Advent Week 3 - O Wisdom

O Sapientia

These are the last days of the Advent season, the days of the “O” antiphons and this evening we will be calling upon the LORD who is Wisdom – to come and to teach us the way of truth.

          “O Wisdom, you come forth from the mouth of the Most High.

          You fill the universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner.

          O come, to teach us the way of truth.”

We know that on the day of our Confirmation, we were blessed with the gift of wisdom when we received the fullness of the Holy Spirit.  So it may be truly said, that the way of wisdom – the desire for wisdom – is nothing other than a desire for God.  So, in these days of anticipation of the LORD – God Himself, becoming even one of us – it is fitting to remember that wisdom is very closely related also to wonder.

When Christmas is held to be a season of wonder and amazement at the incredible humility of God; when we enter into the mystery with hearts open to receiving and believing in all that the LORD has in His Heart for us – then also, our eyes, too, being to see everything more clearly: we begin to see the truth and through the wisdom implanted in us – we can discern the meaning of all life: the truth about our own lives; and to value absolutely everything as a most precious and divine gift.  It is possible at last, to hear the Word of the LORD and to know that His word to us and for us, is a word of unimaginable, wonderful and amazing love.

How does one respond to such love?  We could not even hope to merit such a tremendous gift, and yet it is ours unconditionally.  So how can we, so to say, express our appreciation to the LORD for all He has invited us to receive? 

If we are moved to respond authentically to such a great love, the words of St Paul in today’s second reading at Mass – taken from his First Letter to the Thessalonians – seem to capture the essence of how to live this life wisely:

          “Be happy at all times; pray constantly; and for all things give thanks to God. …

          …  Never try to suppress the Spirit or treat the gift of prophecy with contempt;

          think before you do anything – hold on to what is good

          and avoid every form of evil … … …”

The wonderful thing about the gift of faith seems to me to be that through it, we awaken in ourselves – or we are more disposed to desire to live our lives authentically, and according to the truth.

What better gift, then, could we ask of the LORD, than the gift of wisdom … for ourselves and for those for whom we care? 

We pray for the Church and all her members: on his birthday, we pray especially for Pope Francis, that he may be guided in all things by the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Truth, and that – together with him, we too may grow in our love for wisdom and truth.

O Rising Sun - 21st December 2016

O Rising Sun, you are the splendour of Eternal Light and the Sun of Justice.

O Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness; those who dwell in the shadow of death, Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus, come.

As I read this very beautiful O Antiphon, a memory comes to mind of long summer evenings spent in the high field – the moinin ard as we called it – sitting under a haystack just watching the breathtaking sight of the sun going down beyond the woods and bog lands of our farm in the West.

The silence was full, deep and quiet, except for the little birds on their way home to roost and the friendly crickets close by.  But as the last lights faded what a mystery it was to my child’s mind!

Where, oh where had the sun gone?!

No grown up’s explanations prepared me for what was always a fresh experience of another rising sun as it streamed through the trees – right into my room the next morning.  The chorus of birds as they flew again to the cornfields and the grass glittering with dew drops and diamonds to me.  Even then this scene had power to thrill me with anticipation of something I knew not what! - was it a foretaste of another Rising Sun still unknown to me?

What or who is this ‘Splendour of Eternal Light’ coming to enlighten those of us who sit in darkness – lost in our own little worlds?  It is the Lord Himself, majestic and glorious “wrapped in light as in a robe.”

Come then my Lord, my God, teach me where and how to find you – you who dwell in light inaccessible and I desire to come close to you, to be warmed by you.  Oh Fire of Love, I beg you, “lead kindly light amid the encircling gloom ...lead thou me on.” (Newman)

You are a Living Flame, always burning with love for me, for every person in the world.

Enter into us this Advent-tide and set our hearts on fire with love for you.  What is it that inspires you with such love for us - your poor children? What draws you to us?

In a few days time you will be born in a poor stable warmed only by your mother's loving care - just what draws you to us? – love is the answer.  Love alone impels you to come once again this Christmas night – not as I tasted you in your glory as a child, but as a tiny Babe – Oh you our Tremendous Lover – Maranatha.

The King shall come when morning dawns

And light triumphant breaks,

When beauty gilds the eastern hills

And life to joy awakes.

O brighter than the glorious morn

Shall this fair morning be,

When Christ our king in beauty comes

And we his face shall see.

The King shall come when morning dawns

And light and beauty brings,

Lord Jesus Christ, your people pray,

Come quickly, King of kings.  (John Brownlie)

O Key of David - 20th December 2016

O Key of David and sceptre of Israel, what you open no one else can close again, what you close no one can open, O come and lead the captive from prison; free those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

This ‘O Antiphon’ that the Church sings this evening at the Magnificat, has its roots like all the other Antiphons in sacred scripture, in this case in Isaiah chapter 22 and in Luke chapter I.

Our Lord is addressed as Key of David – Jesus is Son of David through his foster father, St Joseph, who was of the house of David.  David was the most beloved and important King in Israel’s history – “a man after the Lord’s own heart” as it says in the Acts of the Apostles.  So Jesus in his human ancestry is truly one of us as he is truly Son of God in his divine nature “conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy spirit. (Mt Ch 1)

A key is an indispensable instrument for opening and closing a door, so it is a very appropriate symbol with which to address our awaited Saviour. The Babe of Bethlehem, whom we await, did not die because he was born but He was born in order to die – the Crib and the Cross are closely associated.  By His obedience in suffering His Passion, death and Resurrection, Jesus opened the gates of heaven for the whole human race which our first parents had closed by their disobedience.  There is a lovely Icon called ‘the harrowing of hell’ where Jesus on Holy Saturday is seen in His descent into hell and taking  both Adam and Eve by the hand raised them up to come with Him into His Father’s House and all their posterity after them.

After that liberation is there any prison, darkness or death from which Jesus cannot free us? Yet we need another key – the key of faith which we receive at our Baptism to help us lay hold of the blessings Jesus is offering.  We join Bartimaeus, the blind man, at the side of the road, who, when he heard that Jesus, the Nazarene, was passing by, cried out: ‘Jesus, Son of David have  pity on me (cf Lk Ch 18).  We do it, not only in our own name but in the name of all who are captive in any way, in darkness and the shadow of death.  May we too, hear Jesus’ response: “Receive your sight, your faith has saved you.”

The Great 'O Antiphons - O Wisdom - 17th Dec

O Wisdom, you come forth from the mouth of the Most High.  You fill the universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner.  O come to teach us the way of truth.

We are immediately reminded of the wonderful passages in the Old Testament which speak of Wisdom.  There we read of Wisdom as proceeding from God, as being begotten by Him, as being the beloved who at the beginning stood beside Him, assisting at the creation – ‘ever at play in His presence and delighting to be with the children of men.’

These passages concerning Wisdom can be applied to the Word who in the fullness of time took on our human nature and pitched his tent among us.

While in the Old Testament God’s Wisdom was manifested by His governance of the created universe in a strong yet gentle manner, being lenient and merciful to all because He loves all that exists – it is in the crucified Christ on the Cross that we experience the full revelation of divine Wisdom, of God’s infinite love and mercy for us human beings.  As St Paul tells us “God’s folly is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.  In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and of his fullness we have all received.  He has become our wisdom and our holiness.” (1 Corinthians)

O Eternal wisdom come and teach us the way of truth – He is Truth itself who leads us to all Truth – the truth about ourselves, about our world, about situations in which we find ourselves.

In spite of whatever pain and contradictions we experience in our own lives and in our broken, wounded and violent world may we never lose faith in the fact that His strong yet gentle power is at work and can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.  To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

O Wisdom, you come forth from the mouth of the Most High.  You fill the universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner.  O come to teach us the way of truth.

O Rex Gentium - 22nd December 2015

 

“O King and treasure of the nations,

the cornerstone that makes the two into one;

Come

and save man whom you fashioned from dust.”

 

We heard this morning from the Prophet Isaiah (during the Office of Readings) the following:

Thus says the LORD God:

“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

Kings shall be your foster-fathers and their queens your nursing mothers.

With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet.

Then you will know that I am the LORD: those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”

(Is 49:22-23)

It is difficult – never having shaken hands with one – to know what qualities one might expect a king to have – so that he might be approachable and command a certain allegiance and loyalty. 

Kindness, perhaps? … and Knowledge? 

Insight, maybe also Inspiration;

Nobility;

Graciousness.

We all come into the world in the same way, whether we be high or low; kings or paupers – and in only a very short while now, we will celebrate the great day of JESUS’ birth, and it won’t be immediately obvious what He is – a king or a pauper?  Or both?

Do we have eyes to see?

Our “O” antiphon this evening speaks of JESUS as “the cornerstone that makes the two into one,” and it was these particular words “makes the two into one” which made the more perplexing impression: what two? … and two what?

As with many of the “O” antiphons, it is very possible to give free reign to one’s imagination and set out on an adventure whose destination is unknown.  Mine took me rather mundanely to the second creation account in Genesis.

When, on waking from the sleep during which God fashioned Eve out of Adam, Adam beheld her and cried,

            “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh …”         (Gen 2:23)

Out of two … one.

And the very next verse re-unites them: God re-unites them:

            “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife and they become one …”                                                                        (Gen 2:24)

 

Our completion lies outside of ourselves: our wholeness and integrity is not something man can achieve independently of others, but we seem to be living through a period of what will eventually be history, where this truth makes little sense and is unwelcome.

Yet JESUS has come: born for us.

And we who have been blessed with faith and eyes to recognise – with Mary and Joseph; the angels and shepherds; and the kings who “with their faces to the ground .. bow down .. and lick the dust of [his] feet” – eyes to see that He is our King: we, even we now, all these years and ages later, we know the truth.

We are one in Him, Who unites men and women, kings and paupers.  He is utterly attractive, irresistible.  His words are powerful, challenging and hard, yet true. 

 

We must be the ears of the world: ears for those who are lost yet searching; ears for those who do not even know how lost they are; ears for ourselves that we may earnestly seek and long for Him, more and more.  He is our King; and He is our brother – approachable: Kind; Insightful; Noble; Gracious.  He knows our needs and so our prayer will lift us up to Him; by it He will transform us, make us alike even unto God our Father.

 

As on that day so long ago when the shepherds and kings beheld the helpless Child, and knew that He upon Whom they gazed was indeed the Saviour of the world, the King – yet must wait in patience for Him to grow in wisdom and strength – so let us, with Mary, wait … and know that we “shall not be put to shame” (Is 49:23).

 

“Come and save man whom you fashioned from dust.”

 

“O Rising Sun - 21st December 2015

“O Rising sun, You are the splendor of eternal light, and the sun of justice.

O come and enlighten those who sit in darkness, those who dwell in the shadow of death.

Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus, come”

                

What can be a better metaphor or image to depict the reality of salvation given by God to human beings than light and darkness? Even without going deep into the metaphysics of light by Grosseteste, Or the reflections on light by St. Augustine, St. Bonaventure or other theologians and philosophers, or without further specific analysis of light as knowledge, truth, goodness, life, etc., we immediately grasp the meaning of this text. We are very familiar with the word and image of “light” throughout Old Testament and New Testament and numerous sacred religious arts to describe the saving power and act of God from our death, sin, and suffering. 

You are probably familiar with the famous painting of Caravaggio “the calling of St Matthew”. The beam of light from Jesus shone towards Matthew who was sitting at the table in the darkness when Jesus called him.  How about “The Light of the World” by William Holman Hunt? In this painting, Jesus is holding a lamp in one of his hands and knocks on the door with the other hand, but interestingly there is no doorknob on the door, which means that the door can be opened only by the person inside the door.  I interpret that the light, grace, and redemption are brought by Jesus Christi in person, but still our cooperation is necessary to receive them.   

During fall last year, about 18 secondary-school girls visited the monastery and had a conversation with the novitiate about Catholicism and our contemplative life. A lot of good questions were asked and one particular question seized my attention because it touches the fundamental aspect of our lives.  If I rephrase it, the question was, what is the sign that our religion can give in this suffering world?  If I read the meaning further, there are so many sufferings in the world, what are the signs that we can give to the world that God saved us and is with us?  What difference does Jesus make, like the title of the book by Sheed?  How do we bear witness as we are supposed to do?  

I could have given answers in many different directions, but I gave an answer like following that can be universally understood by everybody. Suffering is mystery. We still don’t know why. But then, I gave an example of one poignant prayer that was found beside the body of a dead child in the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp. Some of you might remember it because I introduced it during office of reading on St. Edith Stein’s feast day. The prayer is like this:

“O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will but also those of ill will. But do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted on us; remember the fruits we have bought thanks to this suffering; our comradeship, our loyalty, our courage, our generosity, the greatness of heart which has grown out of all this, and when they come to judgment, let all the fruits which we have borne be their forgiveness."

And I said to them that I believe that this is the supreme free human act of love and faith and hope which can be granted through grace by God. That is one of the signs that God has saved humanity and is with us. If one can pray with this highest human nobility, and with such faith, hope, and love, under the extremely cruel, miserable and inhuman condition of Auschwitz, I am sure that this is a victory of humanity due to grace given by God.

Today I want to add a little bit more related to the O antiphon and the girl’s question.  What I would like to share is my reflection on the light of Christ shed on suffering, which delivers us from the darkness, even though there are still sufferings in our everyday life and in our world.

But, before doing that, I would like to introduce some terms first. St. John Paul II gave his reflection on redemption and said that redemption is victory given as a task to man. He then described the 3 ways or stages- purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways- to follow Jesus.  I would like to adopt these 3 terms - purgative, illuminative, and unitive – to my reflection on suffering since I believe that these terms are also very adequate for what I try to say.

Jesus didn’t come simply to get rid of sufferings. He enlightens our attitude towards our sufferings. The sufferings can be caused by our individual sins or faults. In that case, we suffer in a purgative way, which purifies us. It is painful, but eventually it reminds us of where we are, can help us repent and turn toward God.  In the case of suffering that is caused by others’ faults and sins or by the events beyond our control such as unknown or terminal illnesses or death of our beloved, we suffer in an illuminative way which helps us develop our virtues and grow in holiness. We can offer them up for others in union with Christ. Actually, I know one prayer group of people with chronic illnesses in Chicago area, and their mission is to offer their sufferings for the world (they didn’t want to waste their sufferings). The sufferings that we decide to bear willingly and freely for others’ sake purely, that is unitive suffering like St Maximilian Kolbe since that is the purest act of love which is most closely united with God (even though we still offer illuminative suffering in union with God).

Of course, we don’t purposefully seek the sufferings to suffer. Actually we try to minimize and prevent the sufferings as much as possible.  What I would like to say is that we don’t just sit and suffer in the darkness helplessly anymore, like people without hope. Due to Christ, suffering became an active tool that we can use for purification, sanctification for us and for others, when the sufferings occur.  We Catholics share the merits of others-communion of saints, but also share the sufferings of others as we are one body. The light of Christ makes us to look at sufferings in our daily lives and in the world differently now with new perspective, therefore bear and embrace them with hope, faith, and love, and courage, and therefore are capable to pray like one that I read previously.

Before Edith Stein was converted to Catholicism, she had experience of the strength of the Christian faith which influenced her much. One of them was his friend’s death and she was surprised by the acceptance of this death by his wife with faith. That was the moment to receive the light of Christ for her. She wrote later. "This was my first encounter with the Cross and the divine power it imparts to those who bear it ... it was the moment when my unbelief collapsed and Christ began to shine his light on me - Christ in the mystery of the Cross."  I believe that this is the one of the lights that Christ brought us and one of the lights that we Catholics must hold for the world.

The following famous quote in the book “The little prince” by Antoine de St Exupery, echoes this reality. “What makes the desert beautiful is that it hides, somewhere, a well.”  We can say that too. What makes our life, even though full of sufferings, beautiful is that we live the reality that there is our God who entered into human history in the midst of our sufferings and death in order to bring us back to life with Him, and His light shine on us to make it possible to realize and discover this reality in our daily lives, and grow in this reality.  This reality is our well. Jesus Christ is our light and our hope.

O Antiphons - 23rd December 2014

A reflection given by one of our sisters on today's Magnificat Antiphon, which addresses Christ as Emmanuel - God with us. (To listen, click the 'play' button in the box below).

For an alternative audio player click here.

 O Emmanuel

  Today we have come to the 7^th and final ‘O’ Antiphon – the climax of them all.

“O Emmanuel, King and Lawgiver, desire of the nations; Saviour of all peoples: 
come and set us free, Lord our God.” 

Or

“O Emmanuel, You are our King and Judge; the One whom the peoples await and their Saviour.   
O come, save us, Lord, our God,”

In it, the Messiah is addressed in person and is asked to remain with us as Emmanuel.

This – the last – is appointed for the day before Christmas Eve, when we are about to celebrate the coming of God to earth in human flesh.

Since this is the last and climax of the antiphons, “O Emmanuel” repeats phrases and ideas which have occurred previously, in particular ‘King’ and ‘Lawgiver’.  These two words are significant as they indicate the great difference between us and God; the vast gap between Creator and creature; Ruler and ruled.  ‘Lawgiver’ occurs in the other antiphon with a Hebrew title, “O Adonai”, which means Lord and is also a reverent way of indicating, without uttering, the Divine Name.

The word ‘Emmanuel’ occurs only three times in the Bible: in Is 7:14; 8:8; and Mt 1:23, but the idea it expresses is found in practically every book.  “The Lord is with you” … “The Lord will be with you” … The basic meaning of ‘God with us’ is that God acts on our behalf.  In Jdg, “The Lord is with you, mighty man of valour … I will be with you and you will smite the Midianites as one” (6:12, 16).

The initials of each antiphon in the Latin – in reverse – create the words ‘ERO CRAS’ meaning ‘To-morrow I shall be there’ – which is seen as the answer of Christ to the petitions in the other six antiphons.

“You are the one whom the people await.”  Our time of waiting is nearly over – as Kipling said long ago, ‘waiting and not being tired of waiting.”  For 4,000 years the Jewish people waited and waited and longed for a Saviour to come and free them form slavery and to save them.  And the angel said, “You shall call Him Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”

Emmanuel, God with us in the fully human Person of Jesus Christ, born on this earth of Mary in a certain place, at a certain time.  It beggars belief that God should empty Himself of His Godhead and become one of us, a tiny baby, lying in a manger.  “What a wonderful exchange.”  ‘What great nation is there, that has its gods so near, as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call Him?” (Dt 4:7).  It is for us that Christ is born – we will hear at Midnight Mass, the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘A child is born for us, a Son given to us.’ (First Reading)

The ideas in the now famous Christmas Carol, “Oh! Holy Night”, written 1847 by Placide Cappeau, have always appealed to me –

‘The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,

In all our trials, born to be our friend.

He knows our need, He guardeth us from danger …’

St Matthew quotes the ‘Emmanuel’ text (cf1:23) in the first chapter of ‘his’ gospel and he concludes with the promise of Christ on appearing to His disciples after His resurrection, ‘Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age’ (28:20).  He is with us every day in the Holy Eucharist; He is with us deep in our hearts; He is with us, gathered together in His Name.  What gratitude can we show?

Again, from ‘Oh! Holy Night’ –

‘Fall on your knees …

‘Behold your King, before Him lowly bend,

Behold your King, before Him lowly bend.’

O Come, Emmanuel

O Antiphons - 22nd December 2014

 

A reflection given by one of our sisters on today's Magnificat Antiphon, which addresses Christ as King. (If you prefer to listen, click the 'play' button in the box below).



For an alternative audio player click here.

 

“O King whom all the peoples desire, you are the cornerstone

which makes all one. O come and save us whom you made

from clay.”

 

In this sixth ‘O’ Antiphon the Incarnate Word is given the title of ‘King’, a title which appears very much in the psalms – for example psalm five:

 

‘To my words give ear O Lord,

give heed to my groaning.

Attend to the sound of my cries,

my King and my God.”

And our entrance Antiphon at Mass this morning from psalm 23 read:

“O gates lift high your heads; grow higher, ancient doors.

Let him enter, the King of glory.”

 

Although he was the King desired by all the people of the Old Testament, and  those of the New Testament, we too have within us this same desire, this need, this longing to meet  God, to see Him face to face:

 “ It is your face O Lord that I seek, hide not your face” ( Psalm 26)

St. Irenaeus’ famous saying :

“ The glory of God is man fully alive and the glory of man is the vision of God “ – the second part of this sentence – the glory of man is the vision of God - is usually neglected and certainly has not been given worthy attention for we long and thirst for the vision of God. Perhaps it is only poetry, the poetry of the psalms that can express this desire adequately:

“ O God you are my God, for you I long.

For you my soul is thirsting.

my body pines for you,

 like a dry weary land without water.” ( Psalm 62)

 

Ronald Rolheiser in his book; “The Restless Heart” states that our nature is such that we have within ourselves an unquenchable thirst for God. The human heart, regardless of its time and place in history, regardless of the success or failures it meets, or of the amount of human affection or rejection it experiences, still yearns and pines always to see the face of God, for God has made us in such a way that there is within each of us a certain space, call it an emptiness, a capacity which only God Himself can fill. Sadly, some people, not realising this, try to fill this painful emptiness by using drugs, alcohol,  power, money etc.

But it is as  St. Augustine says: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”- till they rest in God.

All of us are here because we have come to realise that only God can fill our emptiness and so we come into His Presence here, worshipping Him in private prayer, Adoration and in the public prayer of the church,- the celebration of the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours.

Our monastic vocation is a continual search for  God but just when we think we have found him he eludes us, as in the Song of Songs, and we must continue to seek him in a different way. It is t the love of God that compels us to seek deeper and deeper union with Him and with one another as we pray that all humankind, every person on earth, will be touched by the healing love of Christ and be saved. So, we too, all of us can claim to be part of all the people, referred to in today’s ‘O’ Antiphon, who desire the coming of our King, who is also our Saviour and Healer – come and save us whom you made from clay.

The second theme I see in this Antiphon concerns  ecumenism as the second line reads:

“ you are the cornerstone which makes all one”

It brought to my mind Jesus’ prayer for unity in Chapter 17 of John’s Gospel: Verse 21 reads:

          “ May they all be one. Father may they be one in us,

as you are in me and I am in  you”

            

Just recently I finished reading a book entitled: “Blessed Gabriella of Unity. She was a Trappistine nun, born in Sardinia in 1914, who entered the Monastery of Grottaferrata, Italy, in 1935, when she was 21 years old. Following a lecture on ecumenism by Abbé Paul Couturier, a French Ecumenist, her monastery began to support the week of Prayer for Christian Unity and put its spiritual weight behind the ecumenical movement. Soon after this, Sister Gabriella confided to her superiors that she wanted to offer her life for the unity of the Church as she had come to understand the need for prayers and spiritual sacrifices for the unity of Christians. She was given permission by her superiors. Early in 1938 she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and died about a year later on April 23^rd 1939, at the age of 25.

Pope St. John Paul II canonized her on the 25^th January 1983, at the end of Church Unity Week- and fittingly so-  and made the following reference to her in his encyclical letter, Ut Unum Sint,( That they be one),  on commitment to ecumenism, under the heading of : The Primacy of Prayer:

“ Sr. Maria Gabriella, called by her vocation to be apart from the world, devoted her life to meditation and prayer centered on Chapter17 of St. John’s Gospel, and offered her life for Christian Unity. This is truly the cornerstone of all prayer: the total and unconditional offering of one’s life to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit.”

Pope John Paul II goes on to say that: “ A change of heart and holiness of life, along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians, should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement, and can rightly be called ‘spiritual ecumenism’.

This touches deeply on our own lives as contemplatives and on those who join us so regularly and faithfully for public prayer in the Eucharist and Liturgy of the Hours and also for private prayer and Adoration of the Exposed Blessed Sacrament – as prayer is considered the soul of the Ecumenical Movement and a very good example of this is our Benedictine Brothers in Rostrevor – living a deep contemplative life.

Jesus is truly the cornerstone  which makes all one for we  address all our prayer to the Father,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             through through Our Lord Jesus Christ, his Son, in the unity of the Holy  Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

O Antiphon - 21st December

A reflection given by one of our sisters on today's Magnificat Antiphon, which addresses Christ as the Rising Sun. (If you prefer to listen, click the 'play' button in the box below).



For an alternative audio player click here.

“O Rising Sun,

you are the splendour of eternal light

and the sun of justice.

O come and enlighten those who sit in darkness

and in the shadow of death.”

In today’s antiphon we contemplate Jesus as the Rising Sun, the eternal light that enlightens us. This is something of a preview; an expression of the divine glory and beauty of the one who is to come, a glimpse of truths that are expanded upon and expressed more deeply and richly in the Mass readings for Christmas Day, particularly in the powerful imagery of the Prologue to John’s Gospel .

Is 52:7 “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of one who brings good news.”

Jn 1 “the light of men, a light that shines in the dark … the true light that enlightens all men … we saw his glory”

This light, beauty and glory is not that of a impersonal, distant, ‘divine absolute’ but of a loving and caring Lord who comes to help and enlighten us, to bring us to share in his life “God is light” (1Jn 1:5).

Christ comes to enlighten us. This is why prayer and contemplation are so important for study and preaching, hence a motto of our Order is: “to contemplate and give others the fruits of our contemplation.” Christ, who is our light, enlightens our minds and guides us to a correct understanding of the truths of the faith; as he said to Peter “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 16:17). This understanding comes when we “walk in the light” (1Jn 1:7) and that is not always easy:

(Jn 3:19) And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

But we need not despair. As this Antiphon makes clear, I don’t need to laboriously climb to the light of God’s presence by my own efforts – the Son comes and brings his healing and cleansing light into the dark places and sinful deeds of my life. All that I need to do is to welcome Him and be willing to live in the light of his presence. Of course, this influx of light can be painful (think of the pain in you eyes when you go suddenly from a dark room into bright sunlight), nor do we like seeing our selfishness and sinfulness, and so we often prefer to hide from the light (from God’s loving approach) and continue as we are.  

I pray that in this last few days before Christmas may we each have the courage to welcome Christ’s light into our lives, to see ourselves as he sees us and be willing to make whatever changes he is asking of us.

O Antiphon – 20th December 2014

A reflection given by one of our sisters on today's Magnificat Antiphon, which invokes Christ as Key of David. (If you prefer to listen, click the 'play' button in the box below).


For an alternative audio player click here.

O Key of David.

O come now key of David, come, and open wide our heavenly home,

make safe the way that leads on high and close the path to misery.

Rejoice, rejoice! Emmanuel, shall come to you O Israel.

                                                                                                                Translation from the Breviary.

Reflecting on this fourth ‘O Antiphon’ in the light of the Gospel of today from St. Luke, Chapter one, our hearts  are drawn to concentrate on the Presence of God in our lives, Emmanuel – God is with us.  Earlier on in this first chapter, we are told –the angel Gabriel appeared to Zachary in the Temple and introduced himself in these words:   ‘my name is Gabriel and I stand in the presence of God’ – no wonder the angel Gabriel needed to re-assure Zachary ‘do not be afraid’!  When Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, appeared to Mary six months later, St. Luke emphasises into her presence the angel came. Bending low in reverence before her, the angel announced the news of the Incarnation  - Jesus our Saviour, the Key of David, was to be born of her. This most precious scene which St. Luke writes of has been exquisitely portrayed by our well loved brother, Blessed Fra Angelico, O.P. and is worthy of a life-long depth of prayerful contemplation - the angel Gabriel who stands in the presence of God, now bending low in the presence of Mary, as he brings her the news of the Incarnation.

As we pray in our O Antiphon – ‘O Key of David, come and close the path to misery’, or as another translation expresses it, ‘come and lead the captive free from prison, free those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death’ – we reflect that a key both opens and closes a locked door – what is it that keeps our hearts and lives imprisoned and locked up – what door needs to be unlocked to free us to live peacefully and trustfully in the Presence of God in the midst of all the daily upsets that can occur, and all the noise and turmoil of today’s world?  Very often, it is FEAR in one of its many forms, that keeps our hearts and indeed, our whole being tightly locked up – it can be some form of insecurity and a lack of confidence in ourselves, some deep hurt from the past that we hold on to that imprisons us, or some deep inner pain from a past experience such as bullying by another, it can be envy or selfishness, or pride, the list is endless

In praying this Antiphon with total trust, we are calling on Christ, the Key of David, to help us become preoccupied with him and thus win the victory over whatever it is that imprisons us and keeps us tightly locked up, because as the Prophet told us long ago:– ‘the Virgin is with Child and he will be called Emmanuel – a name which means God is with us’!

‘O Key of David we thank you for the wonder of our being and the miracle of your presence in us  (cf.Ps.137), unlock the door that keeps us bound – make safe the way that leads on high and close the path to misery, open wide our heavenly home’  Amen.

O Antiphons - 19th December 2014

O Root of Jesse

 

A reflection given by one of our sisters on today's Magnificat Antiphon, which invokes Christ as Root of Jesse. (If you prefer to listen, click the 'play' button in the box below). 

The shrub that was damaged

“O Root of Jesse, who stands as a sign among the peoples, before whom kings shall shut their mouths, to whom the nations shall make supplication, come to deliver us and delay not”

When reflecting on this evening’s ‘O Antiphon’ the image which came to mind was a shrub in our garden which was completely burned up in the severe frost and snow four years ago – nothing was left but dry wood. However, Jos, our wise gardener decided not to dig it up – he just cut it back to ground level, leaving the root intact. Ever since, it has fascinated me to watch it grow and come back to life again. Several months passed before tiny shoots began to sprout – for over a year I wondered if it would just remain a stump with a few twigs on it – but NO! now four years later it is a large healthy shrub adorning the garden and gaining height and width with each passing year.

Our antiphon addresses the ‘Root of Jesse’ which stands as a sign for the nations. Jesse, as we know, was the father of King David from whose line the Messiah, Jesus our Saviour, sprang. David desired to build a house for his Lord but he was reminded that it was God who would build him a house – the True Temple, the Body of Christ and by extension the Church – where God dwells with us and in us and we live in Him. But before that could happen David’s descendents throughout history would be repeatedly cut down to the roots so that true integrity and righteousness would blossom forth. No matter how low the people fell God always held out hope that a ‘shoot would spring from the stock of Jesse and on him would rest the Spirit of the Lord.

After the Exile they were once again reminded:

“the Root of Jesse, standing as a signal for the peoples, will be sought out by the nations and its home will be glorious” (Is 11:10).

Jesus springs from the Root of Jesse and exclaims: “I am the vine, you are the branches” (Jn 15:1). – another image of life being sustained by the sap from the root - to the extent that we are attached to Him, the true Vine, we bear fruit. However, as we all know from experience, in the life of the Church and of each individual person the Divine Vinedresser needs to prune us and often cut us down to the very ground – not to destroy us but so that new shoots can spring forth; for the Divine Sap which we received at Baptism continues to flow through us and therefore we need never lose hope when the fruit is slow to appear – as was the case with the shrub in the garden.

Again it took centuries of pruning and caring before the Messiah sprang from the Root of Jesse. As God waited a thousand years from David to find a heart as open, humble and empty as Mary who said “I am the handmaid of the Lord”, so He can wait a life time for us to truly open our hearts to welcome him in such a way that we can be wholly His. Therefore we must never lose hope for ourselves or others and must always strive to inspire that hope in those who have lost all hope in God and in themselves.

As we prepare for the coming of our Saviour this Christmas we cry out to Him with the whole Church:

“O Root of Jesse, who stands as a sign among the peoples, before whom kings shall shut their mouths, to whom the nations shall make supplication, come to deliver us and delay not”