O Rising Dawn, Dayspring of the Radiant Light

An old Benedictus antiphon from the Office for Wednesday in the fourth week of Advent says: "Do not be afraid! Five more days and the Lord will come to you!" Longing...excitement...anticipation! Sound familiar? Perhaps a little like your children as they await Christmas, or those of someone you know? I read similar thoughts today on Facebook from an adult in my own extended family! It seems that the Church, too, can hardly wait for the "Radiant Light" to shine upon us:

O Rising Dawn, Radiance of the Light eternal

and Sun of Justice; come, and enlighten those

who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death!

The approaching Holy One is like the sun, and the Church uses three wonderful metaphors: 

+ Christ is the Rising Dawn: Isaiah (9:2) proclaims that "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness -- on them light has shined...", and in 60:3 notes that "Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn." Luke shows Zechariah, John the Baptizer's father, proclaiming "And you, child,....will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people...By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." Christ, the Rising Sun, dispels spiritual darkness and death and disperses light and life. "I am the light of the world", Jesus later proclaimed. We associate the sun and light with warmth, joy, and health. By contrast, we have all known our own overshadowing darknesses: depression, hopelessness, anxiety, aloneness, etc. 

+ Christ is the Radiant Light: Jesus the Christ is also the Light eternal, of one substance as the eternal Father. In the Nicene Creed we speak of Jesus as "...the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God..."

+ Christ is the Sun of Justice: The prophet Malachi proclaims (4:2) "...for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings..." Christ is the source of holiness, grace and blessing. What the sun does for nature, Christ does for us who are called into the reign of God. Along with the darknesses and shadows mentioned above, we can also include people who have never heard the message of the Good News of God in Christ, strange as that may seem in today's world of ultra-technology; unbelievers, whether by reasoned choice, or because of faulty and distorted theological education; those who, perhaps, once believed, but who've been so abused and hurt by others or by life's circumstances that they no longer find it possible to set their hearts on the living Christ. If those who cherish the undeserved gift of faith describe the Christ they know with terms like "justice" and "righteousness", then surely they believe in their hearts that Jesus the Holy One will make it "right" for those people in God's time and manner.  

The Apostle Who Saw & Believed

The feast of St. Thomas, Apostle sticks out like a sore thumb in the midst of this season of watching and waiting. We're all used to hearing about Thomas on "Low Sunday", the Sunday after Easter. But notice Jesus' question to Thomas in today's Gospel (John 20:24-29): "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Quite a fitting question for all of us to ponder during the waning days of Advent, in which we've heard a lot about glad tidings of things to come, but without mention of anything tangible to see. The Christmas mystery suggests the need for a mature, living faith. How is that effected in us? There are no easy answers. When finally, in four days, we kneel before the One born in Bethlehem the Church will say, in effect, "Here is The One you've been waiting for, the one designated by all the titles we've used in the O Antiphons. Here is the Eternal One, clothed in the human nature which you share."

We celebrate Thomas' feast today on the anniversary of his relics being translated in the 3rd century to Edessa. in northern Mesopotamia. He is said to have missionized India and to have died in Madras, and buried originally in Mailapur. There is obviously little known about his life, other than the few references in the Christian Scriptures. St. Gregory the Great, in one of the Office lessons, attests to Thomas' significance: "Thomas' unbelief has benefited our faith more than the belief of the other disciples; it is because he attained faith through physical touch that we are confirmed in the faith...Indeed, the Lord permitted the apostle to doubt after the resurrection; but he did not abandon him in doubt. By his doubt and by his touching the sacred wounds the apostle became a witness to the truth of the resurrection...Now if Thomas saw and touched the Savior, why did Jesus say: 'Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed'? Because he saw something other than what he believed. For no mortal man can see divinity. Thomas saw the Man Christ and acknowledged his divinity with the words: 'My Lord and my God!' Faith, therefore, followed upon seeing."

According to the account given in the Church's Martyrology, Thomas was martyred in India at the king's command. Today he's considered the patron saint of India.

The example of St. Thomas might help us to reflect on the weakness we experience sometimes in approaching faith in our own lives. Is it possible that God uses our "little faith" for greater purposes which we may never understand? Just realizing our inadequacy in this regard is of value in growing in faith. Perhaps all we can do is to continually proclaim the simple acknowlegement of setting our hearts on Jesus the Christ: "My Lord and my God!"

O Key of David

O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;
you open and no one can shut;
you shut and no one can open:
Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,
those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.


Isaiah had prophesied: "I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut, and no one shall open." (Isaiah 22:22) "His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onwards and for evermore." (9:7) "...To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house." (42:7) The theme is also repeated in Revelation 3:7.


"Handing over the keys" is symbolic of the conferral of supreme authority. Though the relevant passages in the Hebrew Scriptures aren't messianic per se, but rather are directed towards a faithful civil ruler who has God's support, St. John borrows the passage from Isaiah 22 and applies it to Jesus. Being in the line of David, "son of David", Christ is the heir and possessor of David's keys, i.e., his kingdom or reign. Jesus the Christ is the chief steward of all the blessings of salvation, and, through the Apostles, entrusts this to the Church, which becomes the vehicle of Christ's grace and forgiveness of sin. The Christ holds the means of releasing us from the darkness and imprisonment of our selfishness and lack of love. In loosing our bonds, we are freed to grow in the love Jesus modeled and share with all the people in his life. 

O Root of Jesse

The Root or Tree of Jesse depicts the ancestors of Christ, shown in a tree which rises from Jesse of Bethlehem, father of King David. Originally, the family tree was a schematic representation of a genealogy. The theme is taken from Isaiah 11:1-9 and Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38, which describes metaphorically the descent of the Messiah, whom Christians believe to be Jesus of Nazareth. The subject is often seen in Christian art, particularly in that of the Medieval period, the earliest example dating from the 11th century.


The passage in Isaiah, 11:1 reads: "A shoot shall come out of the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots..." The Latin Vulgate Bible used in the Middle Ages says: "et egredietur virga de radice Iesse et flos de radice eius ascendet " or ".. a rod shall come forth out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up...". Flos is Latin for flower. Virga is a green twig, rod or broom, as well as a convenient near-pun with Virgo or Virgin, which undoubtedly influenced the development of the image. Thus Jesus is the Virga Jesse, the shoot of Jesse.


In the New Testament the lineage of Jesus is traced by two of the Gospel writers, Matthew and Luke. Luke describes the generations of Christ, beginning with Jesus himself and tracing backwards through his earthly father Joseph all the way to Adam. Luke notes: "[Jesus] was the son (as was thought) of Joseph..." Matthew's Gospel opens with the words: "An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham." This is Matthew's way of making clear Jesus' whole lineage: He is of God's chosen people, by his descent from Abraham, and he is the "root of Jesse" by his descent from Jesse's son, King David.


Isaiah's prophecy arises from his own realization that Judah and David's kingdom would be destroyed. Yet, there would remain a holy root. From the stump of Jesse, David's father, a shoot would spring forth growing into a sort of banner for all nations. All kings and nations would fall silent and adoring before the Messiah. In fact, David's royal line was dethroned with the Exile and remained forgotten for a long time, Jesse's stump. With Jesus a new branch buds out of the old root and once again David's throne is occupied: "The angel said to [Mary]: '...the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.'" (Luke 1:30; 32-33)


Today's "O" Antiphon notes two aspects of the Messiah's work: 1) his origins will be humble and unimpressive; 2) but his kingdom will encompass the whole earth, drawing everyone into it and placing those of high station and low under his reign. The antiphon pleads: "Come, save us, and do not delay!" How true today the Scriptures still ring: "Why are the nations in an uproar; why do the peoples mutter empty threats? Why do the mighty of the earth rise up in revolt against God and against God's Anointed?..." Millions are unable to recognize the ensign which is  Christ as the true Messiah: politicians, dictators, the powerful, the rich. Even we ourselves aren't exempt from frequently failing to recognize the reign of God in Christ in the depths of our own hearts and lives. "Come, O Root of Jesse! You stand for an ensign for humankind. Before you kings shall keep silent, and to you all nations shall have recourse. Come, save us, and do not delay!"

O Adonai - O Lord of Might

In the Masoretic Text the name YHWH is vowel-pointed as יְהֹוָה. Traditionally in Judaism, the Name is not pronounced but read as Adonai, during prayer, and referred to as HaShem, the Name,  at all other times. This is done out of hesitation to pronounce the name in the absence of the Temple in Jerusalem, due to its holiness. This tradition has been cited by most scholars as evidence that the Masoretes vowel-pointed YHWH as they did, to indicate to readers that they are to pronounce Adonai in its place. While the vowel points of אֲדֹנָי (Aḏōnáy) and יְהֹוָה (Yəhōwāh) are very similar, they are not identical. 

Adon = steward, administrator, master, or Lord. The addition of ai to adon intensifies and  elevates its meaning so that it has the flavor of the ultimate Lord, the Supreme Lord, or Lord of all. In other words, it emphasizes the sovereignty and Lordship of God. That implies, therefore, that we are in relationship to God as servants. Our service is a complete surrender to God who will never ask us to do the impossible, but only what we can accomplish. To God who is Love and who loves us, we are the beloved whom he prepares and equips to serve God and others. 

O come, O come, thou Lord of Might,

Who to thy tribes on Sinai's height

In ancient times did give the Law,

In cloud, in majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to thee

O Israel!

"Here Am I, the Lord's Servant"

"...Desire and reformation of life are human factors: God's advent through grace is intrinsically divine. Here Mary is the sublime model. She desired the kingdom of God and based her life on the words: 'I am the handmaid of the Lord'...


Her example must be our perpetual goal on earth. We must ever be ready and willing to receive the kingdom of God within ourselves as opportunities present themselves. Baptism was our first Christmas, and every Eucharistic Sacrifice is Christmas repeated. The feasts of the Church's liturgical year are days of grace, days of the kingdom of God. Maintain a calm, reverent, and recollected attitude so as not to disturb God's holy stirrings within you.


Thus let us approach Christmas spiritually."


(Fr. Pius Parsch, The Church's Year of Grace, Vol. 1)

O Wisdom - Knowing How To Live In Wholeness & Holiness

O Wisdom, You came forth from the mouth of the Most High, 
and reaching from beginning to end, You ordered all things
mightily and sweetly.


Come, and teach us the way of prudence!


Wisdom is one of God's key characteristics, as attested to in the sapiential or Wisdom literature of the Hebrew Scriptures. God expresses wisdom in the fact of creating "all things so that they might exist..." (Wisdom 1:14) God's Wisdom is often personified. She is the teacher, "the fashioner of all things, [who] taught me." (Wisdom 7:22). Proceeding from God, begotten by God, the breath of God's power, the effusion of God's glory, Wisdom is the beloved daughter present with God and assisting at creation. Wisdom is described, among many terms, as irresistible, steadfast, free from anxiety, penetrating through all spirits, altogether subtle, more mobile than any motion, a breath of the power of God, a reflection of eternal light, an image of God's goodness. 


But Wisdom is also represented as a human attribute, undergirding all virtue. It doesn't so much have to do with knowledge or human prudence. Wisdom is knowing how to live fully, in harmony with God, with one's sisters and brothers, and with one's self. Such wholeness and integration is true holiness.


Today's antiphon honors, in the words of Fr. Pius Parsch, "the New Testament Creator of the invisible spiritual world rather than the Maker of the visible, material universe about us. Creation, with its glorious order, power and beauty, is but a faint type of the new creation established by Christ. In His Church and in the soul 'He reaches from beginning to end'; He is and remains in this universe till the end of time. How well 'He orders all things mightily and sweetly'!" (The Church's Year of Grace, Vol. 1)


All this is part of our yearning cry: "O Wisdom...Come, teach us the way of prudence!"