I have been writing about the O Antiphons that many of us have been praying these days in the evening with the Magnificat. If this is new to you, follow links, tags, use the search box provided top right.
A comment noted that the daily Mass Alleluia Gradual text surprisingly (at least to me), while based on the O Antiphons, often does not correspond to the one used on the actual day in the Evening office. Here are the daily Alleluia Gradual texts:
17 December
Wisdom of the Most High,
ordering all things with strength and gentleness,
come and teach us the way of truth.
18 December
Ruler of the House of Israel,
who gave the law to Moses on Sinai,
come and save us with outstretched arm.
19 December
Root of Jesse, set up as a sign to the peoples,
come to save us, and delay no more.
20 December
Emmanuel, our king and lawgiver,
come and save us, Lord our God.
or
Key of David, who open the gates of the eternal kingdom,
come to liberate from prison the captive who lives in darkness.
21 December
Key of David, who open the gates of the eternal kingdom,
come to liberate from prison the captive who lives in darkness.
or
Emmanuel, our king and lawgiver,
come and save us, Lord our God.
22 December
Root of Jesse, set up as a sign to the peoples,
come to save us, and delay no more.
or
King of the peoples and cornerstone of the Church,
come and save man whom you made from the dust of the earth.
23 December
King of the peoples and cornerstone of the Church,
come and save man whom you made from the dust of the earth.
24 December
Morning star, radiance of eternal light, sun of justice,
come and enlighten those who live in darkness
and in the shadow of death.
Maybe someone can explain why they differ from the Daily Office antiphon, why their order is different, and why there are options given?
Here are reflections, for you to prayerfully use the last three:
O Oriens – O Dawn – December 21
O Rex Gentium – O sovereign of the nations – December 22
O Emmanuel – December 23
Christmas badge to put on your blog or website
Many people like, from time to time, to add a badge to their website or blog. If you like the idea – send your friends the URL of this blog post.
The HTML for adding the above badge to your blog or website is:
Please do let me know if this is, or is not working – one little letter wrong in the coding and all falls apart 🙁
Other Christmas resources
Christmas
Christmas Songs of praise
Christmas introduction
Christmas penitence
Christmas prayers
ps. This really is Doomsday!
pps. Actually it is the feast (appropriately!) of Doubting Thomas 😉
We wait with interest!
There are several arrangements of this hymn. The one below gives the seven verses in the order in which the antiphons appear during the octave before Christmas, except for the first verse, which really is the last of the O antiphons and would otherwise go at the end if it were not the standard first verse of the hymn. It is interesting to note that the initial words of the actual antiphons in reverse order form an acrostic: O Emmanuel, O Rex, O Oriens, O Clavis, O Radix (“virgula” in the hymn), O Adonai, O Sapientia. ERO CRAS can be loosely translated as “I will be there tomorrow”.