O Antiphons, December 21, 2016 Daily Reflection

peace-doveSt. Bernard Catholic Church has an awesome tradition of celebrating the O Antiphons. Each Christmas for the last 7 seven days we celebrate the O Antiphons. I looked it up on Wikepedia and this is what I found: “The O Antiphons, also known as The great Os are Magnificat antiphons used at Vespers of the last seven days of Advent in Western Christian traditions.” Each day there is a 30 minute prayer service that has singing, praying, the reading of a scripture, and a little more praying. We celebrate this at 7:00 p.m. in the evening. If you would like to join the celebration is open to everyone.

I enjoyed an O Antiphon last night. It was a great way to get away from the consumerism, the decorations, lights, and Santa of the season. It was a wonderful way to place my focus on Jesus Christ. Last night we prayed, “O Key of David! O KEY OF DAVID, and Sceptre of the House of Israel, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens: COME, and bring forth the captive from his prison, he who sits in darkness and in the shadow of death.” We sang “Holy Is Your Name”, “My Soul is Thirsting”, and ended with “The King of Glory” which is still ringing pleasantly in my ears. I recommend that everyone take at least one or two evenings to join us as we celebrate the O Antiphons and focus on opening our hearts to the coming of Jesus Christ. After all, this is the purpose of all our activity right now.

 

One Response

  1. Bonnie Chester

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