I love the Catholic Church!
For the 7 days (or octave) before Christmas Eve the great 'O Antiphons' are recited or sung during vespers. Each antiphon highlights a title of the Messiah and refers to a prophecy from Isaiah. They are, in order:
Dec. 17 - O Sapientia (Wisdom)
Dec. 18 - O Adonai (Lord)
Dec. 19 - O Radix Jesse (Root of Jesse)
Dec. 20 - O Clavis David (Key of David)
Dec. 21 - O Oriens (Dayspring)
Dec. 22 - O Rex Gentium (King of the nations)
Dec. 23 - O Emmanuel (God is with us)
If you take the first letter of each antiphon (after the 'O') from the bottom up, you get 'Ero Cras', which means 'Tomorrow, I will come' in Latin.
I love the rich symbolism of each antiphon. I love the intensity of the buildup to Christmas that still allows us to ponder the attributes of Him who is coming. And I especially love how the intensity of the liturgical season mirrors the intensity of the real-life preparations going on right now. There is a reason we're all frantically cooking, cleaning, buying, thinking and preparing. We're like a "Martha" right now; busily making everything perfect and set for the Lord's coming. The O Antiphons help us not forget to be a "Mary" and spend time pondering the Christ Child's presence.
Happy middle of Advent.
BEAUTIFUL. I did not know the "Ero Cras" part.. if I ever did know, I forgot over the years, so thank you for bringing this to our attention. And I love what you said about the O Antiphons helping us not forget to be a Mary! Thank you for this post.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nancy!
DeleteWhat a thoughtful post Sarah, and I didn't know about the "Ero Cras" part either.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Frances
I love the Catholic Church, too! Beautiful, Miss Sarah.
ReplyDelete