O Dayspring: Advent Daybook, 27

This week we are adoring Jesus by praying the prophetic names of the O Antiphons.

O DAYSPRING

Opening Prayer: O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice: Come, shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Read: Hebrews 1:1-3; Malachi 4:1-3; Isaiah 58:8-10; Isaiah 60:1-3,19;Luke 1:78-79

A Reading from Hebrews 1:1-3

In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power.

A Reading from Malachi 4:1-3

For behold, the day comes, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go forth leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

A Reading from Isaiah 58:8-10

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am. “If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.

A Reading from Isaiah 60:1-3,19

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.

A Reading from Luke 1:78-79

Through the tender mercy of our God, when the day shall dawn upon us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Pray: Read Malcolm Guite's sonnet and then sing the fifth verse of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel as today's prayer.

O Oriens

E vidi lume in forme de riviera Paradiso XXX; 61

First light and then first lines along the east
To touch and brush a sheen of light on water
As though behind the sky itself they traced

The shift and shimmer of another river
Flowing unbidden from its hidden source;
The Day-Spring, the eternal Prima Vera.

Blake saw it too. Dante and Beatrice
Are bathing in it now, away upstream…
So every trace of light begins a grace

In me, a beckoning. The smallest gleam
Is somehow a beginning and a calling;
“Sleeper awake, the darkness was a dream

For you will see the Dayspring at your waking,
Beyond your long last line the dawn is breaking”.

Sing:

O come, Thou Dayspring, from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Do:  Make space for healing prayer. Turn off electric lights and technology for the evening.

As you sit in candlelight this evening, pray that those sitting in darkness will begin to know the healing light of Christ. Include the places in your own heart and life that feel hidden from the light of Christ's healing radiance.

O Antiphons

O COME, O COME EMMANUEL!

"In the first centuries, the Church had a beautiful custom of praying seven great prayers calling afresh on Christ to come, calling him by the mysterious titles he has in Isaiah, calling to him; O Wisdom. O Root! O Key O Light! Come to us! "-- Malcolm Guite

Advent slightly shifts its focus beginning December 17 when the antiphons for Vespers, known as the O Antiphons, are sung at the Magnificat. Each O Antiphon addresses Jesus with a title that comes from the prophecies of Isaiah anticipating the coming of the Messiah. The first letters of the titles in the original Latin in reverse order spell "Ero Cras," meaning "Tomorrow, I will come."

The reality is that most of us who celebrate Christmas have been praying the O Antiphons without ever knowing it. The seven prayers comprise the seven verses of the beloved Advent hymn "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." I know I'm not alone in my love for that hymn. I never get tired of it and enjoy almost every arrangement I've ever heard.

I first learned about the O Antiphons from a beautiful collection of sonnets by poet-priest Malcolm Guite. I began including the seven reflections in my Advent Daybook each year. Later, our Church began celebrating an annual Advent Compline service, incorporating Guite's seven sonnets into an excellent resource from our friends at Modern Liturgic.

This year, I'm adapting the dates to fit the format of Daybook Meditations. For the next seven days, leading up to Christmas, I've shifted our daily lectionary passages to specially selected Scripture for each of the O Antiphons. Instead of including a piece of music, I’ll invite you to sing one verse of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, each day.

I'll also include a link to each of Malcolm Guite's seven sonnets which invite us to delight in the O Antiphons' deeper meaning:

"... we come to the last of the Seven Great O Antiphons, which was sung on either side of the Magnificat on Christmas Eve, O Emmanuel, O God with us. This is the antiphon from which our lovely Advent hymn takes its name. It was also this final antiphon which revealed the secret message embedded subtly into the whole antiphon sequence. In each of these antiphons we have been calling on Him to come to us, to come as Light as Key, as King, as God with us. Now, standing on the brink of Christmas Eve, looking back at the illuminated capital letters for each of the seven titles of Christ we would see an answer to our pleas: ERO CRAS the latin words meaning 'Tomorrow I will come!" -- Malcolm Guite

Taken together, the O Antiphons circle us back to the heart of Advent: waiting for arrival. I hope you'll find the meditations to take you deeper into the heart of God with us who will surely come again and forever. Let's sing our hearts out this week, friends!

O COME, O COME EMMANUEL!

A few additional resources:

See All Meditations from Advent Daybook 2022 Here
Listen to my O Antiphons playlist here
AdventTamara Hill MurphyAdvent Daybook 2022, O Antiphons