Reflection on the 'O Antiphon' - 21st December

Below is the text of a reflection given by one of our sisters on yesterday's Magnificat Antiphon, which invokes Christ as the Rising Sun. (If you prefer to listen, click the 'play' button in the box below).

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.

By living in Ireland I have learned to see the Sun, even if it is raining. Our whole business in this life is to restore to health the eye of the heart whereby God can be seen.

Each of the antiphons contains the words "O" and "COME", expressive of longing, pleading, heart-felt desire. In them we beg God to BE with us and SAVE us.

The longing for God expressed in the antiphons is the pale human shadow of God’s longing for us. They are based on words in the Bible which promise exactly that, or even state that God has already COME and delivered us.

The petition ‘’Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death’’ echoes the Christmas reading ’’they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shone’’ ‘’The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light’’(Is 9:2)

‘’God is light’’(1Jn 1:5). And every light we know, whether a candle, or sun will eventually burn itself out in self giving. Light from light (cf. Jn 1 ) ‘’God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life’’ (Jn 3:16)

Today's antiphon brings out a special aspect of the light of Christ by its use of the word Oriens / rising Sun / day-spring / dawn. It is new light, light after darkness, light which has conquered darkness.

Jesus is the dawn which we long for above all things. He is the new light that fills us with hope, putting to flight the darkness of despair, bringing us to communion with God. It is important to look at the context in which Jesus calls himself "the Light of the world" in John’s Gospel (Jn 8:1-12). "Early in the morning Jesus arrived again in the temple area…Then scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle…Jesus straightened up and said to her, 'Woman,where are they? Has no one condemned you?'. She replied 'No one, sir.' Then Jesus said 'Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more'." Jesus spoke to them again, saying "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life". This happens in the early morning. There is still darkness, the darkness of judgment and injustice. Jesus comes into this darkened world as LIGHT. His mercy enlightens the darkness.

Dwelling in the light of Christ, we are transformed by that light, so that we become what our baptism declared us to be, the children of light. By baptism we become the light within the LIGHT, who is Christ, just as Christ is "Light from Light". Once a rabbi asked his students, "How can you tell day from night?" The first student answered "When you look at a person walking in the distance and can tell whether it’s a man or a woman, it’s day". The second student answered, "When you look at a tree and can tell whether the fruit on it is an orange or a grapefruit, it’s day". The third student answered, "When you look at a string of thread held at arm’s length and can tell what colour it is, it’s day". Then the students asked the rabbi the same question. He answered, "When you look at a man or woman and recognise that person as a brother or sister, it’s day. But if you look at a man or a woman, and do not recognise them as a brother or sister, it’s night, no matter what time it is."

Love brings light and it is in God’s light we see light. Come JESUS, Come and in the midst of our darkness show us the Fathers Love.

The 'O' Antiphons: 21st December

“ 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 this “O” Antiphon the three metaphors- the rising Sun, splendour of the eternal light and sun of justice – all symbolise Christ, the Son of God, the promised Messiah whose birth as our Saviour we will celebrate in four days time.

Jesus calls Himself the ‘Light of the World’ in St. John’s Gospel( 9:5) and St. John, in the Prologue says that He is the “ true light who enlightens all men” and “ a light that shines in the dark, a light that darkness could not overpower”.(1:5)

This assurance gives us courage to turn to Christ in our own various darknesses which may be a darkness of : prejudice; lack of compassion; judging and condemning others; resentment; anger; envy; selfishness or the darkness which blinds us to the awareness of our own sins, shortcomings and failures. We acknowledge that we are in great need of light and healing from Christ, the source of light and the singing of this antiphon in a few minutes time will give us the opportunity to turn to Him in earnest prayer asking Him to shed His light on us and on all humanity so that the darkness of sin may be dispelled from our hearts and we may be healed and renewed by His love.

We can call upon the Saints and Blesseds to intercede for us for they mirrored this light of Christ in their own lives, radiated it and reflected it to others. I am thinking especially of Mother Teresa of Calcutta – now Blessed Teresa – whom Jesus asked to be His light to the poorest of the poor.
“Come, be My light”, he said to her. She did become His light and radiated His light and love to others, especially to the poor. Paradoxically while she radiated Christ’s light and love to others she herself experienced a painful spiritual darkness in her inmost being. St. John of the Cross, in explaining this dark night of the soul using the metaphor of the sun, says –“the more one looks at the brilliant sun the more the sun darkens the faculty of sight, deprives it and overwhelms it in its weakness” Similarly, Mother Teresa’s interior darkness was not due to the absence of God but rather to the intense proximate presence of God in her soul, God, whose brightest light is total darkness to us in this life.

In one of her letters to Father van der Peet, she wrote:
“God is in love with us and keeps giving Himself to the world – through you – through me..
May you continue to be the sunshine of His love to your people and thus make your life
something truly beautiful for God.”

This prayer can be directed to each one of us too.

May Mother Teresa, intercede for us now as we call upon the Lord to enlighten us, for she said and promised “If I ever become a saint, I will surely be one of ‘darkness’. I will continually be absent from Heaven, to light the light of those in darkness on earth.”

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.