Category: advent

  • O Lord

    O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm. The first antiphon spoke of the Wisdom of God which can seem abstract, unless you know the Wisdom Literature of…

  • O Wisdom

    OWisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from one end to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence. Sapientiatide, the last 8 days before Christmas (9, if you’re Anglican) is possibly the best season of the Church Year. It’s 8 days of…

  • The Christmas Proclamation

    +JMJ+ This text gets read at Prime this morning in the Extraordinary Form of the Office. There is no Prime in the Little Office of Paul VI (let the Reader Understand), so it doesn’t get read mostly, although it gets plopped in a la carte in where it might go sometimes. December 25th anno Domini…

  • O Virgin

    +JMJ+ O Virgo virginum, quomodo fiet istud? Quia nec primam similem visa es nec habere sequentem. Filiae Ierusalem, quid me admiramini? Divinum est mysterium hoc quod cernitis. O Virgin of virgins, how shall this be? For neither before was any like thee, nor shall there be after. Daughters of Jerusalem, why marvel ye at me?…

  • O Emmanuel

    +JMJ+ O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster, expectatio gentium, et Salvator earum: veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus noster. O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the one awaited by the gentiles, and their Savior: come to save us, Lord our God. Once in royal Davids city, Stood a lowly cattle shed, Where a mother laid…

  • O King

    +JMJ+O Rex Gentium,et desideratus earum,lapisque angularis,qui facis utraque unum:veni, et salva hominem,quem de limo formasti. O King of the Nations,and the one they desired,keystone,who makes both peoples one,come and save mankind,whom you shaped from the mud. There is this curious article by Philip Turner that showed up in First Things a few years ago and…

  • O Oriens

    +JMJ+ O Oriens, splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae: veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.O Dawn, splendor of eternal light, and sun of justice, come, and shine on those seated in darkness, and in the shadow of death. This verse gets sung at sunset on the Longest Night of the Year. Light is…

  • O Clavis

    +JMJ+ O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel, qui aperis, et nemo claudit, claudis, et nemo aperuit: veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis. O Key of David, and sceptre of the house of Israel, you open, and no one shuts, you shut, and no one opens: come, and…

  • O Radix

    +JMJ+ O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare. O Root of Jesse, who stand as a sign for the people, kings stand silent in your presence, whom the nations will worship: come to set us free, put it…

  • O Adonai

    +JMJ+ O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel, qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti, et ei in Sina legem dedisti: veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento. O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: Come…

  • O Sapientia

    +JMJ+ 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.…

  • The Empirical Bogey (O Oriens)

    Originally published in 2015, this essay is part of a series I used to do annually on the Great O Antiphons of Advent. This Verse will be sung tonight at Vespers and, since this night is the Longest Night, and tomorrow is the Dawn of Summer’s Advent, we sing. “O Dawn”. The church knows when…

  • Ye who own the faith of Jesus

    ✙ JMJ The Readings for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception: Genesis 3:9-15, 20 Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12 Luke 1:26-38 Ave gratia plena: Dominus tecum.Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you. Unto whomst (as all the cool kiddies say on Twitter) else has the Lord ever said “Full of Grace”? Unto which of the…

  • O Virgin – 8th Advent Meditation

    O Virgo virginum, quomodo fiet istud? Quia nec primam similem visa es nec habere sequentem. Filiae Ierusalem, quid me admiramini? Divinum est mysterium hoc quod cernitis.O Virgin of virgins, how shall this be? For neither before was any like thee, nor shall there be after. Daughters of Jerusalem, why marvel ye at me? That which…

  • O King – 6th Advent Meditation

    O Rex gentium, et desideratus earum, lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum: veni, et salva hominem, quem de limo formasti. O King of the gentiles and their desired One, the cornerstone that makes both one: come, and deliver man, whom you formed out of the dust of the earth. It seems there is a silence…