O ANTIPHONS OVERVIEW
Beginning on December 17, as the final phase of preparation for Christmas many monasteries will chant the O Antiphons preceding the Magnificat during Vespers. Perhaps this monastery will have just a little better understanding of the scriptural origins and application to our way of life that can be found in doing lectio on the O Antiphons.
The O Antiphons express the Church’s renewed longing and great expectation for the Messiah, her startled wonderment at the fullness of grace about to come into the world. The theme of these antiphons is the majesty of the Savior, His wisdom, His faithfulness and sanctity, His justice and mercy, His covenant with the chosen people, who in their ingratitude broke faith with Him. Just like us who have entered into a monastic consecration, a unique covenant, we share the failure and unfaithfulness of our ancestors in the faith. The O Antiphons are concerned with His power and love as King and Redeemer of the world, His relation to every soul as Emmanuel, God-with-us. Indeed we sing about our need for a savior. We sing with humility about our need to be rescued from years of self-satisfaction, self-righteousness, years of trying to save ourselves from ourselves. Indeed, in this we are our own worst enemies. Perhaps in this final stage of Advent 2024 we will be humble enough to admit our need for a Savior, our need to be reborn as we celebrate another birthday of the Savior of mankind. (adapted from With Christ Through the Year by Bernard Strasser)
According to Professor Robert Greenberg of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Benedictines arranged these antiphons with a definite purpose. If one starts with the last title and takes the first letter of each one — Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia — the Latin words ero cras are formed, meaning, “Tomorrow, I will come.” Therefore, the Lord Jesus, whose coming we have prepared for all through Advent and whom we have addressed in these seven Messianic titles, now speaks to us, “Tomorrow, I will come.” So the O Antiphons not only bring intensity to our Advent preparation, but they also bring another Advent Season to a joyful conclusion.
(adapted from Father William Saunders)
The exact origin of the O Antiphons is not known. Boethius (c. 480-524) made a slight reference to them, thereby suggesting their presence at that time. At the Benedictine abbey of Fleury (now Saint-Benoit-sur-Loire), the abbot and other abbey leaders in descending rank recited these antiphons, and then a gift was given to each member of the community. Now, there’s an old custom worth reviving!
By the eighth century, they are in use in the liturgical celebrations in Rome. The usage of the O Antiphons was so prevalent in monasteries that the phrases, “Keep your O” and “The Great O Antiphons” were common parlance. One may thereby conclude that in some fashion the O Antiphons have been part of our liturgical tradition since the very early Church. The liturgical importance of O Antiphons is twofold: Each one highlights a title for the Messiah. Also, each one refers to a prophecy from Isaiah about the coming of the Messiah.
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.
This antiphon, like many of the others to follow, is based on a composite of two Scripture texts:
Sirach 24:3, “From the mouth of the Most High I came forth, and like mist covered the earth”, and
Wisdom 8:1, “She reaches from end to end mightily and governs all things well”.
Wisdom is here personified, present with God at the beginning of creation. This is a prefigurement of the Lord Jesus, the eternal Word of God, and the “logos” Saint John described in the opening of his gospel. Wisdom is the foundation of the fear of the Lord, of holiness, or right living: it is wisdom whom we bid to come and teach us prudence. The cry “Come” will be repeated again and again, insistent and hope-filled. Indeed, we are urgent in our Advent Prayer, “Maranatha”. This is the song we sing each day we linger in this world. So our entire Christian life has an Advent spirituality; this is especially true of monastic life as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Lord, our Lover, our Divine Spouse. We will not sing it in heaven—it is fulfilled in the fullness of the Kingdom. We need not sing our Advent Song then because his advent will be in the eternal now. ?
(Quoted and adapted from Jeanne Kun)
Isaiah 11:2-3 is another text referred to in this antiphon:
“And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord, He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears.”
It was in our confirmation that we first encountered this gift of the Holy Spirit and began to live with his gaze upon us. As our Holy Father, Saint Benedict teaches us in the Rule, the LORD beholds us each day and everywhere we find ourselves, He is already there!
Isaiah 28:29 is also echoed in our Advent prayer:
“This also is come forth from the Lord God of hosts, to make his counsel wonderful, and magnify justice.”
This wisdom is not just about theology or spirituality it is about justice and how to live out this justice in our world, more and more. So that through our faithful living in a monastic community the world will be a warmer and brighter place. Our light is from the Light of the World and the darkness of our present time in history does not put out the light of our lives.
O Sapientia
I cannot think unless I have been thought
Nor can I speak unless I have been spoken
I cannot teach except as I am taught
Or break the bread except as I am broken.
O Mind behind the mind through which I seek,
O Light within the light by which I see,
O Word beneath the words with which I speak
O founding, unfound Wisdom, finding me
O sounding Song whose depth is sounding me
O Memory of time, reminding me
My Ground of Being, always grounding me
My Maker’s Bounding Line, defining me
Come, hidden Wisdom, come with all you bring
Come to me now, disguised as everything.
http://www.umilta.net/sophia.html