SacredSpace102fm was a weekly programme produced by "Come & See Inspirations" in West Limerick. The programme included inspirational music, chat, interviews, what’s on locally and not so locally and a reflection on the Sunday gospel reading of the day. It was presented by John Keily, regular panelists, contributors and invited guests. Programmes are available to be listened to online on our podcast pages.
O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster, exspectatio gentium, et Salvator earum: veni ad salvandum nos Domine Deus noster.
O Emmanuel, our King and Law-giver, desired of the nations (all peoples) and their salvation, come and save us, Lord our God.
“O Emmanuel, king and lawgiver, desire of the nations, Saviour of all people, come and set us free, Lord our God.” Isaiah had prophesied, “The Lord himself will give you this sign: the Virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.”(7:14).
Remember “Emmanuel” means “God is with us.”
Jesus Emmanuel has already come. It is not a matter now of Christ’s being where we are; it is a matter of our being in the consciousness of where Christ is in life and where He is not as well. Where is Christ for you? Is there a place in your life that you know down deep is not in the spirit of Christ at all?
On this weeks programme the SS102fm team make a little quiet space in the mayhem of the Christmas madness to allow a kairos moment of calm and stillness with some final reflections on Advent and preparing for Christmas with a focus on St Joseph as well as well as some short reflections via Word on Fire from Bishop Robert Barron. We have our regular reflections on the Sunday gospel, liturgical odds & ends including the saints of the week. You can listen to the podcast of this weeks full programme HERE. Reflections
"St Joseph's silence does not express an inner emptiness but, on the contrary, the fullness of the faith he bears in his heart and which guides his every thought and action.
"It is a silence thanks to which Joseph, in unison with Mary, watches over the Word of God, known through the Sacred Scriptures, continuously comparing it with the events of the life of Jesus; a silence woven of constant prayer, a prayer of blessing of the Lord, of the adoration of his holy will and of unreserved entrustment to his providence.... "It is no exaggeration to think that it was precisely from his 'father' Joseph that Jesus learned — at the human level — that steadfast interiority which is a presupposition of authentic justice, the 'superior justice' which he was one day to teach his disciples (cf. Mt 5: 20). "Let us allow ourselves to be 'filled' with St Joseph's silence! In a world that is often too noisy, that encourages neither recollection nor listening to God's voice, we are in such deep need of it".
Gospel - Luke 1:39-44
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
O Rex Gentium, et desideratus earum, lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum: veni, et salva hominem, quem de limo formasti.
O King of the Nations for whom they long, the corner-stone who makes of both one, come and deliver man whom you made from clay.
Isaiah had prophesied, “For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counsellor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.” (9:5), and “He shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plough shares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.” (2:4) The earlier antiphons have already alluded to the Messiah coming not only to Israel but to convert the gentile nations and redeem them for his own. Now this sixth antiphon clearly addresses the saviour as the King of the Gentiles (Jer.10:7) and the Desired One of the nations. The Messiah is the cornerstone on whom our spiritual foundations are laid, but on whom unbelievers stumble (Matt. 21:42). This cornerstone unites and binds Jew and gentile into one, making peace between them. The plea is that God save all humanity, all his creation that he formed from the dust of the earth (Gen.2:7). We yearn for him once again to breathe the breath of his new life into us. Over on his blog Malcolm Guite reflects on the O Antiphons:
O King of our desire whom we despise,
King of the nations never on the throne,
Unfound foundation, cast-off cornerstone,
Rejected joiner, making many one,
You have no form or beauty for our eyes,
A King who comes to give away his crown,
A King within our rags of flesh and bone.
We pierce the flesh that pierces our disguise,
For we ourselves are found in you alone.
Come to us now and find in us your throne,
O King within the child within the clay,
O hidden King who shapes us in the play
Of all creation. Shape us for the day
Your coming Kingdom comes into its own.
Picture is by Linda Richardson who wrote:
The great ‘O’ of this poem spoke directly to me about prayer and meditation. We can only truly know God through love, and passion for God arises through prayer. When God takes hold of us we are expanded and broadened, and this expansion is always creative. It reveals the light beyond our darkness, the gold that gleams through our rags and the latent life within us. It is a burgeoning of praise and wonder from within us but this is all drawn out by God. Our part is to want God and to give to God whatever of our wills and time we can manage each day.
O Oriens, splendor lucis æternæ, et sol justitiæ: veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.
O Morning Star (DaySpring), splendour of eternal light and sun of justice, come and illumine those seated in darkness and the shadow of death.
Advent Reflection (Repost from 2014)
Br Martin Browne OSB
Today’s date is special: December 21st – the Winter Solstice – the day when the sun is at its lowest in the sky… the shortest day of the year… mid-winter’s day. The ancients often feared nature, and worried that if the days kept getting shorter, and the nights kept getting longer, they’d end up in total darkness and everything and everyone would die. In our age of electric light and central heating, such fears may sound strange, but they were real. And for such cultures, the Winter Solstice was a real turning point. After it, the nights got shorter and the days began getting longer again. The sun, which had been sinking lower and lower for several months, began rising again… The solstice was a sign that God had not abandoned humanity. Spring would soon come and life would continue for another year. As Robert Browning’s Pippa said: God’s in His heaven — All’s right with the world!
We are blessed in Ireland to have the 5,000 year old Newgrange, in County Meath – a Neolithic passage tomb – a huge mound, built over a sixty-foot passageway, leading into three central burial chambers. On December 21st, and onlyon December 21st, at dawn, the rising sun shines directly along the long passage into the chamber and illuminates the chamber floor… It’s a magnificent, magical moment. Tens of thousands of people apply for the meagre ten or twelve tickets available for space inside the passage tomb on this day each year. What a feat of engineering to have built such a structure so precisely 5,000 years ago! Why did its builders design Newgrange to do this on the Winter Solstice? Well, they wanted, in a sense, to trap the sun in the depths of the burial chamber on the shortest day of the year, for fear that it would go away altogether. They didn’t want the light to leave them and abandon them to darkness and death.
It might seem unusual to some people, but the Winter Solstice isn’t just a pagan thing… Christians mark it too! In the Prayer of the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours, in the antiphon before the Magnificat at Evening Prayer on this day, we pray the ancient text, O Oriens. Just like the Neolithic people trying to trap the sun on the darkest day of the year, the Church cries out:
O Rising Sun, you are the splendour of eternal light and the sun of justice. Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death!
It’s a powerful and beautiful prayer. Of course, we worship not the physical light, but Jesus as Light of the World. And in the bleakness of mid-winter, we address him as ‘Rising Sun’ and call out to him to save us. It’s a primal, visceral thing. Just as we light candles in our homes, and put up all kinds of fancy (and sometimes crazy!) lights outside, we don’t want to let the darkness beat us. Instinctively, we almost want, as Dylan Thomas famously wrote, to rage against the dying of the light. And of course, on Christmas morning, we will hear those powerful words from Saint John’s Gospel:
What came through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The darkness has not overcome it… Appropriate words for us to meditate on when we consider the many injustices and areas of conflict in our world today. Powerful words to give us hope when we think of all those who live in poverty, or hunger, or trafficked slavery…
The human instinct towards greed and the will to power is not the last word. God’s vision for his world is for flourishing, and for liberation. The Father’s will is, as Isaiah prophesied, that the people who walked in darkness would see a great light. The fulfilment of that prophecy is the good news of Christmas: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. God is with us! He humbled himself to share in our humanity so that we might come to share in his divinity. That indescribably generous gift is the Christmas present which beats all others. To those who did accept him, he gave power to become children of God.
On this important date in our calendars, let’s look at the calendar more closely: The Church celebrates John the Baptist’s birthday on June 24th – the longest day of the year, when the sun is at its brightest. You might recall that John said that he must decrease, and Jesus must increase. Well, every day since June 24th, the days have indeed been ‘decreasing’. They’ve been getting shorter, right up until today. But with the Saviour’s birth, they become longer again, and so John’s desire that he must decrease and Jesus must increase is mirrored in the beautiful rhythm of the Church’s year.
So, why did John the Baptist need to decrease? Because, as the Gospel says: he was not the light, but came to testify to the light. But we can’t consign that role to the past: John the Baptist’s mission is shared by all Christians: we are all called to bear witness to Jesus… to testify to the light. We are called to work and to pray that his Kingdom may come – on earth as it is in heaven. And so the beautiful season of Christmas, soon to dawn on us, is a lot more than carols, gifts, feasting and decorations. It is also a challenge to each of us. It is a challenge to live, speak and act in such a way that we truly are voices crying out in the wilderness of our culture, and bearing witness to Jesus, the Light of the World. It is a challenge to act with honesty, integrity and generosity, so that in the darkness of mid-winter, his light may shine ever more brightly.
The Winter Solstice is a turning point in our planet’s year. If we let it, it can be a turning point for each one of us too. How will you testify to the light this Christmas?
O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel; qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis. O Key of David and Sceptre of the House of Israel; you open and no man closes; you close and no man opens. Come, and deliver from the chains of prison those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
Todays O Antiphon is O Clavis David (O Key of David). It reminds us that Jesus is the key that opens the gates of heaven to us. Are there doors in your life that you keep locked? Doors in your heart to areas that you wish no-one to see, not even God? Trust in the Key of David, Who wants to free us from all darkness and sin:
Isaiah 22:22: "I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder. When he opens, no one shall shut; when he shuts, no one shall open.Revelation 3:7: "To the presiding spirit of the church in Philadelphia write this: 'The holy One, the true, who wields David's key, who opens and no one can close, who closes and no one can open'".Isaiah 42:6-7: "I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon those who live in darkness". The key and sceptre are traditional symbols of kingly power and authority. Christ, the anointed one, is the heir of David and possessor of the kingdom. Jesus himself also made use of this symbol, showing the prophetic relationship of the earthly kingdom of David to the kingdom of God. All power and authority was given to him after the resurrection, and he entrusted this power to "bind and to loose" to Peter and the ministers of his church. In the closing petition we look to Jesus to unlock the fetters of sin that keep us tightly chained. It is he who frees us from our captivity. We recall the deliverance proclaimed by the psalmist of old: "they dwelt in darkness and gloom, bondsmen in want and in chains,...and he led them forth from darkness and gloom and broke their bonds asunder" (Psalm 107: 10, 14). Thinking Faith - O Clavis David Reflections from prior years on the O Antiphons
O Root of Jesse, you stand as a sign for the peoples; before you kings shall keep silence and to you all nations shall have recourse. Come, save us, and do not delay.
O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem Gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.
Isaiah 52:13, 15; 53:2: "See, my servant shall prosper...So shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall stand speechless. ...He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot".
Isaiah prophesied a restoration of David's throne - a new branch budding outof the old root. Christ is the root of Jesse in a two-fold sense: he is the descendant of David, who was the youngest son of Jesse, and he inherited the royal throne. The angel foretold to Mary, "The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father. He will rule over the house of Jacob forever and his reign will be without end" (Luke 1:32-33).
Our hearts more and more urgently cry out for God's reign to extend over all humanity: "Come, save us, and do not delay".
Among all the grand titles we ascribe to Jesus, perhaps 'root of Jesse' is the least remarkable. This title, however, serves to underline the humanness of Jesus; he is born as one of many descendants in a history of generations of human beings. As such, 'root of Jesse' forms part of that mysterious reality which is also very divine, with God as his source of generation. But more than that, this human Jesus is a clear descendant of Judaism, a Judaism which was so instrumental in forming the person and the psychology we can discern in the Gospels. Indeed, Jesus was a practising Jew, though not always in the ways of established Jewish religious groups, and left the call to repentance for the Gentiles to others; he concentrated on his own people. But even more, Jesse is that forefather who is linked to David. Both by birth and by prophecy, Jesus is the fruit of Jesse and David and is known in his public life as 'son of David'. Particularly Luke goes to great lengths to show his readers that Jesus is, because of his descent from Jesse and David, worthy of what was promised in prophecy for a future descendant of David. Jesus was not 'the Anointed One' solely because of his characteristics of power, and wisdom and holiness; he was Messiah because he came from the house of one to whom God had promised an offspring who would rule forever on the throne of his forefather. 'Root of Jesse', then, suggests both the humanity of Jesus and his Jewishness and the reality that just as Jesus can be said to be generated by the Father, so we can say that Jesus, by his conception and birth, belonged to that family to whom was promised rule over Israel forever.
Many people in society today think Matthew 1:1-17 is an “anti-climatic” beginning to the New Testament. We have a hard time understanding the importance of this genealogy, much less comprehending what Matthew is saying theologically about Jesus. By looking at this passage we see that Jesus’ family lineage is full of all types of people. We find adulterers, prostitutes, and Gentiles mixed in with some of the heroes of the faith in Jesus’ genealogy. Gail Godwin says, “Matthew’s genealogy is showing us how the story of Jesus Christ contained—and would continue to contain—the flawed and inflicted and insulted, the cunning and the weak-willed and the misunderstood. His is an equal opportunity ministry for crooks and saints.”
O Adonai - Robyn Sand Anderson Duke College Chapel
O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel, qui Moysi in igne flammæ rubi apparuisti, et ei in Sina legem dedisti: veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.
O Adonai, and Ruler of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and gave him the Law on Sinai, come to redeem us with outstretched arm
"Adonai" is Hebrew for "my Lord", and was substituted by devout Jews for the name "Yahweh", out of reverence. With this second antiphon we progress from creation to the familiar story of God manifesting himself by name to Moses and giving his law to Israel as their way of life.
We are also reminded of the Israelite's' deliverance from bondage under pharaoh - a foreshadowing of our own redemption from sin. The image of God's arm outstretched in power to save his chosen people also brings to mind the later scene of Jesus with his arms outstretched for us on the cross.
O ADONAI Suppose that Moses rose before first light And saw the unexpected glow, the incandescence, where on other mornings Only darkness waited . Mountains, desert, storm clouds in the background; night, reluctant to depart; and there, alive and dangerous with holiness, a bush on fire, growing its ruby flames like leaves, bearing an awesome seed, a saving Name. too holy to be spoken. O ADONAI! O LORD OF ALL Who are we to name Your Name, recite Your covenant, proclaim Your boundless love for us? Your Name, when we attempt to speak it, turns to fire in our mouths, so we contain it in a title: LORD! ADONAI! and take the fire inside to purify our hearts. When you entrust us with your Name you draw us near until, in the flames that cauterize our dry assumptions You reveal Your Name enfleshed: O SAVING LORD! The burning bush will bear its fruit wherever seekers wake to the illumined night, and, stumbling barefoot toward the Holy One, reach toward the fire and call upon the Name. —Sr. Kate - Reflection from Franciscan Poor Clares website
O Sapientia, quæ ex ore Altissimi prodiisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiæ
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.
“O Wisdom, O holy Word of God, you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care. Come and show your people the way to salvation.”
Isaiah had prophesied, “The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord.” (11:2-3), and “Wonderful is His counsel and great is His wisdom.” (28:29).
Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia or Sapientia) is here personified, present with God at the beginning of creation. Traditionally depecited as a woman in iconography and art; Wisdom is seen as a prefigurement of Jesus, the eternal Word of God, the "logos" John described in the opening of his gospel. Wisdom is the foundation of 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.
If you would like to read or do lectio on scripture for the day:
As the day darken towards December 17th, the liturgical calendar moves into the final octave before Christmas. Beginning with the 17th of December, the liturgical tradition marks each day until Christmas Eve with an ancient and mysterious text, one of the so-called O-Antiphons. In the seven or eight days before Christmas Eve, at an appropriate church service (usually vespers, or evening prayer), the Great Advent Antiphons are traditionally said to introduce the saying (or singing) of the Magnificat. These prayers are variously known as the Great Advent Antiphons, the Great Os, the O Antiphons and the Solemn Antiphons. In the English-speaking world, the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” has popularized these O-Antiphons far beyond the confines of the church’s liturgy although being liturgically correct, the song is sung backwards in relation to the order of the O Antiphons. The O Antiphons are set to the tune of an ancient French processional hymn and liturgically speaking we should only sing this song between 17th and 23rd December, but it is a firm favourite of many people!
The O-Antiphons are a collage of Old Testament types of Christ. Their predominant theme is messianic, stressing the hope of the Saviour's coming. Jesus is invoked by various titles, mainly taken from the prophet Isaiah. The sequence progresses historically, from the beginning, before creation, to the very gates of Bethlehem. Each daily antiphon takes a different image from the Hebrew Scriptures — Wisdom, Lord of Israel, Root of Jesse, Key of David, Dawn, King of Nations, Emmanuel — to plead for the coming of Christ. For the seven days before Christmas, we recall in these prayers a quality of Christ that must be realized before the presence of Christ can consume the world. They are named “O” after their introductory exclamation of longing. The O-Antiphons give voice to the deepest longing of Advent, the coming of the Redeemer. Together, these antiphons move toward Christ’s birth, celebrated the day after the last of them has been chanted.
As we head into the last 8 days before Christmas, why not make a few minutes of sacred space in your day to round out your preparations for the Holy and Festive Season of Christmas. The presents, decorations and parties are important to re-connect with family and friends, but lets not forget why we celebrate the holy-day.......
For those looking to do a lectio divina on the O Antiphons the chart at Catholic Resources provides a comparative overview of the Latin versions and English translations of the texts used in the Liturgy of the Hours and the Lectionary for Mass, as well as the lyrics from the Advent hymn and some references to a few scriptural passages upon which these texts were based.
