of the Spirit and the Bride to come (Revelation 22.17), an invitation to knowledge, the fear of the Lord. Christ is also the King of kings, leading forth the armies of God to set right, to reorder, the creation--a reordering which follows an invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19.9-16).
Christ it is who makes straight our path. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5.17). Outwardly wasting away, inwardly we are renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4.16). This transformation of soul and body, however, can only come about through the wisdom of Christ, who learned obedience through the cross set before him (Hebrews 5.8-9). This wisdom is our wisdom, if only we have the mind of Christ in us (Philippians 2.5-11), the same mind that brings the humility of cross-bearing. It is this struggle of faith, this daily taking up our cross, which teaches us prudence, because, like Christ, it teaches us obedience to God the Father.
For us, struggle, pain, rejection, are occasions for questioning God. They are occasions which test our faith. But, if we are in Christ, they are occasions where we may learn obedience and humility. These teach us prudence, and in prudence we are able in Christ to rightly order all things. In the midst of chaos, we may have peace. Having come through the battle, we come to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Christ is born to us. Glorify him.
Posted by Clifton at November 15, 2004 06:30 AM | TrackBack