O antiphons Archives - Shepherd of Faith

The countdown begins, excitement is building! Prayer with the O Antiphons begins today. Christmas is just one week away. Praying the O Antiphons the week before Christmas really does help build excitement for me. Click here for old posts on the subject.

On to today’s Gospel. Today we hear the list of names – some we can pronounce and other’s we cannot pronounce. LAUGH OUT LOUD! It’s quite long, so I’ll just share the part I want to focus on.

Matthew 1:1-17

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, The son of David, the son of Abraham.

……..Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian, exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

perfection

FOURTEEN! That’s what caught my attention this time around. It’s mentioned so much here that I had to research it’s significance. Here is what I found.

“Everything that happened was part of God’s plan…….double measure of spiritual perfection for his people.” Sit with that for a bit! Let it sink in as you think about what is going on in THE world and in YOUR world.

Take comfort in these words which I pulled from my Advent calendar: God does not give up (He who began a good work in you will carry it to completion – Philippians 1:6); God loves you (how priceless is your unfailing love. Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings – Psalm 36:7) and God hears you (the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord accepts my prayer – Psalm 6:9)!

The countdown begins today. Will you allow the excitement to build? Will the excitement remain after Christmas Day? After all, the season of Christmas is only just beginning then!

God bless you!

O Adonai

O Adonai – O Lord! It’s one week before Christmas, one week before the coming of Christ. The anticipation is building. The O Antiphons this week manage to intensify the anticipation. I wrote about the O Antiphons last year but it bears repeating.

The O Antiphons are antiphons that are recited at evening prayer (part of the liturgy of the hours) during the octave leading to Christmas. Therefore, it starts on December 17 and goes through December 23. Each antiphon highlights a title of the Messiah and refers to the prophecy of Isaiah.

The reason I love the idea of reciting the O Antiphons is because it really forces me to focus on the coming of the Messiah on Christmas. If I’ve been distracted during the previous three weeks of Advent, the antiphons are like the brakes in my life. They are a sign for me to slow down, think, be present and mindful of the important event about the transpire.

When using the O Antiphons each day, we invoke the name of the Lord and await His response with hopeful anticipation. There are many great websites that provide special prayers to complement the Antiphon of the day. It’s a nice activity to do in the evening with the whole family.

Here are the antiphons for each day:

December 17 – O Sapientia (O Wisdom)

December 18 – O Adonai (O Lord)

December 19 – O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)

December 20 – O Clavis David (O Key of David)

December 21 – O Oriens (O Radiant Dawn)

December 22 – O Rex Gentium (O King of all the nations)

December 23 – O Emmanuel (O God with us)

December 24 – because the antiphons are said during evening prayer, no antiphon is said on this day because the timing of evening prayer on this day is considered the Christmas Vigil, which counts as Christmas and is the day the Lord actually comes.

Finally, when you take all the highlighted letters in reverse you get the words ERO CRAS – which mean Tomorrow, I will come! Christ’s response to our calling all week.