Ruadhán Jones
The ‘O Antiphons’ are one final burst of Advent before Christmas, writes Ruadhán Jones
Today marks the beginning of the final octave of Advent, the last eight days before Christmas. Today also marks the beginning of the ‘O Antiphons’, a series of antiphons which lasts until December 23. These ancient antiphons have been sung in monasteries for more than a thousand years and their roots go deeper into history, into the Jewish past of Christianity.
We have spent three weeks preparing ourselves for Christ’s birth, but there’s still time for one last push and that’s what the ‘O Antiphons’ are for. The antiphons derive their name from the “O” which begins each antiphon. They address Christ with seven evocative Messianic titles: O Sapientia (Wisdom), O Adonai (Lord and Ruler), O Radix Jesse (Root of Jesse), O Clavis David (Key of David), O Oriens (Dawn of the East), O Rex Gentium (King of the Gentiles), and O Emmanuel (God With Us). They are based on the Old Testament prophecies and types of Christ.
If you remove the ‘O’ and put the titles in reverse order, the first letter of each will spell the Latin phrase ERO CRAS which means “Tomorrow, I will come”. The antiphons sum up the longing we experience for our Creator, tying us back to the Jewish peoples of the Old Testament as they begged the Messiah to “Come”.
Focus
By this time, we can have lost our grip on the true meaning of Advent. The outward preparations for Christmas – cakes, puddings, decorations, trees, presents and so on – can take up all our attention. Alternatively, and this may be the case even more so this year, Advent never started for us as the rush of work or the absence of our annual traditions leaves us lost.
The ‘O Antiphons’ are a perfect opportunity to reset and refocus. They embody an almost child-like appreciation for Christmas. Like children asking impatiently, “When will Santa come”, the ‘O Antiphons’ are a repeated and urgent prayer for Christ to “Come”.
However, though their message is somewhat child-like, they are not the easiest prayers to explain to children, and so integrating them fully into our ‘domestic church’ can take some work. Equally, because they arrive with little fanfare, they can easily pass us by. But they are worth the work and can really prepare for us for the Christmas season!
Prayer
The simplest way to integrate the ‘O Antiphons’ into our home life is by praying them. There is one antiphon for each day and they are not especially long. If you already have family or individual prayer-time set aside, they will not be a trying addition, and if you are starting out, they are gentle to say but reward deep reflection.
For example, the antiphon for the first day, December 17, is as follows: “O Wisdom (O Sapienta) – At God’s word, creation was formed; the Word issued from the mouth of God, the Son, came to earth; we ask prudence to keep on the paths of wisdom to come to His Kingdom.”
It is a just a short few sentences and can be said quite quickly. The following six days are of similar length. I would recommend using some time to reflect on them, perhaps reading them in a manner similar to Lectio Divina. If you would like to take it a step further, pray the antiphon in conjunction with the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). I won’t reprint all of them here as they can be found easily online, but here are the titles for each day:
-December 17: O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
-December 18: O Adonai (O Lord and Ruler)
-December 19: O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)
-December 20: O Clavis David (O Key of David)
-December 21: O Oriens (O Dayspring)
-December 22: O Rex Gentium (O King of Nations)
-December 23: O Emmanuel (O God with Us)
Get crafty
While the prayers are quite short, they are not necessarily the easiest to comprehend, especially for young children. In order to create a fuller appreciation of the antiphons, you may need to get crafty! There are many activities, recipes and crafts which relate to the antiphons. For a good collection of resources, I would recommend checking out Catholicculture.org.
To make life a bit easier, here are a couple of suggestions which are fun and easy to do. You might notice that December 19 already has a tradition associated with it – the Jesse Tree. This tradition only became popular in the 1950s, but has remained so ever since. You can integrate it with your Christmas tree or using a simple cardboard cut out, give it a place on its own.
The idea is to involve your children as best you can – there will be opportunity for more detailed reflection in time”
The Jesse Tree derives its title from the prophecy of Isaiah in which he describes Christ as the “root of Jesse”. It also relates to Matthew’s genealogy of Christ. The focus of the Jesse tree is, as a result, figures from the bible and representations of Christ’s life. It can be linked to the O Antiphons by creating a decoration, as simple or complex as you like, for each day.
Of course, it is not straight forward to represent the likes of wisdom. But some lateral thinking helps – you could make a salt dough figure of Mary, who ponders Christ’s word and was considered by St John Henry Newman to be the exemplar for Christian study. Equally, for the dayspring, you could cut out a shape of the sun and paint it yellow. The idea is to involve your children as best you can – there will be opportunity for more detailed reflection in time.
Daily treats
Florence Berger writes in her Cooking for Christ (1949) about a common tradition in monasteries relating to the ‘O Antiphons’.
“In the monasteries long years ago, the different monks furnished extra treats on these days before Christ’s birthday. The gardener gave the community some of his finest dried or preserved fruits on December 19 when he called on Christ: ‘O Root of Jesse, come to deliver us and tarry not.’ The cellarer unlocked the best wine for his treat as he called: ‘O Key of David, come, and come quickly.’ Finally, on December 23, the abbot gave his extra gift to the brothers.”
While we are not likely to have either a wine cellar or home grown dried fruits readily available, the tradition is one which can be incorporated into our family lives. Jennifer Gregory Miller, an expert on celebrating the liturgy at home, recommends a practice which her own family have – allowing each family member to prepare a surprise treat for each day.
These don’t need to be themed for the day. If you have a young child who wants to get involved, it could be a plate of cookies – if they’re older, you could encourage them to make dinner! “The best part is keeping the dishes a secret until dinner time (although sometimes mom and dad assist),” writes Ms Miller on Catholicculture.org. There are many, many more suggestions online so I encourage you to explore the fullness that our liturgical tradition has to offer and to enjoy the wait for Christ to come!